大象传媒

Name Jackie Melson
Interview Date 27th April 2005
Subjects covered Childhood, V.E. Day
Location Oxford, Cowley
People Included

This is an edited extract of a recorded interview conducted by Museum of Oxford with Mrs Jackie Melson. It has been submitted to the People鈥檚 War website with her permission. A full version of the interview transcript and audio recording will be available at the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies.

Childhood
I think one of my best war time memories was was a little church school Church Cowley school and we used to say prayers in the morning for the... you know ex old pupils that were at war and I remember two sailors had gone down with their ship and we were praying for them and my most dramatic memory is being in the playground when I was about eight and these two sailors came in the playground and the Headmistress, we were treated to the wonderful spectacle of her putting her cup down running across the road being picked up and swung round and kissed by this great big sailor and they'd been picked up by some other ship which was great.

V.E. Day
V.E. Day we danced at a V.E. celebration in the dancing school and then we used to we had parties and we used go from party to party the kids gangs of kids used to go round and I remember one of our neighbours was in the Home Guard had got hold of some Thunder Flashes which were terrifying used to let these thunder let these thunder flashes off and they were an awful noise they were terrible real explosions and as I said it was just like dad's army great big children big kids and my friends father was a prisoner of war in Germany he was down one of the mines and I think news came through oh no it was V.J. Day news came through that he was coming home and we all cheered I remember that.

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