My name is Mrs. Doris (Dolly) Ryan (87 yrs old) and my nephew Tom is typing these memories. I was married to Charles Ryan and I seem to remember being at the Bad Lyppspringe Camp between 1948 and returned to England in 1949/50. This doesn't agree with the official camp dates so it may have been Bad Oynhausen (?). Can someone help clarify this please?
It was a large camp with hundreds of soldiers. We were in the married quarters and remember trips to the near cinema. We went by army transporter.
The cinema was very popular. The English film version was shown first and the German version second. So as we left, we saw the German people queuing outside.
The German people I met were very nice. One even came to to the camp often to 'do' my hair.. She and many Germans could speak English and we had 'normal' conversations.
There was an ex Gestapo German in 'civvies' who would glare at the British soldiers as they past but we took no notice.
We often had up to ten friends to our quarters for supper, which included drinks. We had a lovely time. Some brought rabbits in, having shot them from their cars. I got some lovely letters from the 'boys' mothers and when I left, many of the boys travelled to the station to see me off.
There was a Dance Hall in the same village as the cinema and I won a prize for dancing. This too was very popular and we went once a fortnight.
I remember we met up with Charlie Bradley, his wife and their little boy (about 4 yrs old) called Charlie at the dance. We were the only girls from our camp there. The other girls came from other camps.
My husband Charlie looked after army horses. We sometimes visited a racecourse, not too far away.
I will try and remember more and post my memories later.
Dolly.
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28/4/2024, 10:29 by steve
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