大象传媒

Dear Daniel,
I was so interested to hear that you were studying The War of 1939-1945 I remember it very well. I thought you might possibly be interested in some of the things that I remember about those days.
I knew that there was something wrong by the time I was about five (1938). My grown ups talked a lot in hushed voices, and tended to stop if they saw me listening. There was much talk of making preparations and plans, and 鈥渂eing ready鈥�. What I only understood later was that most people in this country thought that there would not be a war, and that my parents were among the few who were afraid it could not be prevented 鈥� they agreed with Winston Churchill, but few others agreed with him. But by the middle of 1939 the whole country was beginning to wake up at last, we were all issued with gas masks, anti-aircraft gun emplacements were set up in all the London parks, some families began to buy air raid shelters, either to install in the garden or to build a strong place inside the house. We could not afford this, and anyway my family had made other plans. By August 1939 my father had rejoined the Royal Marines, although he was really too old, having been a serving officer both before and during the First World War, and he had been sent to Scotland to help protect the British navy. My brother (aged 17) had left home too, he was in Suffolk having volunteered to enlist six months early, and he was training to be an anti aircraft gunner. The great fear was that all major cities would be bombed.
At the end of August a telegram arrived from my father, I read it when my mother was doing something else, it said 鈥淕ET DOROTHY OUT OF LONDON. STOP. LOVE STOP. RALPH STOP.鈥� A couple of days later a cousin of my mother鈥檚 turned up in her little car, and I was told that we were going to stay with her for a while. There were certain toys my mother had not packed (probably too big) and I was pretty upset about this. I am still, and I wondered for years who had got them now, and who was playing with them. I did not like this cousin, she was bossy and bad tempered, and had better clothes than my mother, who seemed quite frightened of her. By the evening I found myself living in the most enormous country house in Sussex, well away from London, and everything that made me feel secure.
There were so many changes, these people, a part of my family I had never met, seemed so different, everyone seemed worried and in a funny sort of mood, I was constantly told to be good, to be quiet, to do what I was told, to keep out of the way etc and frankly I just wanted to go home. On the Sunday the bells rang out as we walked to church (a new experience for me), and although I recognised some of the things that were said ( it was a bit like morning Assembly at school actually) I was extremely puzzled when the vicar turned on a radio which seemed to be standing at the front. It was then that I heard the speech which I think you may well hear recorded as part of your school project, where Neville Chamberlain breaks the news that 鈥淎 state of war exists therefore between this country and Germany鈥�. Nobody talked much during the walk back home, and I did not hear church bells again till the war was over six years later, they were reserved to be used only if the Germans actually invaded.
So days and weeks passed. By now I understood more of what this all meant, and what my parents had planned for me. I was to be sent right away from the UK to Canada, for my own safety. There was an official list of things which I had to have before travelling, including two nighties. I was thrilled that my mother bought two modelled on Snow White鈥檚 dress, as she and I had been to see this Walt Disney film earlier in the year. I was nearly six, but I don鈥檛 think I realised fully that I would be travelling alone, and that if the worst came to the worst I might never see any of my family again. I was just rather pleased with the new clothes. Then there was a setback. A boat like the one I would have been travelling on was sunk in mid Atlantic by German U-boats, and I don鈥檛 believe there were any survivors. All mercy trips were cancelled immediately, so my parents had to think again. Oddly enough I found out quite recently that if I had travelled as planned I would probably have met my future husband fifteen years sooner than I did!
Early in 1940, my mother and I went to stay with my Aunt Molly at Southbourne near Bournmouth, and I started to go to school again. My mother though it would be safer than London. Well, no harm came to me there it鈥檚 true, but from my bedroom window I saw elderly men drilling with brooms and spades instead of guns, (Dad鈥檚 Army!), I saw exhausted soldiers sleeping on the pavement and being given cups of tea and sandwiches by ladies with green uniforms, and vans labelled WRVS (Women鈥檚 Royal Voluntary Service) 鈥� this was after the retreat from the French port of Dunkirk, and, most exciting of all, I saw airplanes doing acrobatics in the sky, shooting at each other, and gunfire from the ground which left little inky blots of cloud in the sky, and this was the Battle of Britain. My mother evidently thought that this was no sight for young eyes and took me back to London. When the Germans started bombing London we received another telegram from my father which said 鈥淐OME AT ONCE. STOP. RALPH. STOP.鈥� So I started at another school, this time in the extreme north of Scotland, at a place called Thurso. I enjoyed our time there as we were able to see Daddy, my brother by now had been sent to join the Eighth Army in North Africa, and we did not see him again until 1945.
But the Germans still seemed to be after me, and started bombing Thurso, though I suppose now I realise that it was really the British fleet they were after, not me. So we went to stay with another cousin in Wales, and this was where I spent the happiest years of my childhood, from age seven to about eleven. I realised immediately that I loved rural life, the scenery, the people, the life of a farming community, and I really threw myself into it. I decided that if the war was still on when I was seventeen that I would apply to join the Land Army, and I really looked forward to it. I didn鈥檛 go to school for a couple of years as my father found a retired headmaster who gave me lessons at home (mornings only) and I really loved this old guy whose sayings and bits of good advice I can remember to this day. At one point I had to go and take an examination and apparently I passed quite successfully. Anyway I started secondary school in Wales and my best friend there (Jean) was the daughter of a local farmer, and this friendship made me more sure than ever that I wanted to work on the land when I was old enough. I was really shocked when in early 1944 my mother said that we were going 鈥渉ome鈥�. Home to me was now South Wales, and I had no wish ever to see London again. I got some relief when The Germans invented a new kind of travelling rocket called the V1, which they aimed at London, although it was obvious by then that they were not going to win. They followed this with its big brother, the V2, and guess what, I was sent back actually to stay by myself back on Jean鈥檚 farm, but only for a short time 鈥渂ecause of school鈥�.
Life in London was quite safe now, and it was just a matter of getting our armies across France and into Germany, and defeating the Nazi regime for good. . I knew instantly that this meant I would never be a landgirl. Once again people could go up to the West End of London and go to cinemas and theatres or to football matches. Some neighbours of ours asked my mother if they might take me up to have a meal out and go to see a good film one evening, (I was about twelve and a half by now) and she was very pleased to say yes to this grown up treat. It turned out a lot more grown up than expected as the Newsreel which came on before the main feature showed some really dreadful footage of some of the camps our soldiers and the Americans had discovered on their way through Germany. I will not go into detail except to say that up to that day no-one had known for certain what was happening, or indeed that such things could happen in the modern world. We are not so innocent nowadays. I always felt so sorry for our friends who were so embarrassed to have been the cause of my seeing these films at such a young age. Yet at the same time I realised that I was witnessing what was really the end of the European part of the war. I had heard the beginning in one public building, and I saw the end in another
It was interesting at the time, and I hope will be for you, and it certainly changed my life for the better, and coming at the age I was then it made me very much into the person I am today- but it could easily have been tragically different, as it was for so many people.
I hope you won鈥檛 get the idea that this was the most important thing that ever happened in history, don鈥檛 get stuck in a sort of time warp. Europe has changed so much since, Germany is now one of our valued allies, and there are other much more pressing concerns for the whole planet. For example, how are we going to help Africa feed itself, how are we going to sort out the various international arguments that are going on, and all efforts ought to be going into uniting to improve the environment. When I was teaching I noticed that very often some of the children would say they wanted to write a story and when I read it the story said only 鈥淭he English and the Germans had a battle, and the English won鈥� Then they would draw a picture. I know your stories are more interesting than that!
Much love,
Granny

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