Tidworth, Hampshire

Details are sketchy, and I am trying to find as much information as possible to verify and flesh out the following.

I was born in Ipswich October 9, 1945. After adopting me in November of 1945, my new mother changed my name from Peter Richard to Robert Vincent O'Neil after my new father. Robert O'Neil was born in Caledonia, Minnesota, and was serving in the US Army BTRY A, 101 FA BN as a mail clerk. He was posted at Parham Air Base when he met my mother. They were seperated when his unit went to France, leaving my new mother and myself to emigrate to his home in America.

At the time, my new mother may have used any or all of her name(s): Marianne Emily Rebecca Shaw Greenwood Foyster Fisher O'Neil. A service prayer book from that time period gives the following information:

SHAEF
London APO 72
204/206 77843
Marianne Fischer
WSAFIC HQ
Rendlesham Hall
B Hut

Some time in late 1945 or early 1946, we ended up in Tidworth, Hampshire at the Transient Camp for War Brides, awaiting emigration to the United States. While their, I contracted "Camp Fever" and may have been treated by some German POWs. I also have scars on both knees, so some operation may have taken place at this time. Are medical records still available, since Tidworth is still active?

We arrived in New York August 9, 1946 aboard the US George Washington Gothals.

My father used to tell the story how my mother's home was taken over for the war, and how tanks would train there. Obviously this didn't happen at Borley, but I wonder if Mom wasn't telling him about Tidworth.

I wonder if their are any records of our stay at Tidworth, and is there a picture of the camp available from that time period? I am not looking for my birth mother - I found her (Kate Helen Emma H******) and one of my brothers a few years ago.


"A view of Tidworth Barracks, circa 1912. Today, most of the buildings still remain. The hill in the background has now been planted with pine trees. Horses are still used here too for ceremonial and recreational purposes." Source: T.F. Fuller

Attached to the web page above, was the following "fan" mail.

We really enjoyed the pictures. My husband lived in Tidworth all his life so knows Amesbury well. We came to New Zealand 7 years ago - it was good to see pictures from "home".
Mavis & Pip Colgan

Upon contacting the Colgans, they wrote:

The most important Transit Camp that I can remember in Tidworth during that period was an American G I Brides Transit Camp that was used after the American Troops had left - it was situated in Delhi Barracks which was a Military Hospital.
Tidworth Barracks was occupied by American Forces from late 1942 until the end of the War in 1945.
Delhi Barracks was always used as a Military Hospital since they were built around 1912, and this use continued until the American Forces left for home after the War. As the need for centralising the large number of GI Brides to be transported to the US, a small number of American medical and administrative staff remained at the Hospital, which was retained by the American authorities for this purpose.
The GI Brides were subjected to stringent medical examinations and documentation (for which I understand, from comments made at the time, very humiliating for some of the Brides).
Your Mother told you that you were cared for by German POW's, this was quite possible, because these POW's who were in US Army custody were used for many purposes - i.e camp cleaning, cook house duties and general duties as required, so it could well be that at that time you received the care that your Mother mentioned.
Unfortunately, the name of the ship which took you to the US (George Washington Gothals) I am not familiar with. It may have sailed from Liverpool in the North of England but the vast majority of brides were taken to Southampton and embarked for New York (Ellis Island) on the Queen Mary where I understand they were kept until they rejoined their husbands.
At that time, I was in the latter stages of my apprenticeship as a Carpenter and we were called to the Hospital from time to time for maintenance repairs, so really I had a first hand knowledge of the Transit Camp (hospital).
Thank you so much for sending your file - we found it very interesting. You have obviously been very busy getting the information together. Well done. I can recall that not all the ladies were housed at Delhi Hospital. A good number were accommodated at a near by wooden hutted war time camp called Matthew Barracks - situated to the East of Tidworth - it was eventually demolished and a British Army married quarters site built. A good number of the "brides" obtained private accommodation, indeed I remember two of these ladies stayed with my Mother and myself for a brief period. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of their names, except the fact that they came from the North Country area - perhaps Lancashire. Although all this may have no bearing on your Mothers activities during this period, perhaps it will add to the big picture of those days. With reference to your Mother's Service Prayer Book: "WSAFIC" this may read as "WAAFS" - Womens Auxiliary Air Force Service.It also appears that Rendlesham Hall may be located in East Anglia UK. Have you been into www.Rendlesham Hall on the Internet? Also the Maureen and Jim Tansey web site. It shows Rendlesham Hall as a war time US Airforce Base with a hospital. Lots of info' on the geocities site.
Regards Mavis & Pip


From English Military Hospitals: An Architectural History By Kathryn Morrison

In the early 1940s several large Emergency Medical Service (EMS) hospitals were built on green- field sites and handed over to the allied forces on completion. One of the best preserved of these, now Wymondham College in Norfolk, became the 77th USA Air Force Station Hospital upon its completion in 1943. The wards occupied standard corrugated iron Nissen huts, while the staff accommodation on the periphery of the site was mainly of asbestos and brick. Temporary EMS hospitals from the 1940s still form an integral element of many civilian hospitals today.
After 1945, the services retained their permanent, brick-built hospitals, but since the late 1980s many have fallen victim to cuts in defence spending. Some, such as the Delhi Hospital, Tidworth, were briefly reprieved during the Gulf War, but now medical services are being concentrated in fewer establishments.


Tidworth Village Web Site