- Contributed byÌý
- HnWCSVActionDesk
- People in story:Ìý
- Frances Gray
- Location of story:Ìý
- America
- Background to story:Ìý
- Civilian
- Article ID:Ìý
- A7917032
- Contributed on:Ìý
- 20 December 2005
The Evacuated children at the Royal Victoria College, McGill. Francis is in the 2nd row, 4th from the left. Brother is in the front row, 3rd from left.
In July 1940 when it looked as if Hitler would invade England, Yale University invited 125 children aged between 8 and 15 and 25 mothers from the Oxford and Cambridge Universities to be looked after by American Families for the duration of the war.
I was privileged to be one of this group and I was aged 10 in 1940. We sailed from Liverpool on the SS Antonia and we had a Polish escort. We were torpedoed twice by a U Boat but mercifully they missed us.
One morning it was appallingly rough. We zigzagged across the Atlantic and landed at Quebec on the St Lawrence River after 11 days at sea. We were taken to Montreal where it was very hot and we were looked after by kind Canadians at McGill University. From there we went by train to New Haven Connecticut where Yale University is.
The Americans were unbelievably good and generous to us. Three English families were housed in a school house at Miss Porter’s School Farmington Connecticut for 2 years and two other English families were housed by the Wilmer Lewis’, a wonderful American couple.
At Christmas the headmistress and school gave us all skis and skates and ski suits so that we could enjoy the 4 months of snow and ice in the winter. We made very good friends at school and will never forget the three and a half war years which forged permanent links with very special families in the same party.
As children we had a wonderful and happy experience as guests of our American sponsors. I was very fortunate as my mother, Kitty Burn was a nurse for the party and she was with us all the time. For the 25 mothers who came, they missed their husbands terribly — and many tried to return to England as soon as they could, in spite of the kindness of the Americans. Families were split up too, which was sad, my father, eldest brother and sister were left behind in England. They were over 15 in 1940 and did not qualify to belong to our party.
This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Frances Gray and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.
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