大象传媒

June 26th 1940 had been a lovely warm English summer's day. Having helped to evacuate our school from Bexhill, Sussex where we could hear the guns of Dunkerque we had just settled into a lovely old house in Shropshire. This was to be the wartime abode for the rest of the school. For me, however, things were suddenly different. That evening I was told I was being evacuated to live with relatives in America and had to be in London the next day.

I was driven to Shrewsbury, bundled onto a train and told to get off in London. As there were no names on any of the stations (a plan to confuse the Germans had they landed) it was hard to tell where we were but luckily London was the last stop.

With my mother we rushed round London and in 4 hours managed to get my ticket to Montreal, a passport, US visa, do some shopping and prepare to leave home the next morning. For security reasons we could not let anyone know where I was going let alone from which port.

Aged just 14 this all seemed a thrilling adventure to be setting off across the Atlantic and the full implication did not really hit us until the ship with me, my two cousins and about 300 "Evacuees" all under 16, pulled away from the quayside, leaving our parents to return home.

Having been so strict about security one can imagine my parents horror when a friend telephoned and said "I gather from Lord Haw-Haw's broadcast that Angela is on her way to America on the Duchess of Richmond." No one was meant to know any details and yet the Germans evidently had the names of some of the children being evacuated - a chilling thought. A U-boat, presumably intending to sink us, instead sank the Arandora Star, a day's sailing behind us.

Eight days after we left Liverpool we reached Quebec, then Montreal. Before we were allowed to disembark we were each labelled and were handed over to the Canadian Mounties until we were claimed. I then had an overnight train journey down to Philadelphia all alone and very apprehensive.

There were problems: we were no allowed to telephone out of America, letters took up to 6 weeks and sometimes never arrived and my parents were only allowed by the Government to transfer 拢100 for my upkeep.

In 1943 I decided I must come home. With a lot of difficulty I finally got a passage on a troop ship, laden with American troops and just 17 returning evacuees. Conditions were cramped - 6 girls in a single cabin with a US Corporal on guard duty outside our door. It took two weeks travelling in a huge convoy to go from New York, north of Queensland and down to Gourock. For the whole time we had to sleep fully clothed in case we were torpedoed.

After three years living a relatively normal life it took some time to adjust to rationing, clothing coupons, black outs and later doodle bugs, a life to which everyone had become accustomed.

What an unforgettable experience it was on 8th May 1945 to join the crowds in Parliament Square to see Churchill, then up the Mall to the Palace and finally to Waterloo Bridge for a view of a floodlit St Pauls.

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