大象传媒

Chapter 3

1944 had past and now 1945 and my life was happy with my grandparents and I enjoyed the village life and my school Frimley Church of England was close just 3/4 mile up the road I had many school friends as you do when you are young,I played in the local farms and fields picking odd bits and pieces that had fallen from the sky. one German plane I saw come down in a woodland area called St Catherines east of the village and I met some Italian prisoner of war building a footbridge over the river Blackwater in a area we called the Hatches they were very kind to me and one of them gave me pair of shoes made from rope, not to many people around today will know that it was built by prisoner of war, the bridge is still their just as they built it today.

Village life was a close knit community and everybody in the village knew what was happening around as many troops training nearby British,Canadian, New Zealanders and even Maori's also food was rationed and my grandparents often sent me to the local store Bartletts to collect our weekly supply with these ration cupons the shop was just at the bottom of our road, she had a ration book as all essential food was rationed so it was a real treat to have sweets and locally grown fruit apples pears and plums other fruits like banana and pineapple grapes oranges just did not exsist,as cargo ships only brought in essential supplies and mens lives were not put at risk for luxeries like pineapple banana, or oranges. I saw my first pineapple many years after the war.

My father when he could used to visit us
and our house was often full, my father's brother's and sister often called as they also live close to the village and my cousins came to play.

My mother came just the once and took me from the school it was the day after we had three bombs drop very close to the house in the night, she collected me at the school gate at midday and we walked and went to look at the bomb craters in the village after looking at these craters she took me back to school and I waved to her at the gate and that was the last time that ever saw my natural mother. I did not know this at that time but my father would not have been happy to know that my mother had taken me from the school, my mother knew she could go to the school without my father interfering as she knew he was still away
and out of the area.

Just after my mother took me from school and the bomb craters, I remember a hot summers day,I was in the Frimley Green recreation ground on top of the hill I used to go up this hill many times as you can see for mile around and I heard this strange noise from above and saw what I now know was a 'Doodlebug' a German flying bomb or V1 a strange throbbing noise which I never had heard before so I just ran as fast as I could to tell my grand parents what I had just seen and my grand father was in the back garden, I was about to just tell him what I had seen and from the distance was a loud bang and black smoke began to rise from the direction of Frimley, It landed and exploded in the Grove at Frimley and we later heard that one solder had been killed.

Next was also a hot sunny day when I heard aircraft above early in the morning,the sky was clear and blue and these aircraft just kept coming hundreds and hundreds all flying in formation, the sky was just full of aircraft I do not recall anybody saying more than 'Gerry is going to get today' and
I believe it must have been D Day because I only saw this event once with this many aircraft, I had seen aircraft in formation before but no going over all day like this day it was an amazing sight and it was about June time 1944, I shall never forget that day.
So the war was begining to come to the end and with dad still away in the Army and my new Auntie Brenda who was to visit us quite frequently now at weekends when my dad could get home and sometimes Auntie Brenda used to visit us on her own as she enjoyed coming out of London and I always was very excited to see her.

And then came the news that the war had ended and we all attended the street parties. Every street was to have a party and our was just outside our house with tables and chairs ballons and bunting along the street and every body was so happy that this war had come to an end in Europe.

These memories will be with me for ever and now knowing that as I write this story my natual mother had passed away, she was to pass away some seven years ago at the age of seventy and we will now never ever meet again.But my story has a long way to travel because as time went by my life was never without the thoughts of my sister and did I have brothers, I was not sure but my sister Patricia with her distinct golden curly locks was to be in my mind daily.

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