大象传媒

I was a child during WWII. I lived in a village which saw a lot of changes between 1939 and 1945. Many different soldiers were stationed in the village; Free French, Poles, the Royal Signals, the 4th Hussars, ATS and the FANNYS (the women鈥檚 first aid yeomanry) who drove officers around. The Free French were under General Leclerc. Later they fought with the Americans under General Patton in France and they were the troops that liberated Paris.

We had many air raid warnings, when we hid under the stairs. I saw a daylight attack on Leconfield. On many nights we saw the glow of Hull burning. The most worrying night was when a farm caught fire. It lit up the village and could be seen for miles. Luckily the Germans stayed at home that night.

We had many evacuees from Hull billeted in the village. They fitted in well and still come back to visit us. Our village school had to have an extra teacher to look after them. Most evenings the home guard patrolled around the village. Later on German and Italian prisoners of war worked on the local farms. We had a YMCA in the village hall and my Aunt used to help out at it.

One winter the ice on the village pond was so thick that some soldiers drove a small tank onto it. The ice did not crack. Randolph Churchill was, for a while, stationed at the Hall and one day his car crashed into one of the park gates.
For VE Day we had a party for the children in the village hall.

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