大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Nona Dougherty of the GMR Action Desk on behalf of Terence Gorton, Ron Yeates and Brian Bolt and has been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the site's terms and conditions."

5.30 on the morning of the 6th June - it was "D" Day! I was in St. George's Dormitory and we were woken up by the sound of hundreds of aircraft going overhead. The aircraft were swing gliders and were all painted black and white stripes on the bodywork and wings.

I was about 12-1/2 at the time and was evacuated to Somerford Hall Camp, nr. Congleton in Cheshire. The aircraft were escorted by fighter planes. There was me, Brian Bolt, Ronnie Eights and Smudgy Smith. We all sent out onto the veranda, the teachers as well as the lads. We knew something big was going on but we didn't know what it was. The planes were going overhead for over half an hour. We all stood there cheering although no-one knew what was happening. It was about 5 pm and we got told by the teachers that the "D" Day had started. We hoped for the best!

I remember standing outside Congleton, and seeing Manchester being bombed, you could see the fires! It was a lovely camp, a beautiful place. It was all boys, about 40 altogether. The headmaster was Mr. Lambourne and the teachers were Mr. Garrey, Mr. Murphy Miss Nicholson [the only lady teacher] and Prof Gregory. Miss Nicholson taught us about nature. She was my favourite teacher! I remember picking spuds, top and tailing turnips and swedes and cutting kale for the cattle.

We got a shilling a day!!

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