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This story was submitted to the Peoples War site by Jas from Global Information Centre Eastbourne and has been added to the website on behalf of Mrs Pannett with her permission and she fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions

My father joined the army in 1939.He won the Desert Star and was captured in 1942 the photograph was sent to him and is stamped on the back with Oflag VIII F.

I remember the telegram arriving and my mother crying as she sat on the stairs, so I cried too.

We lived at 67 Foredown Drive Portslade East Sussex, my grand father Capt J.J Crowe V.C retired visited us weekly to dig the garden, where we grew vegetables, and we also had tomato plants in the greenhouse.

He had a 'shoot' near Heathfield and brought us a rabbit. We had rabbit cooked in many ways, he also had ducks at his home in Mc William Road Woodingdean, and the duck eggs were a treat.

We gave concerts in the garage and raffled vegetables to raise money for the prisoner of war parcels.

I remember standing in the back garden with my mother watching the 'dog fights ' overhead. I stayed in Portslade and attended St Nicholas locks hill primary school.

We walked home at lunch times, I remember crouching by a tall wall as a plane dropped its bombs along Old shoreham road.

We spent a lot of time in the air-raid shelters doing spelling lessons and mental arithmetic, I was always asked to spell 'yacht', mother often went from one shelter to another searching for my sister and me.

We had walks on the golf course, as we could not go on the beach, my mother made a sweet last a long time so I had to wait for another one.

Cousin Fran visited us at the beginning of the war from Billingham before being sent abroad.

Our neighbour checked the number of the camp before telling us that my father had been released, he had malaria at the time and was very thin, he brought home a piece of 'black' bread, he could only eat a little at a time.

On his home -coming there were cuddles and looks of loving care, I was only six when the war started and I had taken care of my mother and sister as he had requested.

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