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MY WEDDING WAS POSTPONED

I was 21 when was declared. My Mother had died and I was living in Clacton-on-Sea with my Father, two brothers and two sisters. My Father worked on the railway and was in the Reserve Occupation. Two of my brothers volunteered to join the Army and the other two brothers who were both married waited to be called up. When the call up came they joined the R.A.F.
I got a job in a laundry that washed military shirts, underwear, socks etc. I was in the packing room.

I was engaged at the time war was declared and our wedding had to be postponed because my fiancé was called up. The war took us all by surprise really — there had been some talk about it the previous year, but we never thought it would really happen.

We weren’t allowed to know where the men were going and my brother was sent to Singapore. He was captured immediately the ship docked — he never returned.
My fiancé was sent to France and about 6 months later I got news that he had been taken prisoner of war, and was put in Stalag Nine C concentration camp. Whilst he was there a few of the prisoners and he formed a little band (he played the piano), I think that kept them sane, because he had to work in the salt mines. He said the first two years were bad, there was very little food, but gradually the Red Cross parcels started to filter through. He was a prisoner for almost 5 years. There was always the fear the camp might be bombed by our own ‘planes.

One of my brothers stayed in England during the war, and of the two that were in the R.A.F, one was sent to the Middle East and the other stayed in England. Fortunately they were unscathed.

I remember the Battle of Britain started over the Essex coast and we used to watch the fighters in the sky.

Any empty properties were commandeered by the British Forces, as billets for some of the troops.

My fiancé came home 1st May 1945 and we were married on the 12th. I had bought my wedding outfit before the war started, fortunately it all still fitted — my husband was very thin when he came home.

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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