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Ronald Holland's Personal Details:

My name is Ronald Holland and I was born in South London but moved to Brighton 45 years ago and then moved to Hove quite recently. When I was younger, I sang in the pubs in London and I also sing at the St John's Day Centre, in Hove which I attend everyday.I was 6 years old when WW2 started and at the time I was being up in the markets.

Ronald's Story:

I remember WW2 quite well, especially going to sleep in the Elephant and Castle Tube station which were used as air raid shelters. Its was so crowded, people slept on stairways and in the passages and we had to tread over people. I remember going to the canteen and eating meat pies and drinking cups of tea. To keep everyone's spirit up, we used to have a sing-song! We used sing Al Jolson songs, to keep morale high and everyone looked out for each other.

The Elephant & Castle area was bombed very heavily because it was situated near the docks area. Me and my friends would go out looking for shrapnel and keep it as a souvenier! I particularly remember being out in the street, when Doodlebugs were overhead and we all use to duck. But what was really scary, were the V2s (Rockets) because you could not see them but you could hear them- so we all had to rush to the nearest shelter.

I was evacuated three times during the WW2. The first time I was evacuated to Devon and I lived with a family, but got very homesick and moved back to London. I was evacuated then to Wiltshire, nice people, but got homesick again and moved back to London. Yet again I was evacuated to Milton Keynes, but funnily enough I enjoyed myself this time and got on job on a milk cart! But I was worrying about my mother so much that i felt i should move back to London for the final time.

One time, me and my cousin caught a German spy and he was taken away, and I felt very proud of myself !

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