大象传媒

In 1939 when the war broke out on 2nd September, I was a schoolgirl in Ceylon and lived in a town about 22 miles from the capital Colombo.

Travel became rather hazardous, and going to school was getting dangerous as I had a train journey followed by a twenty-minute walk. The roads were not very wide and there were no pavements, so it was difficult to get by with the British military tanks and trucks constantly passing by.

At school they dug trenches for the children to go into, for protection during an air raid. We were given instructions on air raid precautions and whenever the siren sounded we had to observe them. These were carried out frequently to help us remember exactly what to do in the event of a genuine air raid. For example - if we were in the classrooms we had to put a pencil across the teeth, block our ears with cotton wool and lie down under our desks, but if we were outside we had to go into the trenches.

Commander-in-Chief, Geoffery Leighton (or Leyton), visited our School, Holy Family Convent, and came in all the classrooms. It was a very important day for us as he held the highest post at the time.

Life went on for a couple of years with the war like atmosphere all around. There were a number of Prisoners of War camps around our homes. The prisoners were all Italians and lived in tents. Most of them were free to visit the neighbouring homes and were often treated to a cup of tea. They were quite friendly and spoke English fairly fluently. One Christmas I remember they re-created the scene at Bethlehem depicting the Birth of Christ, which was so vast it took up the whole right wing of our Catholic Church. Usually we had just the crib of Christ, but the Italians had built a replica of the town itself including every detail such as roads, shops and the Inn. It was really very beautiful and people flocked from near and far to see it.

As time went by in the hustle and bustle of military vehicles the cost of living rocketed sky-high. Food was scarce as no ships called in at the harbour in Colombo, which was normally an important Port of Call in the East. Ships were being bombed before they reached the various ports. This resulted in a struggle to exist on 鈥渕eal a day鈥� that consisted mainly of yams and vegetables grown in the countryside. Scarcity of food caused immense problems chiefly because the young and energetic breadwinners were recruited to the army by conscription. Due to these problems most of the children were compelled to keep away from school, which hindered their education considerably. After about three years of dreadful warfare in the western world, Japan entered the war and one day, it was Easter Sunday, we were in church and to our surprise we heard the sound of bombs and a flight of planes overhead. It was the Japanese who had bombed Colombo and its closest suburbs. Our army navy and air force were well equipped and they were able to scare the Japs away before much damage was done. This dreadful incident took place on the 2nd of April 1942.

By this time I was in grade seven at School and as a project I had a large map of Europe on the wall. I had to indicate where towns and countries were captured. Because of this I still remember that Adolf Hitler鈥檚 first success was capturing some of the countries by first bombing Kiel Canal, and taking over Poland. After he attempted the surrounding countries, he dropped a few bombs over England, which caused some damage to Buckingham Palace.

After some time an aura of calm prevailed which helped most children in Ceylon to get back to school after four years of disruption. I lost a year of schooling when things were so difficult I had to stay at home 鈥� but I returned later and took my exams in 1944, and I got my Certificate after I had got married!

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