THE day, almost 73 years ago, when a large contingent of United States soldiers arrived in Milverton is recalled in a new book about a Somerset village during the Second World War.

‘Darlingest – Milverton in the War’ tells the story of two truck drivers who followed General Eisenhower’s friend, General Gerow, Commander of the Vth Corps, onto Omaha Beach on D-Day. The soldiers, who then went through the dreadful Battle of the Bulge, were billeted in Milverton and attached to a huge Army depot at Norton Fitzwarren, a major hub for the planning, training and supply of the operation to defeat Germany.

The American soldiers, who arrived on October 22, 1943, were the last of the ‘outsiders’ the sleepy village of Milverton welcomed as local men went to war. Evacuees had arrived in dribs and drabs since late 1939 but on June 15, 1940, it was revealed that 600 evacuees were expected in Taunton.

Among them was teacher Nellie Clemens and her five-year-old daughter Helen with 120 evacuee children from North Harringay School in London. Nellie was an avid letter writer – she started her first letter to her husband on the train journey to Somerset, finishing it the next day in Milverton. She wrote to her husband every day, describing village life warts and all.

The Victoria Rooms were, as now, the hub of village life, where funds were raised for government savings campaigns and the venue for parties and entertainment, including Saturday dances.

Nellie wrote to her husband about dancing with the handsome commanding officer of C Company, 2nd Middlesex Regiment, which was in the area to train after being evacuated from Dunkirk before going off to fight again in North Africa. American GIs would be bussed in to dance, often taking over from the band.

Nellie’s letters are held by the Imperial War Museum and provide the content of much of the book with the stories of Land Girls, evacuees and soldiers, records and logs making up the rest as villagers in Milverton planned defence against German invasion, taught evacuees, played their part in feeding the nation and even foraged wild herbs to provide medicine.

‘Darlingest – Milverton in the War’ is compiled and written by Elizabeth McDowell and Jane Woodland, and edited by Chris Lent. It has 336 pages, 42 photographs and other illustrations, and is priced £15. It will be available from Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton, at locations in Milverton and from Elizabeth McDowell, 5 Woodbarton, Milverton TA4 1LU.