Our company arrived in Bootle, England, aboard the Troopship Mount Vernon, debarked and went by train to an Army camp near a small village in Southern England, Barton-Stacey, located a short distance North of Southampton, had a population of about 150. Since we were scheduled to leave for the continent in about a fortnight, our stay would be of short duration.
Our arrival in England introduced us to total blackout conditions after dark and our arrival was during the period when there was little or no moonlight. We were granted a pass to visit Andover and were looking forward to our first visit to an English pub. We arrived in Andover while it was still daylight so we were able to establish several benchmarks. Those benchmarks were a few pubs and the location of our pick-up point when we were to return to camp.
Night came and with it came the blackout. We were like lost sheep wandering in the night and what we though were our benchmarks were no where in sight. Finally we lucked upon a pub. Fortunately, it must have been one of the most popular in Andover. There were a lot of locals and they were most hospitable. Like all good Englishmen, we drank warm beer and played darts. We feasted on fish and chips, a far better fare than the mutton stew we had for every meal at the camp.
When it was time to leave, we had no idea where the pick-up point was located. One of our new-found friends remarked, "no problem, chaps. I'll lead you there". And with that, he led all of us lost sheep to our pick-up point. We would have been totally lost had he not led the way.
Even with a total blackout we were driving back to cmp with our headlights on. Our driver, a member of the camp cadre, informed us we were to be aware of aitr raid sirens and, if we hard any, we were to pull off to the side of the road ad extinguish our lights. Haring no sirens, we made it back to camp safely, the driver delivering us directly to our barracks.