Colonel John Davidson

First of all, we were expected to disregard the German Police. And I remember being summoned for driving at 60 miles an hour around the [?Straat], which was the town square in Iserlohn and telling the German that I could do what I like. It was ridiculous. But also, on the social life, we weren’t allowed to fraternise. Well, I was an unmarried young officer and unmarried young officers want one thing in a social life and there weren’t too many English ones around. I remember meeting this lovely German girl in a bar in [?Rosemontar] and we had a very nice relationship, which was totally illegal. And I remember saying to her parents, whom I met on a number of occasions and they were very much educated people, saying that “I’m terribly sorry, but I simply can’t invite your daughter back to my home, to my officers’ mess”. And they said, “John, we completely understand, we are delighted to have your company and we would like you to enjoy the company of our daughter”. I still think back to how dreadful that was. Maybe there were people around, who suffered at the hands of the Germans, who took totally the opposite view to me, but that was my view and still is.