大象传媒

THREE TIMES A WIDOW.

My name is Tracey Shelden I was born in Bond Street Hospital. Leicester. Although I was adopted I feel proud of my parents, and I would like to tell of their war time involvement. First there was my Nana. She was in Newcastle during the war and I remember that she had really bright white hair, brighter than blond and the greys. I found out later that this was for a very good and extreme reason. Her husband Mr. John Andrews joined the Royal Navy and became what I believe to be a Petty Officer or more. I cannot remember for sure, but his son took after him and was very mechanically minded. The real reason for my Nan鈥檚 pure white hair was because she had been told that her husband, John had been sunk three separate times. Three times she was told that she was a widow. Can you imagine that, the shock of one time widow would have been enough? I believe that he was on board the vessel that rescued the first ocean going liner that got sunk by the German navy. When the Mayday went out it was fortunate that he was close. I always remember the wooden dolls house that he made for me. My Nan was always on edge, always on guard and nervous, fearful of loss. Unfortunately when John came home he suffered terribly from bad lungs and his general health was seriously affected.

On the other side of my family I remember another Granddad called Robert Mitchell. He was a Metropolitan Policemen serving in London during the war. He had a considerate approach to policing and would sometimes let something鈥檚 pass. But was known to be very strict against the wrong type of person, like rapists and murderers etc. He helped people, guided them to shelters and rescued them without consideration of their backgrounds. Although some of his colleagues, sometimes, might ignore helping those kinds of people who were known to be ripping off the innocent. I remember him being a Willey Old Fox and at this time, pets were not allowed into air raid shelters. Many would uphold this rule strictly, but John was known to make the occasional exception to the young child holding their puppy or rabbit.

'This story was submitted to the Peoples War Site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Tracey Shelden and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions

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