大象传媒

I was born 7/8/43 and was evacuated from the vicinity of Northolt to Leeds shortly after I was born. My brother (5) and sister (3) were housed separately to my mother and myself. She hated it! We moved shortly afterwards to my maternal grandparents with aunts and uncles in Borehamwood. 11 people in a small semi. Then back to South Harrow in Nov 1944.
Strong memories of aircraft noise and big guns going off and always people in uniform. Like many families of infantry men and seamen we were very short of money. Shortage of food made my mother very weak and her health suffered. She was so weak that she could only go up and down stairs on her bottom. My father's brother, working in industry was able to help us out financially for which we were always grateful, as we were for Australian relatives for sending us food packages. The meat we could afford was awful, all grizzle and fat. I only liked corned beef and spam.
I can remember seeing my father for the first time. He came home from India late in 1946. We went to meet him at the station and I recall seeing crowds of men in army uniform and then this one man came towards us and I remember thinking "So this is my Dad". I also remember very clearly sitting opposite him on the bus home and just staring at him. A short time later he left early, and I asked my mother if he was going away again. He returned a few days later for good.
I remember a sense of sadness often being in the house, my mother's two brothers were killed. Also the sense of anger over the eldest brother receiving no pension as he was killed in training, not in action. The younger brother died in a Lancaster. We all feel that Bomber Command has never been credited for the trauma it went through in achieving such success over the enemy, and against such horrendous odds.
I would like to acknowledge publicly the gratitude we have received from the inhabitants of the village in France where my uncle's Lancaster crashed, and thank them for the care and respect they gave the bodies of the crew.
Having met subsequently with members of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron who flew with my uncle, I would like to say that I have nothing but the utmost admiration for their skill and courage that they showed throughout the campaign. It may be 60 years since the end of the war but it must be remembered that for a great many of them the truma is as fresh in their mind now as it was then.

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