大象传媒

I can't remember the date but it was the period in the war when Barrow in Furness docks were being bombed, as a small boy it was all very exciting. My friends and I would go out into the fields behind our house in Steel St. searching for shrapnel and shell cases after overnight raids.

One night my mother,sister and I went into the air raid shelter near the iron works with one of our neighbours Mrs. Evans. We children were tired and fractious so Mother opened our tin of sandwiches to placate us, Mrs Evans sat clutching her tin so I asked Mother why Mrs. Evans wasn't eating her sandwiches. I was told to "shush" then quietly Mother said there were no sandwiches in the tin, just insurance policies in case the house wasn't there when we went back home.

Another day, much later, I was probably about seven or eight, an American army group was billeted in Ulverston. My family used to invite small groups to our house to give them a bit of relaxation and a break from the war.

One of the soldiers brought my sister and I a bar of chocolate each ( he called it "candy")and, as was normal in those days of strict rationing, I broke off two pieces to eat and wrapped up the rest "for another day". He looked surprised and asked why we didn't just eat it, was I not well?

We explained how rationing limited our supply of sweets. He sat quiet for a short time then started crying quietly, I'd never seen a man cry before and couldn't understand it. When he calmed down he told us that he didn't realise how much the war had affected every aspect of our daily lives. It reminded him of his own young family, so far away, back home in America, who could eat candy whenever they wished, and how much he was missing them.

I never knew his name, whether he lived through the war or died, but I'll never forget his tears for us and for his own children.

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