大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from CSV on behalf of Jean Dawson and has been added to the site with her permission. Jean Dawson fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

I remember we had to report to school every day and then one day we had to bring our luggage. I was 14. We found ourselves going on the train to Brighton from Victoria. We were taken to a reception centre and Iremember a young man searched us for body lice - they thought all children from London were infested. We were given a brown paper bag with a tin of corned beef and a packed of Ryvita. Then we were put on an open top bus and dropped off on doorsteps like bottles of milk. I was with a friend of mine called Betty Randall. We were taken in by a family - the father worked on the railway. I remember getting up the next morning and just crying in their sitting room. I must have stopped because my friend and I went out to the Front in Brighton. Then an air raid warning went off and we didn't know what to do. We asked some people if we could join them. I remember going down to their basement - the table was covered with newspaper - probably instead of a tablecloth.
The all clear sounded and we found out afterwards that war with Germany had just been declared.

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