Site of wartime camp, Beach Road, Bangor

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On the death of King George V in 1936, the Lord Mayor of London formed a committee to determine a lasting memorial to the King that would encompass as much of the country as possible.  They arrived at the concept of setting up the King George's Playing Fields to "preserve and safeguard the land for the public benefit".

Aerial photo of Hirael military camp in 1946
Aerial view of Hirael with the camp in the centre, July 1946,
courtesy of the RCAHMW and its Coflein website

There are 471 King George V Playing Fields in the United Kingdom, including this ground between Beach Road and the shore at Bangor. At the entrance to all King George V Playing Fields were gateposts decorated with heraldic panels of a lion and unicorn. These can still be seen at the Bangor fields.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, hundreds of British troops from the Cheshire Regiment, Royal Irish Fusiliers and South Lancashire Regiment were stationed in Bangor. As no other suitable accommodation was available, they were billeted with local families until nearly 40 Nissen huts were built on the King George V Playing Fields. 

After British troops had vacated the huts, American soldiers moved in early in 1944 as they prepared for D-Day in June that year.  One of the GIs who stayed at the camp was the boxer Joe Louis. Known as the “Brown Bomber”, he was the World Heavyweight boxing champion between 1937 and 1949. He even had time to give a talk to local residents at the Drill Hall. He was beaten in 1951 by Rocky Marciano, who had also camped in Wales (in Swansea) before D-Day.

Soon after the Americans’ departure, Italian prisoners of war were billeted here. Six days a week the PoWs were taken by military vehicle to local farms where they worked on the land alongside farmers and members of the Women’s Land Army. In their spare time they created little gardens outside the huts and were popular in the local community, although some of the returning British soldiers and their families resented this fraternisation.

The aerial photo, courtesy of the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales, shows the camp in 1946. It is from the Aerofilms Collection of the National Monuments Record of Wales.

With thanks to Adrian Hughes, of the Home Front Museum, Llandudno

Postcode: LL57 1DG    View Location Map

Copies of the old photo and other images are available from the RCAHMW. Contact: nmr.wales@rcahmw.gov.uk

Footnotes: Personal recollections of the camp

Kenneth Gordon Thomas, who was nine years old in 1944, recalls:
“The local population made a beeline for Beach Rd on a Sunday afternoon to look at the front of the Barracks decorated in sculpted and decorated gardens relating to the prisoners’ homeland, Italy. One that stands out was the 'Leaning Tower of Pisa'. It really was a day out. The PoWs were accepted for what they were, and no hatred was vented against them. They visited the local fish and chip shop, Valla, which was run by an Italian family who had been resident in Bangor for quite a number of years. My family invited a few of the PoWs to Sunday lunch, and I took an interest in learning their language.”

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