大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Marcia Brown of Leicester City Libraries on behalf of Rose Beckford and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

At the time of the war I was a teenager in Jamaica, still living at home. I t was very hard for my parents, because there could not get jobs. Everything was restricted, things in the shops, soap, etc. When we went to the shops we could only buy small quantities of goods, these would have to last us for a certain time. We would have to take a tablecloth to carry the rice, back home, because the shops did not have brown paper bags or wrapping paper due to the war. Most of our fresh food came from the fields, eggs from the chickens we kept and fruit from the trees.

We could not light our lamps we were told the enemy would see us. Times was really hard, being poor, it was made even harder.

A lot of the young men were recruited from Jamaica to join the RAF. After the war some came back and some settled abroad.

I used to see white soldiers on the streets of Jamaica, marching from place to place. I think they came to protect us, I do not know why these men were in Jamaica, we were not told.

We did not have much communication. We got news from the newspapers, from time to time. We also got news of what was happening through school, church. A loud speaker would also come around and tell us what was going on.

We would hear planes flying overhead and would get worried and frighten.

Rose Beckford

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