大象传媒

I was only 4 when WW2 broke out, but my Dad was a prisoner of War in the Far East, and my Mother decided to do war work, so my older sister and I were sent to boarding school. I was 6 she was 10.

It must have been in the summer of 1940 when during an air raid a German fighter plane was shot down and ended up on the hockey pitch. The girls in my sister's form (and above) rushed down to the crash site and decided to take souvenirs (I believe my sister mentioned that the pilot was still in the plane! Everything that was movable was taken, but mostly maps and other papers.

There was great excitement for a few days, and then it looked like going back to normal when we were all called to assembly and a man came up to the front and talked about the aeroplane which by then had been removed. Then he said "I think that some of you have taken souveniers from the aircraft, and as these may be secret papers would anyone having anything please bring them up to me. A bunch of the girls left the room and returned with the papers they had removed, and we got the usual telling off that "you could have been hurt" but later on we were told that amongst the stuff we had squirreled away were German maps showing where they thought the prime targets were for the South West of England!

Looking back over the event, it now amazes me to realise that none of the children were shocked or scared to see the dead pilot. These days I am sure a range of Counsellors would be despatched next day.

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