大象传媒

I was seven at the time and living in Folkestone Kent in a flat overlooking the harbour. At the bottom of our garden a narrow lane separated the railway from Folkestone Harbour to the main line. During May 1940 during the evacuation of Dunkirk a constant stream of trains from the harbour containing war weary troops passed by.
I remember scampering around in the lane picking up notes and letters from the troops, all unstamped, and giving to my mother who would stamp them or put them in envelopes, posting them so that their relatives would know they were safe. Further up the line there was a level crossing and the trains made frequent stops allowing the ladies the opportunity of passing cups of tea to the troops.

My family moved to Wiltshire when it got a bit hot in Folkestone, and we lived in a little village called Ludgershall, surrounded by military camps. I remember the US troops arriving by train from Andover led by a military band playing "Blaze Away"
There was a hill between' Perham Down camp, and Tidworth nick named "Million Dollar Hill" because as far as you could see there were Sherman tanks, half track vehicles, and jeeps. One day in late May 1944 it emptied overnight, presumably to get ready for the invasion.

I went to school in Salisbury, and frequently arrived late from my seventeen mile bus ride because the Airborne troops on exercises had crashed their gliders across the main road. Later I realised that this was probably practising the famous landing at Pegasus Bridge in France. On my way to school I passed close to Boscombe Down the experimental RAF base, and reported to my father one night that I had seen a strange aircraft making a strange noise, and 'that it had no propeller. My father just laughed, but very soon there were reports of the Gloucester Whittle jet, and I had seen it during testing.

After the invasion we moved back to Folkestone, but it was really a bit early, as the cross channel guns were still in action bombarding mainly Folkestone and Dover, and several times when in school we had to run for shelter. Our school was hit, as was the local hospital. When the school was hit there were no injuries as the children had either gone home to lunch, or were in the school canteen.

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