大象传媒

I was living in France (Dinard) in June 1940 with my foster parents when the Germans invaded. My foster father was English and myself and my foster mother were born in Southern Ireland. All the English were trying to get out of France and my parents packed some of their belongings and set off for the nearest port which was at St. Malo.

When we arrived we were told that all the boats were full and had already gone. We were told to come back the next day as there might be another boat. When we turned up the following day there was indeed another boat but it was full of soldiers and they could only fit us in if we left all our luggage behind. We left everything except a teddy I was carrying. It had no arms so I told the boy next door I would be back one day to fetch them. I was eight years old.

Besides my parents and myself there were a few other people boarding the boat. One of them was a man dressed as a priest. Half way across the channel there was a raid and a German plane tried to sink the boat so someone asked the priest to say some prayers. He was unable to because he was not a priest, but a German spy! The soldiers kept an eye on him until we arrived at Southampton where he was arrested.

We stayed in Southampton for a few months and then moved to Nottinghill, London to live. This was where I went to school. When there was an air raid we would go down to the shelter which was built in our garden or sometimes we would go into the underground to shelter. We had to carry gas masks with us all the time.

I lost my teddy bear in an air raid shelter.

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