大象传媒

Explore the 大象传媒
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

大象传媒 Homepage
大象传媒 History
WW2 People's War Homepage Archive List Timeline About This Site

Contact Us

On Board "City of Benares" ... Almosticon for Recommended story

by AngelaW

Contributed by听
AngelaW
People in story:听
Angela d. Waller
Location of story:听
London
Article ID:听
A2409068
Contributed on:听
10 March 2004

Early in 1940, when I was about 7-1/2 yrs old, my parents decided to send me to USA to stay with one of my mother's aunts in Cleveland, Ohio. I went through all the formal processes preparatory to evacuation, and all the "informal" processes too -- my mother had my hair cut very short in a style she thought I could manage by myself, and I was given a piece of jewellery that my mother had inherited from HER mother with the instruction that I was to "wear it always".

Various documents arrived in the post confirming that all arrangements had been made, and that I should be taken to a certain train at a mainline London railway station, from where I would go to an "embarkation port" and would sail for USA within a few days. The ship on which I was to sail was called "The City Of Benares".

Just two days before I was to leave my mother made what proved to be a fateful decision... "She's not going. We will all stay together, even if it means that we die together." And my name was removed from the sailing list.

As history shows, the "City of Benares" was torpedoed within hours of sailing, and only a handful of the passengers were saved.

Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.

Forum Archive

This forum is now closed

These messages were added to this story by site members between June 2003 and January 2006. It is no longer possible to leave messages here. Find out more about the site contributors.

Message 1 - City of Benares

Posted on: 29 March 2004 by madcarole

Angela

How can I get in touch with you? I would really like to know how you felt about leaving. What was going through your mind? Where you relieved that you didn't go in the end? What was the response you got from your mother when she had learned that the Benares had sunk?

Why did she decide to send you in the first place? Did you have any other bothers or sisters?

Carole Bagnall

Archive List

This story has been placed in the following categories.

Childhood and Evacuation Category
Merchant Navy Category
icon for Story with photoStory with photo

Most of the content on this site is created by our users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the 大象传媒. The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click here. For any other comments, please Contact Us.



About the 大象传媒 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy