US military turned me into a smoker

Luděk Dembovský remembers how US Army soldiers moved in their house at Nová Hospoda in May 1945. They had to secure the entire liberated territory and they chose the house for their headquarters in the village. “They had a Jeep in front of the gate that was running all the time; they just kept refuelling it. It was used as a power generator. Cables ran to the house and they had a radio upstairs,” the witness remembers. They maintained radio contact with other units. Reportedly, living with US military was pleasant. Luděk Dembovský praises their food supply. “And cigarettes. That was one thing that was bad influence on me, because I learned smoking because of them and remained a smoker for many years after. I only quit at seventy or so. The times were different back then. In any film of the era there was someone, like Oldřich Nový, taking pulls on a long cigarette. Smoking was just part of the lifestyle,” concludes Luděk Dembovský who was fifteen years old at the time.