大象传媒

My earliest memories of the war are from the age of 9 when I was at school. If we had an air raid the night before school did not start until 10 - a whole hour later than usual. The routine of studying at your desk was broken by the occasional air raid when we had to run across the school grounds to the communal air raid shelters. Hanging in the cloakroom at school each child had a rucksack which contained a pair of shoes (in case of evacuation involving a long walk) and a bar of chocolate (for sustenance on the way). Needless to say, with chocolate being such a delicacy in wartime, many children could not resist eating their chocolate and of course the evacuation never happened. When I was about 15 the Americans arrived and by virtue of being in the WJATC (Women's Junior Air Training Corps), going to the Doughnut Dugout (a social club for American servicemen) and making coffee and cooking doughnuts, I eventually graduated to being permitted to talk to the servicemen. As nice young ladies in those days our social lives were very strictly controlled.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.