大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Anne Wareing of the Lancashire Home Guard on behalf of Jack Wakefiel and has been added to the site with his permission.

Two very different stories about hitchhiking, both of which happened to me during the war.

In 1940 I was in the RAF stationed in Wiltshire, I was 19 at the time and hitchhiking my way back from Bristol. Travel passes were limited and it was a regular sight to see servicemen hitchhiking on the roads in uniform, as indeed I was on this particular day.

There I was thumbing a lift when a large black Daimler car drew up and I was told to get inside only to be confronted by Queen Mary. To this day I cannot tell you what she said to me and I was absolutely tongue-tied. Apparently she was well known giving service men and women a lift should she be passing by and I, as a lucky recipient of her kindness, shall certainly never forget that day.

The other story was also in 1940 when I was at RAF Training School. I had spent a weekend with friends at a house in Portishead and whilst there, they were paid a visit by some other friends.

When it came time for me to leave I was going to hitchhike back and as they were going my way they offered me a lift, dropping me off in Bath Road, Bristol. As they lived nearby they asked if I would like to go for tea, but I had to get back before dark so politely I declined. That night Bristol was blitzed and two or three days later I heard from the people I was billeted with, that the house I had been asked to visit for tea that evening had been bombed and everyone had been killed.

It certainly makes you think, had I gone for tea that day I wouldn鈥檛 have been here sixty years later to tell these stories.

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