- Contributed by听
- Guernseymuseum
- People in story:听
- MALCOLM WOODLAND
- Location of story:听
- Guernsey
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4043323
- Contributed on:听
- 10 May 2005
To me Liberation Day is not the cream, May 8th is the cream. If I start off with the weekend before, which is a Sunday, the war was obviously known about coming to an end and the grownups would get together in huddles, or someone knew someone who had a radio, so the grownups were discussing that the war was going to end this week. Well, didn鈥檛 believe that, the war had been going on for ever. I remember this lady said to me 鈥淎re you going to wave your Union Jack ?鈥
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 got a Union Jack鈥 I said,
鈥淥h!鈥, so she went away and got this little Union Jack that people used to fly on their cars. That was the Sunday. Monday I went to school as normal but there seemed to be a lot of atmosphere that some thing was going to happen. Tuesday was a half day, because we were so weak from (lack of ) food apparently, by then. I passed the AA gun battery opposite the tram sheds, which I had passed every day for months going to school and as I went past I noticed for the first time that the pompoms were down and there were no Germans there. My friend came up and said 鈥淲ars over!鈥.
鈥淪hut up鈥.
鈥淚t has, stopped last night!鈥.
Anyway it was a long time before we went into lessons and they said,
鈥淥h yes, the war鈥檚 over, you鈥檙e going to go home soon, but you mustn鈥檛 fly your flags yet its not officially over until 3 o鈥檆lock this afternoon. The ceasefire has started, but don鈥檛 annoy any Germans as it is still war here.鈥
The school was called into the hall, and I think we sang patriotic songs, I can remember 鈥楯erusalem鈥 being sung. Anyway we finished about 10.30 to 11, and on the way home I passed this gun battery again and there wasn鈥檛 a German in sight, so I went up and had a look, stuck my Union Jack on my bike and rode the rest of the way home with it on my bike, 鈥淣ot before 3 o鈥檆lock鈥, never mind that! But I went home the back way, across the Grand Fort Bridge, and you never saw any (Germans) there. Then we went down to my uncle, who had a radio, and listened to Winston Churchill鈥檚 speech, and that was the end.
MALCOLM WOODLAND
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