- Contributed by听
- CSV Action Desk/大象传媒 Radio Lincolnshire
- People in story:听
- Mrs Eileen Margaret McKinley, Mr Philip Harwood McKinley
- Location of story:听
- Grantham, Lincs
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A5300867
- Contributed on:听
- 24 August 2005
It was the height of the war and life was hard (ration wise) in 1943, as it was indeed throughout the war. We all had ration books for food, clothes and furniture (if you were setting up home). As I was a country girl and my father a very good gardener we had a good supply of potatoes and vegetables. Meat was very scarce; mainly corned beef, a couple of sausages, horse meat, neck of lamb or whale meat- the latter being very tough.
One thing I was really pleased our bread was white. I heard German bread was grey. Cheese was our stand by, oh and we had dried egg and that constituted our diet.
When I got married in 1944 on November 18th, I didn鈥檛 have enough coupons to have a white wedding- just enough for a costume. I borrowed an angora jumper my sister had knitted for herself.
Her neighbour gave me a bouquet of white chrysanthemums. I already had a skull cap and that completed my outfit. For my wedding tea we had corned beef and tomato sandwiches and a beautiful fruit cake my sister had made. I think she intended to have it for Christmas, but Christmas came a bit early that year as my husband only had a 72 hour pass. Then he had to go to the Far East (SEAC).
My husband was a Flight Engineer in the RAF serving in India dropping supplies to our troops in the jungle. It must have been no mean feat flying over the Himalaya鈥檚 in their patched up aeroplanes, the mosquito鈥檚 being very hungry that year.
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