大象传媒

MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II

I can鈥檛 be precise about dates

At the outbreak of the war we lived in Catford, London, S.E.6, My Mother, Father, two sisters a brother and me. Shortly after the outbreak I was evacuated at age 7/8 with my brother aged 10/11 and my sister aged 14/15. We were taken to a village called Shabbington in Buckinghamshire. We had our names pinned to our coats and carried gas masks round our necks. When the coach arrived at Shabbington we all had to line up outside the coach while the villagers came to choose who they wanted 鈥� rather like being sold. I was chosen by a villager and then someone told her 鈥渢ake the big one too and she can help you in the house鈥� so my sister was also chosen. My sister tried to get the same villager to take my brother too but she said she didn鈥檛 want a boy. He was billeted at the other end of the village with two other boys who were brothers. We all wept because we were being split up. My sister an I were well treated but my brother was constantly bullied by the two brothers.
My brother and I went to the village school and were ahead of the local children in our education. There was an occasion when I was asked to go to the front of the class with a ruler and point to words on the blackboard and tell the others in the class how to pronounce them.
Out parents visited us and when they saw the conditions my brother was living in they took him home immediately. I鈥檓 not sure how long we were there, possibly a year and when we came home there were air raids and we slept in an Anderson shelter below ground. We could hear bombs dropping and guns firing. There was a time when the whole family used to go the Chislehurst Caves to sleep each night and returned home the next morning. In the cave were bunk beds where we slept. From what I remember there was a shop/shops and I seem to remember some kind of cinema or at least a place where films were shown.
My mother had another baby and we then had to sleep in a Morrison shelter which was a huge metal contraption in the living room. Me, my mother and baby were evacuated to Leeds. We lived in a house with two other families. We were there for about a year I think. I didn鈥檛 go to school all that time as all the schools were full. When we came home we slept in the Anderson shelter. I went to school.
I and my friends were coming out of school one lunchtime when we saw German planes flying low down the road towards us and machine gunning us. I grabbed my friend and dived under a parked lorry, then thought that wasn鈥檛 such a good idea and grabbed her again and dived over someone鈥檚 hedge and hid there until things went quiet and we continued home. This was the same day that a school at Hither Green was bombed and many children killed as they came out at lunch time. It was well publicised and the German鈥檚 said they didn鈥檛 know it was a school, they thought it was an Army building.
My brother was now aged 15 or thereabouts and was working. He joined the Fire Service as a volunteer. One day as he was waiting for a bus outside Hither Green Cemetery on his way to work the cemetery was bombed. As he was wearing his Fire Service coat he was called on to help out. He told us there were bits of bodies from the graves all over the place and even on the roofs of houses.
My Father was too old to be called up so he was a 鈥淔ire Warden鈥�. Every evening a number of people would come to the house to 鈥渟ign on鈥� so he would know how many people were keeping a watch during the nightly air raids. A lot of bombs were dropped in our area and the next day my friends and I would go searching for shrapnel and to see who could get the biggest collection.
Nearby was an area where prefabs were to be built and there were German and Italian prisoners of war working there. The area was surrounded by high wire fencing to keep them in. My friends and I used to go and peer through the fencing and sometimes poke our tongues out. Sometimes the prisoners would come to the fence and look at us and try to talk to us but of course we didn鈥檛 understand them. I now think we probably reminded them of their own families.
When old enough one of my sisters worked in a munitions factory and the other (the one who was evactuated to Shabbington) joined the Land Army.
Germany developed 鈥渇lying bombs鈥� which we called 鈥淒oodlebugs鈥�. They would fly overhead and when the noise of the engine stopped we knew they would drop to the ground and explode, so when we heard the engine stop we would dive for cover. Then Germany developed rockets but there was no indication of when or where these would drop. During this time as soon as the siren sounded everyone would take cover. If we were not near to home anyone would take us in to their shelter until the 鈥渁ll clear鈥� sounded .
Food was rationed. We had ration books with coupons inside for various foods. We had to register with a shop and that was the only shop where we could use our coupons. I seem to remember we were allowed 2oz of butter and 4oz of meat per person per week. Lots of other things were rationed including sugar sweets, clothes. There were some 鈥渙ff ration鈥� products such as liver, kidneys, sausages and corned beef but we could only buy these from the shop we were registered with. Because clothes were on ration some people would make coats our of blankets.
We were encouraged to eat potatoes and carrots. Carrots were supposed to help us see in the dark as all houses had to be 鈥渂lacked out鈥� and there were no lights on in the streets so the Germans could not see anything when they flew over. The only fruit we had was what was grown in this country and there was not much of that. I remember being surprised after the war when I saw bananas and oranges. I didn鈥檛 remember seeing them before. During this time a recipe was spread around for making mock bananas from parsnips and presumably flavoured to taste like bananas and we used to spread it on bread. Sweets were on ration and we were allowed 2oz per week each, therefore I used to use my coupon on a chocolate covered wafer bar which was light in weight. I think it was called 鈥淪lam鈥� or a name like that. When we had used our weekly coupon my friends and I used to buy a carrot from the greengrocer on our way to school and chew that.

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