大象传媒

This story was added to the People's war website by the 大象传媒 Essex Action Desk on behalf of Dennis Stanley and has been added with his permission and he understands the sites terms and conditions.

My brother and I remained in London until the Buzzbombs started. Our dad was overseas with the Army and mum decided we should be evacuated so she arranged for us to go. So along with a lot of other sad children we got on the train at Waterloo Station and ended up in Devon, and were taken in by a couple called Jack and Cordelia Moore who had a farm called Yeomaden near Pyeworthy. They were a lovely couple who had 2 children, a boy and a girl a bit younger than us and we got on well.

Jack鈥檚 farm had animals and he grew cereals and when harvest time came round we all helped. Jack had two shire horses, Blossom and Violet, he also had a stallion called Prince and he used these for ploughing and harvesting. Cordie looked after the hens, ducks and geese. She also made butter and cream from the milk produced by the cows, and was an excellent cook. So we children had a lovely time. Sometimes we were allowed to ride on the horses who, in spite of their great size, were very gentle. Violet liked nothing better than to lean on you and put one of her feet on your foot, very gently but it was still very heavy.

At one point Jack was given a German prisoner of war, a submariner named Werner, who used to sing Nazi war songs to us which we did not understand but he translated them for us until one day Jack, with his shotgun over his arm, heard him 鈥� came up behind Werner when he was translating the line about sinking the British Navy ominously clicked his shotgun shut saying 鈥淲erner if you don鈥檛 get on with your work I鈥檒l sink ee where you stand!鈥�

We returned home before the V2 rockets started but went back again when one dropped on Streatham Place, very close to where we lived, and returned home to London again in 1944.

We kept in touch with Jack and Cordie until they both died and regularly visited them with our own children when we were in Devon or Cornwall.

My brother and I were very lucky to be billeted with such a lovely couple and will always remember them with love.

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