Aftermath of Dunkirk: "My Mam will have two!"

After Dunkirk in June 1940, the army struggled to find billets for all the returning soldiers. Brian Ford lived with his sister and parents in what was then a smallish "corporation house" at 11 Pittsfarm Avenue in Rochdale. He was 13 years old. An army van pulled up at the top of the street and several soldiers with a warrant officer climbed down. The sergeant cried out: "Who will have these lads?" Brian replied "My mam will have two!" The party of two soldiers from (we think) the Staffordshire Regiment were then escorted to the house where they were billeted with rent contribution for some time. The two soldiers were Doug Haynes and George Belanger, and they remained friends with the family during and after the war.