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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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War Time Experiences in Great Yarmouth by Joan Andrews

by Telling_Lives

Contributed by听
Telling_Lives
People in story:听
Joan Andrews
Location of story:听
Great Yarmouth
Article ID:听
A2571455
Contributed on:听
27 April 2004

I lived in a very old house built in 1700 in Great Yarmouth. I stayed in the house all through the war. My mum and I never went down a shelter - when the air raid siren sounded I used to go under the table which my father had made so I was safe.
We always slept upstairs. One night we had a very bad raid and the crash siren went. I never heard it, my mum woke me up and I flew out of bed and went downstairs and under the table. We had this bad air raid and Johnson's factory caught alight. Our back windows were so hot that you could've fried an egg on them, of course that's if you had one.
My father got stationed in Great Yarmouth. When my father came back off leave one night I was going up the stairs singing "A Badge from your coat will be close to my heart" and I lost my way. I called my mother and she found me near the landing window. I don't know how I got there.
When Mason's Laundry got hit my mother did all the washing for the boys. That included the army, navy, airforce and the Americans.
I left school at 14 and I went to work in Mason's Laundry. American clothing was far superior to our boys, and while sorting an American's washing I came across a pair of trunks. Right in the front, in the most important place was a motif - shake well before use!

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This story has been placed in the following categories.

The Blitz Category
Childhood and Evacuation Category
International Friendships Category
Norfolk Category
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