AS a local historian I was very interested in reading the article in Echoes (Daily Echo Wed 29 July) about German POWs being used to redecorate the Carlton Hotel in 1945 when it had been taken over by the following the American Red Cross takeover.
One reason for this takeover and redecoration was that From January 1946 the hotel was used to accommodate GI Brides with babies or small children awaiting sea passage to America from Southampton on liners such as the Queen Mary.
The Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) met the brides at London Waterloo Station and escorted them by train to Bournemouth on a “GI Brides’ Special” train and continued to help them at the Carlton Hotel to adjust to the future.
Many of them had little idea of the life they were going to on the other side of the Atlantic. They were allowed one telephone call to their husbands in America to notify them of their travel plans arrangements.
The WVS then escorted them on coaches to Southampton Docks when they were called forward. The basement of the Carlton Hotel was taken over by the Customs and Excise so that the brides’ luggage could be cleared and held in bond to avoid unnecessary delay later when it was loaded on to the appropriate ship.
JOHN WALKER
Grove Road, Bournemouth
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