大象传媒

I WAS 10. MY MOTHER WAS CRYING "WE ARE AT WAR". I CARRIED MY GAS MASK PROUDLY. AT SCHOOL WE DUG DITCHES - 'IN CASE' - THEY SAID.IT WAS ALL FUN. MY FATHER,IN CHARGE OF THE POLICE, WAS OFTEN OUT LOOKING FOR AMERICAN AIRCRAFT THAT HAD CRASHED ON THE MOORS.I WAS IN A CONCERT ESPECIALLY FOR THE TROOPS STATIONED IN OKEHAMPTON. ONE, NO LONGER YOUTHFUL LADY, WITH A NERVOUS TWITCH SANG 'SOME DAY MY PRINCE WILL COME'. THIS BROUGHT THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE, SO MUCH THAT SHE DID A REPEAT.WE OFTEN VISITED PLYMOUTH FOR MY COUSIN YVONNE TO SEE HER PARENTS IN PLYMOUTH. ONE NIGHT THE BARRAGE BALLOONS CAUGHT FIRE. WE THOUGHT THAT WAS GREAT.ONE INCENDIARY BOMB FELL ON THEIR SHOP,ANOTHER IN THEIR GARAGE. THEY DIRECTED THE FIREFIGHTERS TO THE GARAGE FIRST,THEIR POUND NOTES BEING STASHED IN MILK CHURNS - WHY, I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND AT THE TIME. MY SISTER AND A TOP-SERGEANT, EDWARD OSTAPOW, IN THE USA RANGERS, BECAME ENGAGED. SADLY HE WAS KILLED.JOHNNY O'DONNELL, A YOUNG AMERICAN, ALWAYS FOLLOWED BY HIS ITALIAN BUDDY WE CALLED 'SHADOW'WERE ALLOWED TO COME TO TEA. THEY TOO WERE SUBSEQUENTLY KILLED AS THEY LANDED ON FOREIGN BEACHES. AN AMERICAN ARMY CAPTAIN WHO COACHED ME IN MY TENNIS GAME,ALSO DIED. THE CANADIANS WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE A BIT OF TROUBLE FOR THE POLICE - REGULARLY THEY THOUGHT IT FUN TO CLIMB UP TO OUR CHURCH CLOCK AND ALTER THE HANDS. WE THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT FUN. MY FATHER MET EISENHOWER AND ALSO LOGIE BAIRD ON THEIR WAY THROUGH OKEHAMPTON. THE LOCAL GIRLS HAD A WONDERFUL WAR, BEING FETED BY ALL AND SUNDRY, MANY OF THEM ENDING UP IN THE STATES. ALTHOUGH WE HAD AN AIR RAID SIREN ON THE ROOF OF OUR THEN POLICE HOUSE, MY PARENTS HAD TO WAKE US UP TO TAKE US DOWN TO THE DINING ROOM AND SIT UNDER THE BIG OAK TABLE, WHERE WE SANG UNTIL THE ALL-CLEAR SOUNDED. I CANNOT HELP THINKING THAT MANY OF THOSE SERVICEMAN WHO SURVIVED THE WAR, WILL REMEMBER OUR ELDERLY LADY SINGING TO THEM AND TELL OF THAT TO THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO THIS VERY DAY. I HOPE THAT WASN'T THEIR ONLY HAPPY MEMORY THEY TOOK BACK WITH THEM. I OFTEN FEEL GUILT AS AT THE TIME I WAS HAVING FUN, LITTLE ANNA FRANKE WAS HIDING FROM THE NAZIS,ENDING UP IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP, WHERE SHE DIED. MY WONDERFUL COUSIN, GEOFFREY TINCLER, A NAVIGATOR BOMB AIMER AND MY COUSIN DESMOND, BOTH VERY YOUNG ALSO DIED IN THE WAR. THE NEWS OF THEIR DEATHS CAUSED GREAT SADNESS TO US ALL. NEVER WILL I FORGET THE CLANKING OF YANKY TINS AS THEY LINED UP FOR THEIR 'CHOW TIME' - NOR THEIR "AGAIN, MORE, MORE" FOR OUR LADY SINGER TO REPEAT HER TWITCHING RENDITIONS OF ROMANTIC MELODIES.

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