大象传媒

As a young boy I lived at Swanwick in Derbyshire. We lived at a place called the Delves. Nearby we had a prisoner of war camp which had both German and Italian soldiers in it. I never had any dealings with the Italian prisoners but when I was about 13 or 14 I used to work picking mangles and turnips for Farmer Simms who had fields near to the reservoir. Four German soldiers used to help us chop up the turnips, they could speak a little English and we generally got on with them very well. I remember their 'snap' it would consist of a tube of cheese and a bit of bacon, which they used to like. I thought it tasted horrible. I was never frightened of them because they had been around for years and you just got used to seeing them around.

Eventually they were alowed into the village and they used to go to peoples houses for a bit of tea (usually sandwiches) it was meant to help the soldiers from feeling isolated and homesick. The soldiers in turn would make toys for the local kids such as little dogs and tabletennis bats. Everyone got on OK.

There were also American soldiers that visited the Hays and some of these courted our local girls. Some of the girls actually married the Americans and went back wih them to America when the war was finished.

I remember the most frightening thing about the war was the doodlebugs, waiting to see where they were going to land was terrifying. During blackout the ARP's would come round and tell you to put your lights out.

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