Visitors to Brighton

An important aspect of wartime Britain was the unwilling movement of people from well known home environments to some distant different place. Town children were evacuated to a countryside they had never seen before; men conscripted into the armed forces found themselves 'posted overseas', unwilling travellers for the first time in their lives. Women were directed from one end of the country to the other to work of national importance; families trekked each night out of blitzed towns to escape the bombs.

But people also came into communities from outside and not only from other parts of Britain. There were the allies; the Free French, Dutch, Poles and above all the Americans. Large numbers of Canadians moved into Brighton, it was from this part of the coast that the Canadians took part in the disastrous 1942 raid on Dieppe). Opinion about these incomers varied, some criticised the Yanks, the Canadians and other allies because they were 'overpaid, oversexed and over here'; but others profited from these contacts in a variety of ways and widened their horizons.
Michael Corum in Brighton behind the Front

The Canadians were very attractive to the girls, and attracted to the girls; this was because they generally had things which the local population did not have. They had cigarettes, sweets and confectionery of various kinds, they had chewing gum, which was considered a desirable commodity. As a boy, like many others of my age, I used to follow them round and say, 'Have you got any gum, chum', the standard phrase used. They would generally give you some, and also quite often bars of chocolate, which were quite unobtainable.

The Canadians, of course, had other ways of doing things, and other ways of talking, so a lot of the expressions were taken up by the girls especially, who liked aping the sort of comments that they made. They were extremely keen on ice hockey, almost their national sport, and this had a spin off on to the local team of Brighton Tigers, famous then, and for a long time after the war, at the SS Brighton, the sports stadium, at the bottom of West Street.
Brian Dungate in Brighton behind the Front

The dance halls were full of servicemen, some of them looked so young - even to me. All of them went to dance halls in the evening to have a good time. This was where they could try to forget what might be ahead of them. A lot of them did this by having too much to drink. They knew there would be women to hold when they danced and, if they could, they would go home with them for the night. The women felt the same way as you never knew if you were going to be alive the next day. This was due to the unpredictable bombing from German planes. Either on their way over to bomb London, or on their return journey when they wanted to off load their bombs. This would help to make the planes lighter and fly faster to evade the spitfires. This meant the SouthCoast was the dumping ground. Milly became attached to one young naval officer who told her he did not expect to return from the war and that he was sure he would be killed. She later heard that he had died.

We met Australians, South Africans, Americans and French Cana­dian servicemen. I did not like some of the Canadians, who were very strong, well built and often uncouth men. Some of them told me they were employed as lumber-jacks and lived in the backwoods of Canada. Since the war I have realised that some of these men were the first to land in France on D. Day and that many of them were killed on the beaches immediately on landing. Some of them may have been convicts, who were given the choice of staying in prison or enlisting. If they enlisted, they were specially trained for D. Day. In the dance halls I was aware that they spent most of their time drinking. They did not know how to dance or how to behave with women. When trouble arose in the dance hall, the Military Police appeared and took them away.
Barbara Chapman - Boxing Day Baby

Why not have a look at this page - Molly Mitchell and the Canadian soldier  - for another story about the locals of Brighton and the soldier visitors from other lands.