大象传媒

My first grandparent. Michael Janes, lived in Harrow with his younger brother and his parents. His father owened a car garage in the center of Harrow. My grandfathers uncle, who was a doctor, decided to send my grandfathers cousins to Canada just after the war had started in 1939. My grandfather remebers being very worried because his cousins were going by ship and the German u-boats were starting to hunt for British ships in the Atlantic. He thought they might attack and sink passenger ships. So my grandfather was actually very happy not to be evacuated at the start of the war. He remebers having fun getting his gas mask fitted.
My grandfather went to a school called Orley farm School near Harrow, but after about a year of the war his parents packed bags for him and his brother and they were evacuated to a small village in Devon and went to a school called Stoodleigh. They stayed there for the last 3 years of the war. My grandfather never felt homesick.

My other grandfather, Edward Davis, lived in east london with his brother, sister and his parents. He was never evacuated, but he never knew why not. When air raids started on London it was quite a long time before bombs hit near where he lived. My grandfather and his school friends used to go looking for shrapnel, which they thought came from bombs but were usually the remains of anti-aircraft shells. He could see and also hear bombs falling on London. His father also owned a garage and had built a big bomb shelter there before the war. This meant he was very popular because lots of people wanted to use the shelter. My grandfather used to cycle to school on a bicycle he still has at his home in Colchester. He became almost an 'expert' in listening out for Doodle Bugs. These were bombs that made a buzzing sound which cut out just before exploding. Another even more scary bomb was the V2, which made no sound at all, and therefore gave no warning before exploding.
In the week that the war started my grandfather remembers hearing sirens almost all the time and seeing lots of soldiers, sailors and airmen on the streets. A group of Canadian soldiers came to live next door which made him feel quite safe. He lived with his brother, sister and parents for the rest of the war. He told me he became used to living with the bombing and he forgot to be frightened and sometimes he found it very exciting. He amused himself by playing on bombsites.

Both of my grandparents are alive now. And told me both of these stories.

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