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My father had gone over with the D-Day landings and he was fighting his way through Caen and up through Belgium. One thing I had also wanted was a doll with eyes that shut — all you got were cloth dolls with china faces if you were lucky. One day Dad turned up on leave with a box about 2 foot long and in it was the most beautiful doll you had ever seen… with actual hair and eyes that actually opened and closed. He said that he had been marching through Belgium and saw these in a window. He went back and bought it from the shop keeper. The box was lined with something like wallpaper. It was dressed in a blue pleated skirt and a white blouse — typical of what people wore in the 1930s.

Where we lived at that time was near Croyden airport and my father didn’t like having to come back by boat so if he could get a lift on a transport plane coming into Croyden he would. He had managed to bring it home without breaking it. It was my pride and joy and I have still got it. It was the sort of doll you see on Antiques Roadshow now.

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