"One Yank and They're Off": Interaction between U.S. Troops and Northern Irish Women, 1942-1945

The first american troops came to Northern Irish shores on 26 January 1942. Their numbers peaked at 120,000 in December 1943, which represented the equivalent of one tenth of the total population before the start of World War II and, in some areas, even more.¹ Troops were stationed all over Northern Ireland. The U.S. Air Force was based at Langford Lodge on the shore of Lough Neagh, with airbases across the province, including at Toome, Greencastle near Kilkeel, and Maghabery. Londonderry served as naval headquarters and was the main U.S. communications base in Europe during the war as well as being the largest convoy escort base in the U.K. Finally, the army was stationed all over Northern Ireland, often in rural areas.² The arrival of these troops was code-named Operation MAGNET.³

The stationing of U.S. troops around the world during the Second World War and their subsequent interactions with the local public has generated much scholarly discussion.⁴ The involvement of women in both Britain and Australia with U.S. troops, for example, has been located in a wider debate surrounding changing female sexual identity and its impact on citizenship and international relations.⁵ The subject of U.S. troops in Northern Ireland, however, has been discussed in a rather uncritical way by official war histories, local historians, or those writing their wartime memories, with no real discussion of the nature of the relationships or involvement with local women.⁶ Yet it is important to consider the particular and unique situation in Northern Ireland as it impacted the interaction between troops and local women and within the wider contemporary debates concerning female sexuality. The impact of the troops arriving in Northern Ireland was immediate and the excitement that they generated in young women was undeniable. American troops were conspicuous on the streets, as were the girls and young women who accompanied them. The arrival of American troops in the U.K. saw the intervention of ordinary soldiers and sailors in the construction and implementation of new patterns of female sexuality, and the techniques of parents, priests, religious organizations, and local police and doctors intended to control women's behavior were, without a doubt, mightily challenged.

Northern Ireland: Rural beyond Expectation

In Northern Ireland prior to the Second World War female sexual purity and chastity were regarded as being of the utmost importance. There was no general acceptance of female sexuality expressed outside marriage, and a variety of measures were employed to enforce the dominant code of behavior. Preventative measures, such as hostels and girls organizations, were used to guide and protect young women. Rescue homes and institutions were used to secure women's reform if they transgressed acceptable social norms. In both Protestant and Catholic communities women were contradictorily regarded as both moral guardians and as those most likely to lower moral standards.⁷ Furthermore, female behavior was placed under added scrutiny with the arrival of U.S. troops, as it was feared that women were "losing their heads" and endangering the high moral standards upon which both communities in Northern Ireland prided themselves.⁸

Scholars have attempted to understand the relationship between war and fears concerning female sexual behavior. Using the example of Britain during the Second World War, Sonya Rose argues that war "exaggerates the significance of the nation as a source and object of identity" and that during war public attention is focused on and directed to ideas of what the nation represents.⁹ Rose adds that under these conditions and in a society that has a tradition of constructing female sexuality as dangerous "women who were perceived to be seeking out sexual adventures might well be defined as subversive." In short, sexual propriety and control constituted central concerns to national stability in Britain during the Second World War. Positioned against the images of Britain as a brave and stoic nation, united in adversity and willing to sacrifice personal interests for the collective good and to show good humor in the face...