大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War website by a volunteer from 大象传媒 ESSEX at Rayleigh Library on behalf of Len Smith and has been added to the website with his permission. Len Smith fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Evacuations & Homecomings

The evacuations of children from London and other vunerable areas began in the summer of 1939, and was complete by early autumn.

It was usual for an entire school to go away together with teachers. Some parents who had relatives or friends in "safe areas" sent their children away privately. Children of pre-school ages were usually accompanied by ther mothers.

Many evacuees who left London in 1939, remained away for the duration of the war, but some were unable adapt to their new life or beset by homesickness returned home early in 1940. At this stage no air attacks on London had occurred, but by August 1940 the situation had changed dramatically and London became a danger area from the sporadic air raids, culminating in the massive air attack of "Black Saturday" 7th of September when the eight month long Blitz commenced.

On Sunday morning 8th of September there was a mass exodus from the capital; main line railway stations were besieged, and also coach stations, as people scrambled to get away.

That same afternoon, I went along to my Sunday school as usual. Only about ten of us were present out of a normal attendance of more than fifty. Our teacher had no new
the absentee children, but she thought it was likely under the circumstances that many had left for a safer area. We didn't know then that one of the children had been killed during the previous night's raid.

The lesson that day was fairly short followed by a simple prayer. We sung as usual closing hymn "Grant us Thy Peace, as on Our Homeward Way...We disbanded and went our respective ways to an uncertain future.

The mood had been sombre, and our usually garrulous voices subdued. For us, the real war had begun and our lives would never be the same again.

Evacuation never became compulsory, although the government and Local Authorities did much to persuade parents to send their children away. Early in 1941 a poster was circulated featuring two small boys attempting to extinguish a live incendiary bomb.

Also in the picture were two firemen, and the caption read "Leave this to us Sonny, you ought to be out of London"!

By 1943 some evacuee's ventured home, believing the worst to be over. Their optimism was short lived, for in June 1944, the nightmare onslaught of the infamous V-weapons commenced, prompting another hurried departure. It was not uncommon for some people to have evacuated on all three occasions.

In 1945, the end of hostilities in Europe heralded the return of thousands of evacuee's from all parts of the country. The re-settlement was a slower process than the evacuation had been. The bombing had taken it's toll of housing and also educational facilities. In West Ham, 34 schools had been either completley destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.

Existing schools which hitherto has been sparsely attended now found themselves in full to overcrowding conditions.

For some children who suffered unhappy conditions in their foster homes, the homecoming was a joyous occasion, but for others it would be traumatic.

They had settled into a new way of life in rural surroundings, and were reluctant to leave their foster families, friends and schools. Their accents had changed too, so it often became difficalt to ascertain where they had originally come from.

They returned to a strange and alien environment where vast open spaces replaced streets of houses and shops, and where grass, shrubs, and even small trees were growing in the rubble strewn ground.

These areas together with skeletal remains of bombed out buildings formed huge adventure playgrounds and presented a serious problem to the police and local authority.

Their outlook was altogether different from those who has remained behind. They knew nothing of the nightly trips to the Anderson Shelter or the tunnels of the London Underground, or of the stress from living under these extreme conditions for a prolonged period.

Some would not even have remembered their original homes. Six years is a long time in the life of a child. Whilst some would prefer not to be reminded of their lives as evacuees, for others strong ties were established with their foster families.

My wife Dorothy who left London as a nine year old and returned in her mid-teens is still in touch with her Welsh "cousins".

For my part, I was glad I was not evacuated. Certainly I would have had a better education uninterrupted by school closures and air attacks; however I would have missed sharing the final precious months of my fathers life. He died in December 1940 from heart problems exacerbated by the bombing.

I was also able to live through and witness an historic period, which although terrible and traumatic, matured me and brought me face to face with the barbarity and inhumanity of war. It taught me also to treasure the gift of life. In retrospect, I believe my decision was the right one.

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