At this point in the WW2 coverage, I believe the Allied buildup in the UK has been addressed obliquely. That said, I would l love to see more about the training Allied forces conducted during the “friendly invasion” to prepare for Overlord. But more specifically, I would be fascinated to learn about how the US dealt with the politics of Northern Ireland. US Forces began training in NI well before D-Day and lived amongst the locals in Quonset huts, barns, tents, etc., on space procured by the UK government for US use. So 18-year-old Americans with no international experience had to learn to navigate the pitfalls of Irish politics or simply learn that Northern Ireland and Ireland are different. I am quite curious how that was handled or if it was handled at all. In theory, the Soldiers could have been forbidden from fraternizing with the local population, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.
In correspondence with families from Northern Ireland who remember the Allied training there, I was given this little gem of a story about how US Army Officers are the reason that the Northern Irish could golf on Sundays.
“I do know, through my late father, that it was the Yanks (and that wasn’t in any way a derogatory term) who introduced Sunday golf to Fintona [Northern Ireland], for which he was eternally grateful. Previously, the powers that be (in the form of a very conservative Unionist government in NI) forbade any sporting/entertainment to be held on Sundays. However, as a result of some successful lobbying by some of the US officers who I believe were billeted in the grand house belonging to the local gentry, the golf course was deemed to be “in bounds,” and of course, that genie never got back into the bottle (at least locally). For decades afterward, most golf courses in N Ireland remained closed on Sundays, but not Fintona’s. So, you can see that for my father’s cohort, the mark left by the American forces was one they enjoyed for many’s a year.”