“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.” ― John Lennon

German prisoners of war bringing in the harvest

Bit of history:  From 1939-1948, an influx of over 400,000 German, Ukrainian, and other prisoners of war accounted for a sudden increase in Britain's prison population.
     There were hundreds of POW camps spread across the UK and a fair number in Nottinghamshire.    
     Prisoners would progress through a series of camps, where their political allegiances were determined. Non-Nazis were graded “White”, dubious cases were “Grey”, and hardened Nazis were “Black”. Prisoners wore patches with these colours so that they were known.
     As a general rule, the “Blacker” the grading, the further North the camps where prisoners would be housed. Prisoners were also shipped to camps in Canada, and later the US, to safeguard security as much as lack of space.

Wehrmacht (German) soldier

Erik, 
     What follows are my favorite of Momma's war stories. Both involve soldiers.  It's amazing to me that at age 85 her memories are still so vivid.             --Mom
     
     "I was staying at my sister, Win's, house.  It was early, about 7 am, and I was in the back kitchen getting ready for work, when there was a light tap on the back door.  Win had a recessed porch at the back, and thinking it was my brother, Jack, I opened the door.  There stood a German prisoner of war in a peaked hat and the short jacket of the Wehrmacht, holding out a tin cup.
     I was so scared, I screamed and promptly slammed the door and slid the bolt.  Win's house backed up onto some fields;  I assumed he'd escaped from one of the neighboring POW camps and walked across the fields."-- Joan Shelton

   
     "Did I ever tell you the story about what happened to me just before the invasion of Europe (DDay, June 6, 1944)?  I was 17 years old and was pushing Lesley, my niece, in a large pram up Redhill to her home, after visiting Nanna.  It was a Sunday afternoon.  An army convoy, filled with free French and American soldiers, was driving north to reach the ports on the East coast.  The Free French, British, Canadians and Americans would be landing on the beaches of Normandy to invade Europe a few days later.
     They were very excited because everyone thought the invasion would be the 'beginning of the end.'  When the Americans came level with me, they started tossing out candy bars, chewing gum and other sweets that we had not had much of during the war.  What I scrambled to pick up filled the apron cover on the pram.  The soldiers were all singing their national anthems trying to out do each other.
     When Win saw the candy her first words were, 'Where the bloody hell did you get all those from?' I told her to go down Redhill, hold out her apron and she might get even more."
                                                                             --  Joan Shelton

Bit of history:  "The Free French Forces were partisans in World War II who continued the struggle against the Axis powers after the surrender of France in June 1940.  The movement was launched by General Charles de Gaulle, a French government minister who had escaped to Britain, planning to organise continued resistance from there.
     By mid-1944, the Free French numbered more than 400,000, and they participated in the Normandy landings and the invasion of Southern France, eventually leading the drive on Paris. Soon they were fighting in Alsace, the Alps and Brittany, and by the end of the war in Europe, they were 1,300,000 strong - the fourth-largest Allied army in Europe."

The liberation of Paris in 1944

General DeGaulle entering liberated Paris in August 1944