大象传媒

My name is Win Crouch, nee Clark, and I spent World War 2 in Staplehurst in Kent. At the outbreak of the war I was just married and soon had a son followed 5 years later by the arrival of a daughter.

Being near to the south coast and railway lines action overhead was noisy and frequent. Sometimes sleeping was difficult, more so when my husband was on duty with the Home Guard. As he then had to be at work on the farm the next morning at 7.30 a.m., and with my two young children to see to, there wasn鈥檛 much peace.

There were humorous moments as well as sad. I remember on one occasion putting up the pram hood when there was an overhead dog-fight! We made do with our rations, and I remember my young son, no more than three or four, with his eyes popping out of his head at the sight of a whole pound of butter one war time Christmas.

We only had slight damage to our cottage, but there was quite a lot in Staplehurst itself. Early one morning the baker was injured by shrapnel, so there was no bread for a short while. Luckily he was back baking quite soon. Staplehurst station was either set on fire, or flattened by bombs, at least three times.

One luxury were 鈥淎gricultural Pies鈥� made at the local pub and another were potatoes roasted in the hop oast. We had no oranges, bananas or ice cream, although orange juice and cod liver oil came from the welfare clinic in medicine bottles. We were lucky in having a large kitchen garden which provided us with a regular supply of fruit and vegetables as the seasons permitted.

Old habits die hard though. I still hoard and re-use as much as I can. You didn鈥檛 waste anything then and I still don鈥檛 want to. It was a miracle we all came though it, even though we lost three members of our family. I attach a photograph of my cousin Jack Shirley who as you can see served in the R.A.F. He was lost late on in the war on a bombing mission over Germany, and it was not until relatively recently we found out that he and the rest of his crew had been buried in a cemetery in Poland. He is mentioned in the Book of Remembrance in the R.A.F. Church in The Strand.

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