Image: A World War II-era can of Spam
Photo courtesy of Hormel Foods Corporation
In the evening of 7 May 1945, the British people heard on their wireless sets that, after almost six years, the war in Europe had finally come to an end. Across Britain people celebrated – and, it seems, no more vigorously than in Sutton Coldfield. The Council House in King Edward Square was ‘as gay with bunting, poles and pennants as anywhere in the country’. Until early morning on two consecutive days ‘Suttonians were whirling around the square in waltzes, barn dances (and) … military two steps …’ If this was not enough, there was dancing four times a week in the ballroom at the Crystal Palace to the accompaniment of Teddy Taylor and his orchestra; a ticket cost two shillings. Suttonians keen on dancing must have been exhausted by the middle of the month! The amusement park at the Crystal Palace was also open from midday until midnight, with advertisements in the newspapers proclaiming, ‘Come for victory fun.’ But it wasn’t all fun. Rationing continued. From the end of May Suttonians were informed that they had to report to the town hall, with their identity cards, to get their new ration books.
At such a time there was bound to be outrage when food was being wasted. And this was what was appeared to be happening in Sutton that month. All letters and parcels sent to American military personnel by parents, wives and sweethearts passed through a first base sorting office set up by the U.S. Army in Sutton. This was staffed by American soldiers and a contingent of local women (of whom my grandmother was one). In 1945 the commander-in-chief at the post office was Major D.C. Jernigin, and it was his responsibility to oversee the sorting of lost and damaged parcels, with the intention of incinerating some of them. At first lorries took the parcels destined for incineration to a site near Chester Road, but this led to claims from local people that edible food was being wasted. So a new site was selected – a bomb crater on an allotment site in Minworth. The site was owned by Sutton Coldfield Urban District Council. For a fortnight lorries trundled through the country lanes to the site where German prisoners-of-war were seen ‘to upload sack after sack of parcels and them set on fire …’ Not every item was burned. The prisoners-of-war were seen opening tins and ‘feast(ing) on the contents.’
It was local children who first became curious. Returning home, they alerted their parents. Limited to what they could eat by rationing, local people began to take advantage of this supply of free food. One resident, having fed her family on ‘delicious’ tins of American spam and chicken, was happy to show a local reporter what else she had acquired. She opened a suitcase ‘crammed full of the good things – a box of chocolates, a box of Turkish Delight, cough drops, chewing gum – the youngsters of Minworth have had so much of it they don’t want to see anymore – a pot of cleansing cream, a pot of cold cream and some pairs of socks.’ She then showed the reporter into her pantry where she had stored ‘a complete, luscious Christmas cake, rich in fruit and nuts, still in its cellophane wrapper …’ and revealed that her family had already eaten one even bigger cake. ‘It was lovely’, she said; ‘my kids really enjoyed it.’ Another resident happily showed off ‘a remarkable collection’ which was made up of a good supply of soap, a jar of coffee, a tin of olives, various packs of nuts and a carved wooden box full of cigarettes. The newspaper reporter himself left ‘smoking an excellent American cigar and smacking his lips over some fine old whisky …’ To prevent the removal of further items the police were brought in to guard the site.
For those who acquired all these items it was a real treat, but the decision to incinerate so much food provoked a scandal in Sutton. Jernigan issued a statement saying that only packages which had contained spoiled food or which had lost their wrappers were destroyed, with the rest sent to hospitals. But local people claimed that they had found packages with addresses still visible. An inquiry was speedily conducted by the US army. Jernigin was deemed to have failed to supervise the operation properly. In early June he was relieved of his post on the grounds of neglect of duty.
Stephen Roberts, February 2021