大象传媒

At the beginning of the war I was aged four and five months but I well remember the day war was declared. It was a hot September day and my family and neighbours were all in our garden playing and having a good time - using the garden hose to cool us off and playing with the neighbours dog. I remember my father going into the house and coming out again into the garden and saying that war had been declared. It was his tone of voice and the effect that his words had on everybody which made me realise that this was important and would change everything. It wasn't long after this day that my father tried to build an Anderson Shelter in the garden. His efforts were in vain. The soil was clay and the hole he dug immediately filled with water. When the Battle of Britain took place we were able to witness the dog-fights from our garden as our house was very near Biggin Hill Aerodrome. We sheltered in the cupboard under the stairs wrapped up in blankets. I found this very exciting but my sister and parents were very distressed. Later on my mother and my sister and I were evacuated to Malborough. My brother's school, The City of London School for Boys, had already been moved there to Malborough College. We spent Christmas in a farm-house in Bewick St John and were joined there by my aunt and cousin from Deal in Kent. Our form of transport there was a dog-cart and we went to the dairy to get our milk. Soon after Christmas we made the journey to Malborough and spent the first few weeks in a small cottage with an old woman whom we called Mrs Pinchard. She didn't welcome the fact that she had to give lodging to a mother and her two small daughters. She was even less pleased with the situation when the two small girls developed chicken-pox and measles. My mother eventually found rented accommodation and removed to a council house with a large garden on the other side of the town. It was there that I first saw tanks and black American soldiers. I remember running behind the American tanks as they thundered up our hill shouting 'Have you any gum, chum?' Some of the soldiers did throw us gum. I don't think my mother ever knew where we got it.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.