- Contributed by听
- 大象传媒 Southern Counties Radio
- People in story:听
- Eleanor Gibson (nee Latham, later Grieve), Col Latham, Mrs Latham, Dennis Carey, Felicity Latham, Christopher Latham, Mary Latham, James Latham, Spike Milligan
- Location of story:听
- Hailsham, Tamworth
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4393325
- Contributed on:听
- 07 July 2005
When Dunkirk happened I was 16 and living near Hailsham. My brother-in-law Dennis, a regular soldier, came back from Dunkirk and said 鈥淲omen and children must leave Sussex as we can鈥檛 fight with them underfeet鈥, so Mother put my four younger siblings into a Morris Minor with Nanny and I was put on the bus. It was a beautiful sunshiny day, and as we drove along the A22 I looked at all the beautiful Downs and wondered when I would see them again.
We were all evacuated to live with my mother鈥檚 friends who had a farm near Tamworth. Things were very disorganised and our meat ration for the week was two kidneys.
One night from the farm we witnessed the massive raid on Coventry, about twenty miles away.
After a year we returned to Hailsham, where I met a young man called 鈥淪pike鈥, who was a telegraphist whose battery was posted in the garden of our house. We had two gunpoint twos in the garden pointing at Pevensey Bay in case of a German invasion. Spike used to play in the band whenever we had a dance. Later Spike found fame on a wider scale 鈥 his surname was Milligan.
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