大象传媒

大象传媒 War Time Experiences
Shirley Jean Gargan nee Sharpe
born Douglas, Isle of Man 1934.

Before the war my mother ran a boarding house in Douglas. Some time after the start of the war the government seized lots of boarding houses in order to house internees who had been rounded up from all over Britain. These internees were a mixture of people of foreign origin, Jews, German Nazi, Italians, etc.
One such person was a man from Glasgow, an Italian, Mr Sassarini. He had a Fish and Chip shop in Glasgow and was married to a Scottish woman. They had two sons both born in Glasgow and both serving in the British Army. For reasons best known to him self he never applied for British citizenship.
Mrs Sassarini came over to the island when she could to see her interned husband. She was permitted to visit him for a limited period. In order to extend her time with him she would walk on the outside of the barbwire enclosure while Mr Sassarini walked on the inside. The armed guards often chased her away, so in order to gain some sympathy from them she would borrow me with my mother鈥檚 permission and we walked up and down the wire, it seemed to work as they had no wish to upset a child. I was about seven at the time.
Shirley Gargan

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