大象传媒

Late Summer of 1939. I can remember my parents anxiety concerning the possibility of war with Germany. I was too young to understand the impact of war with a country which seemed so far away. I vaguely remember the day war broke out and the solemn announcement over the wireless but that may be because of the number of times I have heard that sombre announcement over the years.
The next thing I appear to remember was the talk of Evacuees coming in 1940. I lived in Rutland in the Village of Whissendine and was an only child. A group of Evacuees, with their teachers, were due to arrive at the village school at about 4.00pm. My mother had asked my father to call after work and see if there was a little girl about my age as we only had a two-bedroom bungalow. He was a little late calling and the only child left was a small slip of a girl with curls all over her head. She was there with her gas mask, suitcase and name label on her coat so he brought her home. She was five and her name was Joan Campbell from Walthamstow. It was strange, but nice having a little sister. The following spring we did take in two boys who were being badly treated at the home they were allocated to so the front room had to be allocated as another bedroom. However, one of the boys could not settle and returned home. The other boy, Derek Barton, stayed on with us. Both evacuees had to return home for a little while as my father was very ill with pneumonia but they came back when the Doodlebugs started targeting London.

'This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sara-Jane Higginbottom of the CSV Action Desk Leicester on behalf of June Goodwin and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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