大象传媒

I was a boarder at the Midhurst Grammar school from Sept '42 and observed much of the war activities in the South. Initially we had a girls' school from London, Lady Margarets, evacuated on us. This created much disruption to young boys' hormones and school work! When the air raid alarm would sound we all had to move fast out of the school into the woods. The teaching staff had an impossible job gathering all together again at the "all clear".
There were numerous sad times heralded by the headmaster's sudden appearance in the classroom asking for a particular boy to accompany him to his study. This invariably meant that some close relation had been killed. Two of my close friemds had this experience, one lost his brother in the air the other his father underwater in a sub.
Later on the buzz bombs would travel over head to London, sometimes we saw one be shot down by a pursuing fighter plane and sometimes one would cut out and land in our area of West Sussex. This occasioned the only casualty I know of in the boarding house. I was in sick bay with another lad, he was looking out the window at a buzz bomb when its engine cut. He yelled "It's coming down", cleared my bed in a bound and landed on his head breaking his nose!
As the Normandy Landing time approached we realised someting big was happening, the military activity all around became extremely busy. One morning we awoke to see the playground wall broken down and the school yard full of tanks. The tank crews were really good to us playing tag and other games during the day. They were gone the next day. Another occasion was when we went to a favourite copse to play "Robin Hood Commandos" and suddenly came upon a tented encampment. They were Canadians on the move south. We chatted and chewed on Chiclets and Hershey Bars. The Canucks clearly enjoyed our company and no doubt were holding onto normal life as much as they could. Whilst we were young kids we realised what these young soldiers, only a few years older than ourselves, would be feeling.
I remember the evening and night of 3rd May '44 so very clearly even now in my dotage! The sky was a continuous drone of aircraft, it seemed to go on for ever. We obviously knew the invasion had started. I wondered then and still do ,how many of those kind squadies who played and chatted to us survived.
V.E. day was also unforgettable. Quiet sleepy Midhurst went wild. There was a giant bonfire built in the school garden and the whole town seemed to be at the school. No holds were barred and we kids had a freedom to break every school rule!
A footnote of post war reminiscence. We were allowed to work on local farms (6d an hour) to help harvest etc. I got talking to a foriegn lad about a year older than me. He was a "displaced person-D.P.)" from the Baltic. He had fought with the Germans at the age of ten, then with the partisans against the Germans. He was only sixteen when I met him.

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