大象传媒

I was born in 1936 on the Isle of Man.

In the early 1940s, the "aliens" as we called them - who were actually the prisoners of war and internees - arrived on the Isle of Man.

My father used to pick some 5 of the internees up in Douglas and bring them to the farm ... to come and work ... they would help with the harvest, plant potatoes, and other general work around the fields. They were mainly Italians and they were nice people.

They would make toys for us children out of wood - using a pocket knife that my father leant them. They would carve farm animals and clowns and model aeroplanes.

Mother used to get into trouble when we all ate together ... and this was not really allowed. She believed that if they were good enough to work with us, they were good enough to eat with us.

There was always a guard looking after them. I remember one guard was a really grumpy chap ... we would annoy him by running around while he wanted to sit and read something.

They were good workers and they seemed to enjoy getting out to work and they enjoyed being on the Isle of Man.

In the late 1950s, my father and I met up with one of the internees - who was working in a cafe in London.

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