大象传媒

When war broke out in 1939 I was 17 years old, too young to be called up 鈥� that came later. My older brother Bernard was though, he was 20. He joined the Royal Engineers and was sent to Elgin in Scotland to be trained. He was among the last to be taken off the beaches of Dunkirk. He said there were a lot of French on the troopship he was on. We (parents and younger brother) got a telegram to say he was safely back in England.
The memory of how he looked when he came home will stay with me forever. So tired and drawn. A newsagent who brought papers to our village from Berwick 鈥� Upon 鈥� Tweed (12 miles) gave him a lift, said to him 鈥淲e鈥檇 do anything for you boys鈥�
A few months in England then sent to North Africa to serve with the eighth army under General Montgomery 鈥� the desert campaigns, Italy and Rome, earning danger money building bridges, clearing minefields. 4 years of that not wounded but shot at (sniper) and desert feet.
At home (Ford Village) my mother took in evacuees from Tyneside, they left after a while. She then looked after 4 airmen from the nearby aerodrome who had to be in civilian billets. 2 of these airmen joined bomber command 鈥� they thought they weren鈥檛 doing enough where they were. They gave their lives.
Myself 鈥� I worked in a large country mansion. We had army officers billeted with us and two evacuees (girls). They went back home after a time. A lot of evacuees did, probably didn鈥檛 like the countryside.
In February 1942 I married an RAF policeman, a young man I knew before war broke out. We had a white wedding in more ways than one. 41-42 was a severe winter. I couldn鈥檛 leave my place of work for several days because of blocked roads. Clothes were rationed, each person allowed a certain number of coupons. To spin these out I wore a new nightie under my wedding dress instead of a long slip. Our wedding cake (it was 3 tier) was iced with chocolate icing instead of white, decorated with white favours. It looked quite nice and tasted nice too, despite rationing. My husband was stationed near Hull, East Yorkshire, so I lived there until I was called up at 20 years of age. I decided to go home to Ford in Northumberland and worked on a farm. Medical students from Newcastle came to work during their summer break and Italian prisoners of war also worked on the farm. It wasn鈥檛 work I liked but there was a war on. There was I working alongside Italians and my brother in Italy fighting them.
I left farm work 鈥� health reasons and ended the war years working in ladies and gents outfitters. Meantime my husband had been posted overseas to Tel Aviv, Aden, Middle East. Married women were expected to give up their jobs when war ended. Being told we were keeping men out of a job.
My brother went back to his job as a stonemason; war interrupted his apprenticeship, now fully completed. Sadly he died this year 2nd July 2005, aged 86 years.
My husband joined the Civil Police. He too died seven years ago

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