大象传媒

I was born in a block of flats called carl gardens, situated on the dock road. The are whole area were tenements.I only experienced the war from the age of five to six, before I was evacuated. I was evacuated to wales in Bleiner Festiniog. I was lucky because I was with a good family. I enjoyed my time there, one of my main memories is of playing on the slate trucks and we used to slide down the hills on the pieces of slate! There were three of us , me and and my two sisters. Mysisters found it harder as they were older, in fact one of them tried to find their way home. This happened a lot with the older children and we used to have to send out search parties. But I was happy, because the family was lovely and looked after me, and I was more accepting because I was younger. When I was seven we went home, as the bombing had eased off. One of my vivid memories was going to bed and seeing the warehouse that used to be outside my flats and had been bombed and had left a big whole in the floor. When the Americans came to the city they put all their arms and tanks in this hole, ready for the big invasion. I remembered nothing but kindness from the Americans. They would always give us sweets, and look after us. After we came back from being evacuated we didn't really experience anymore bombing. Everything was devastated, it was easier for me because I was younger. A lot of my friends dads never came back, and I think it was worse for the wives as they had husbands away and children to protect. My dad couldn't go in the army, because he had a finger missing, so he worked on the docks. He used to throw us in the alcove when we heard the sirens and throw anything he could find on top of us, my mum used to say that we were more in danger of being suffocated than being bombed! My experience of the war wasn't too bad, as I was at the right age. I was too young to understand a lot of what was going on, and I enjoyed my time away when I was evacuated. I think it was more frightening for the grown ups, as they understood what was happening and had the worry of protecting their families.

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.