大象传媒

I was born in Grimsby on 15th January 1931 and my parents took me to Germany in the summer of 1939 to see my mother鈥檚 parents.

My father worked on ships between Grimsby and Germany, mainly Hamburg, where he met my mother. He brought her back to England and they married in October, 1935. When it was announced that war would begin in September 1939, we were still in Germany. The shipping Company recalled all crew members, no one else was allowed on board ship; which meant my mother and I were stranded in Hamburg. She would be alright with her parents and in her own country but nobody, I suppose, knew what to do with me. These experiences were told by my father and my grandparents.

My earliest memories go back to 1942 when my mother and I caught diphtheria from which she died but I recovered. I remember my grandparents looking after me during the war. I was told my mother always fussed all over me up to her becoming ill. I can remember going to school, which was only in the morning. Some afternoons I played with other children in the neighbourhood.

In the late years of the war, I remember getting up most nights during air raids to be taken to the shelter under the church nearby. The daylight hours were not too bad but the nights were. During the days my parents took me to the local park, or maybe the zoo. I do not think I realised there was a was on until towards the end, when bombing happened during the day as well. There didn鈥檛 seem to be any soldiers about until you entered the main shopping area and the police were to be seen.

I cannot remember about any rallies but I think the media might have mentioned them because my grandparents always looked worried after listening to the radio.

I have read stories that the Allied bombers burned a city to death but I cannot remember anything that bad. Where we lived, near the docks, some ships were sunk. We must have been lucky. The neighbours were very good but no officials ever came around to see why an English boy was living there. A few days after the war was over the Red Cross took me away from my grandparents, to take me back to my father in England.
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Transcribed by: Alan Brigham, www.Hullwebs.co.uk

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