大象传媒

Of course, being born in 1944, I don't remember the war itself, but I can recall some "knock-on" effects as a very young school boy.The following information was given to me only very recently by my mother's sister,my Aunt Jean. I still have the letter, and it is the only clue I have about my paternal half.My father, I am told was killed at Dunkerque. He was a Canadian soldier called Joe.He and my mother were never married,which in those days was a terrible disgrace to a middle class family. I don't know exactly what happened to me, but I do know that my mother put me in an orphanage.
I have vague, misty memories of that time, and I know that I was very unhappy. It was my grandmother who "saved" me from the orphanage. My mother married another man soon after I was born. A naval man by the name of Charles Percy Hooton. They had a daughter, my sister Carolyn. "Chub" as C.Hooton was called was killed in a jeep accident in Hong-Kong in about 1946. He never saw his daughter. Carolyn was adopted by Chub's sister Hilda, and the family went to Australia on an assisted passage in the early fifties. In the meantime, my mother had married again to another naval chap.He was posted to Singapore, and my mother, me, and my new brother Gavin followed six months later. I forgot all about my sister, and although I could remember playing with a little girl, I was, at the time unaware that she was my sister. about this time last year, upon arriving home, I noticed there was a message on my answer phone. I didn't play the message , but went to my "den" to write some letters. Shortly, my wife called me, and said that there was a personal message for me that I really should listen to immediatly. I pushed the "play" button, and heard, in a thick Australian accent "Hello Clive, this is your little sister calling you from Sydney!" She started to give me her 'phone number, and at that moment, the phone rang. Irritated that sensitivity of the moment had been spoiled, I snatched up the 'phone and snapped "WHAT!" "My my " said the caller, "is that how you answer all your callers?"
Stunned, I realised that the voice was the same as that I had just heard on the answer machine. We talked and talked, both of us with tears of joy pouring down our cheeks. She asked if I was on the net, as she would e.mail me. The next day I bought a computer! Phone calls to Australia are very cheap these days (5p a min.) so we called each other regularly. Last August, after fifty-two years, I met my Sister Carolyn. She was able to fill in a few gaps in my early life, the most important of which was that her father Charles Hooton was going to legally adopt me when he came back to "Blighty."
How different my life would have been if only he had survived the war.

Back to my early school days, the main purpose of this story...I get carried away with events quite often, I'm afraid!

My grandfather (Who fought in WW1, I have a picture of him on horse-back whilst fifgting, I think in France)woul tell me that in Hassocks, the bombing in London could be heard quite clearly some nights.
When the Luftwaffe bombers had droped their loads on the poor, brave people of London, they would fly back over the South Downs they would kick out any bombs that were stuck in the bomb bays. The South Downs, of course were very popular with walkers, and older children, who would play on them.

I clearly remember hearing of boys getting killed by un-exploded bombs, and I am also able to recall lads with missing limbs, as a result of getting too close, and moving them.

Of course I remember post-war rationing and all that it brought. My grand-father kept chickens at the bottom of the garden, which gave us eggs. And I know that he would swap half-a-dozen eggs in exchange for a coupon or two! Probally illegal, but I suppose that everybody did what they could to make life a little more bearable,and who can blame them? A last little thing that I recall,is granddad sacrificing one of his precious hens to the dinner table. What a treat, because those were the days when chicken was a luxury, not like today with the mass production of chicken meat making it the cheapest meat you can buy.

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