大象传媒

I went on the Dunera to Hong Kong and stayed at the Peninsula Hotel. It had been very rough weather and one of those times when, after going ashore, it was difficult to walk on steady ground because you could still feel the rocking of the ship and it took a while to lose your 鈥榮ea legs鈥�. The enemy had taken the cable from the peak railway and dropped it in the harbour and during the time I was there it was found and put back. We went up to the peak and there were beautiful houses up there from the colonial period, but all the wooden fixings and staircases had been stripped out to the level of a person鈥檚 reach by the Chinese natives to use for fuel. It was sad to see but I suppose they had to survive.

We were able to have lovely clothes made in Hong Kong and they would actually make shoes for you as well, which was very useful for me, having such little feet.

We left Hong Kong on the Cheshire and gradually began to work our way home. There were a lot of women and children on the ships, being taken back to England. Many had been prisoners of war and of course quite a few of the children were half Japanese, the results, in many cases, of rape when the women were prisoners. It was very sad and we wondered how these children would be received when they got back to the families in England. Although they looked Japanese, they were effectively English, having been brought up by English mothers. We used to do shows on board the ships and to see all these children singing their little hearts out in 鈥淕od Save the King鈥� at the end of the show was very touching and used to almost have us in tears.

So after years abroad entertaining our fighting forces through the war, we finally arrived back in Southampton aboard the Strathnarva on 5 May 1946. We never received a medal, although they were officially awarded and I feel it is very sad that ENSA is never represented in the Armistice Day parades, but I was glad to be able to make my contribution in my own way to the war effort.

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