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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Vera's Journey Home

by BernardHannan

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Archive List > Childhood and Evacuation

Contributed by听
BernardHannan
People in story:听
Vera Winnifred Emery (nee Gibbons)
Location of story:听
From Malta to Faversham.
Article ID:听
A5982069
Contributed on:听
01 October 2005

Life could not have been better. Here I was a young woman from Faversham in Kent married to a handsome sailor serving with the Mediterranean fleet, now living in Malta.
My husband Harold Emery was serving with the HMS Grenade and we had married quarters on this little Island paradise.
The skies were nearly always blue, the climate never dismal like winters back home and the children seem healthy and happy, what more could a woman ask for.
The warm evenings allowed us to eat outside, I hadn't worn my coat since arriving here and the childrens woolen clothing was a little over the top for this wonderful Maltese weather.
Harold worked hard, he had a good group of friends on the Grenade and they were afraid of nothing.
Harold became anxious, something was bothering him, the newspapers talked of Germany behaving aggresively, lines were being drawn. It was probably nothing.
One afternoon when we were walking through Valleta we heard a siren, the balloon went up, all sailors must return to their ships. My heart sank. It could not be. Poland was a long way away. The politicians could sort this out.
I went back to our married quarters, which i had made quite homely with the few possessions we had brought from england, and i waited.
That evening Harold tuned up yo collect his kit. He took a tin from on top of the cupboard which contained our savings and handed it to me.
He told me they were putting out tonight under cover of darkness their destination was unknown. I was to get myself back to England with the children. He looked in pain but he was of that generation that did not complain they just rose to the fight and did their best.
We hugged, he kissed Pam & Don, put his bag over his shoulder and left. He said he will see me when it was possible.
The door closed, I wept, I hugged the kids and then thought well there are folk a lot worse off than me.

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