大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by GMR Action Desk on behalf of Elsie Mills and has been added to the site with her permission. We had gone to visit my dad鈥檚 sisters and brothers who lived in Ontario, Canada. We were supposed to be there for 3 months but we heard on the radio that war had started and we would have to come back to England. One ship which had left previously was sunk on the way back. We had to go to New York, travelling over night. In New York we had to queue for ages until they found a crew. In the end we sailed with just half a crew. There was a band on board made up of the waiters. We had to keep putting on our life jackets and going up on deck because there were U boats all around.
Everybody on board talked to one another and we all felt that we were being guided and watched over by the Lord; we all had that feeling.
It took about a week to get back. We had to dock in Ireland to get more crew. There was a lot of waiting until they were found We docked in Southampton and had to wait for our baggage to be unloaded. Then it was on to London which was in the blackout.
When we set off we really wondered if we would get home safely. All my mother said was, 鈥淲e鈥檒l all go down together鈥�.

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