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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Childhood in Newhaven

by Languard Fort

Contributed by听
Languard Fort
People in story:听
Roy Clark
Location of story:听
Newhaven, Sussex
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A2714555
Contributed on:听
07 June 2004

I lived in Newhaven in Sussex during the war, although I was evacuated for a while to Thurleigh in Bedfordshire, where I lived in a windmill. I still visit the lady who looked after me sometimes.

I returned to Newhaven to work on the railway, as I wasn鈥檛 old enough to sign up. I remember there was an ammunition barge that broke loose in the harbour. It floated off round the pier, and eventually ended up under the cliff where it exploded. Our windows were damaged 戮 of a mile away. Had it gone up in the harbour, there would have been no more Newhaven. That barge caused more damage that the whole of the German bombing had!
The area I lived in was called Mount Pleasant, and the whole are was turned into a transit camp. Our house was caught up in the camp, as they simply put up a wire fence around the whole area. We had a special ID card, and would be challenged by the sentries on our way home each day. The road from the camp was mined on both sides. Unfortunately, they were too close together, and an enemy bomb landed on one once, and set the whole chain off all the way to Newhaven.

I remember the boats coming back from the beaches after D-Day. They were a mess.

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This story has been placed in the following categories.

Childhood and Evacuation Category
Bedfordshire Category
Sussex Category
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