大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Website by Chloe Broadley on behalf of Sadie Saunders and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

"They also serve......" Well, there was plenty to do whilst waiting. Charlie, having fought in WW1, was too old to be called up: but there was fire-watching, for which there was sometimes payment, only token perhaps but still welcome. He also had an allotment - beautifully neat rows of vegetables, and grew tomatoes in the back yard, all of which helped out the rations.
Kit (Ethel) did the cooking and housework of course, when she was well enough. Kath worked on munitions for a bit, then she got into the Ministry of Food. Sadie and Susie were just children, so they didn't have to worry about raids, coupons, rations, points, the blackout and the everlasting shortages. That did not stop them absorbing the atmosphere of strain and anxiety, and spending the war years with a silent scream of fear at the back of their minds all the time. To this day Sadie tenses slightly when she hears any aircraft about - "is it one of ours?" - and likes to locate it before she can relax.
But the biggest worry was about Jean and Peter, who were serving in the Forces. Kit treasured every letter as if it were Holy Writ. Once when she hadn't heard from Peter for a while, she resorted to the desperate remedy of putting the doorkey into the Bible: it pointed to a verse which said something like "He is safe ; he has reached land" which comforted her.
At the end of the war they both came back safely: but the damage was done. The strain, the malnutrition - having a cigarette instead of a meal to leave more for us - not going to the doctor because of the cost - meant that Charlie and Kit were dead within four years of VJ Day. The waiting game can be bad for your health.

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