大象传媒

'This story was submitted to the People's War site by Nicki Riding for Three Counties Action on behalf of Eileen Williams and has been added to this site with her permission. The author fully understabds the site's terms and conditions.'

I was 19 and in the Land Army working for my father. I wanted to join the WAAFS but wasn鈥檛 allowed as my mother wanted to know where I was all the time. The only man I wanted to marry, my only true love Jimmy Jones, was a navigator on Halifaxes and was taken prisoner in Stalag 3.
I waited for him for the whole war although my friends thought I was barmy. He was the only man I wanted. I didn鈥檛 know what had happened to him until a long time after the war. When he had come back after the war he was taken to a mental hospital. He couldn鈥檛 tell me what had happened because his mind had gone. He was nursed back to health by Maureen who he then married. They moved to Lusaka near Niagara Falls in the U.S.A. to work for an oil company.

My husband wasn鈥檛 in the forces as he was an engine driver, which was a reserved occupation. In the 60鈥檚 we had our house up for sale and were with my parents. I saw the peeking through the windows and staring at a strange grey, shrunken man. It was Jimmy he had had six children, a good escape? and they were moving back to the UK. My mother went out to talk to him and told him he鈥檇 ruined my life as I鈥檇 wasted my life waiting for him. He said he hadn鈥檛 known how much I thought of him. I still remember everything about him, his birthday all these years later.

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