大象传媒

My Uncle Hugh Loynes recorded the following memory of his experience of being evacuated from Clacton on Sea to Stroud in Gloucestershire.

In 1940, at my school in Clacton, builders were frantically turning all the school corridors into blast proof shelters by erecting an inner wall of concrete blocks. All the small glass windows in each door had heavy sheets of plywood to cover them and all the outer windows were covered in a criss-cross of heavy black tape to stop the shards of glass causing injury in the event of a bomb blast. We used them more and more as schoolwork was interrupted by the air raid warnings that went off several times a day. So many of the German planes that flew over Clacton activated the air-raid sirens and that meant another trip to the air-raid shelters where we might have to stay for ten minutes or three hours depending on the severity of the raids.

Quite soon the word Evacuation was mentioned. No one, but no one will ever realise just what a terrible shock, what absolute horror that word meant! On the 31st of May 1940 I and 362 other kids were sent off. We all arrived at the station at 9.30 am prompt, carrying our 鈥榚vacuation kits鈥� and our gas mask slung around our shoulders, completely confused and mystified at all that was going on around us. The air was full of shouts, screams, whistles and a scene of absolute bedlam.
We were all given a packet of sandwiches by the WRVS. I am sure that it must sound most ungrateful but I think these sandwiches had been made at least a day or so previously, and perhaps that is why I have dreaded picnics ever since! We were also instructed to bring along our Ration Books together with our Identity cards. Class by class we were put on the train, some children laughing at the great adventure, some crying, but most I think were just numb and at a complete loss to know what was happening. Parents were allowed to say good-bye but not allowed to stay on the platform to actually see our departure. Army guards with fixed bayonets tramped up and down the platforms. I don鈥檛 know if it was to protect us or keep our parents at bay!
I had never been on a railway journey before so it was quite an adventure for me. The weather was now quite blisteringly hot and as we drew away from the station there we were, a bunch of kids with a label tied to our coats like some unwanted bundle of old clothes, all feeling very lost, unloved and frightened. We none of us had any idea of where we were going and to be honest I don鈥檛 suppose we would have been any the wiser if we had been told. As the day wore on we got hotter and hotter, we stopped a couple of times and were given squash by the kindly WRVS ladies in their smart green uniforms.

We got to Stroud at about 9pm and had to have a medical. Can you imagine the horror of it? Late at night, tired, dirty, hungry and far from home, you wouldn鈥檛 treat animals like it. This wasn鈥檛 the end of my journey. We were all sent to the surrounding hamlets and villages. The group I was with were sent to a village hall with two teachers. In the village of Rancombe the 鈥榗attle auction鈥� began. All the people who had been told they must take evacuees lined us all up whilst they selected what they wanted. After what seemed like hours a thin cadaverous couple stood before me and announced, 鈥淲e really wanted a girl but all right we鈥檒l take him鈥� After a while for the paperwork, I was told to pick up my belongings and follow them home in complete silence to their bungalow.

I was immediately sat down on a three-legged stool while 鈥楿ncle鈥� combed my hair for nits. Dear God! I didn鈥檛 even know what a nit was and he was none too gentle. I suppose it was his way of showing his annoyance at having me in his home in the first place. Then I was made to take a very hot bath and scrubbed from head to foot with Lifebuoy carbolic soap. I got out of the bath the colour of a boiled lobster and smelling antiseptic and quite vile. After supper I was sent to bed.

When I got up next morning I didn鈥檛 think I鈥檇 need to wash after the bath the night before so I got dressed and went outside, I鈥檇 never seen countryside like this before. But soon Auntie shouted at me 鈥榃hat do you think you鈥檙e up to young man?鈥� Any thoughts of welcome were soon dashed, every move I made was the wrong one. Auntie searched my room to see if I鈥檇 stolen any money or anything else whilst I鈥檇 been looking around. I was horrified coming from a large and loving family to be suspected like this. When I got back from school Auntie said she鈥檇 found some money, which I must have stolen, from her purse. I tried to tell her it was the pocket money Mother and Dad had given me but that sent her into a complete fury and almost screaming that I was a thief told me that Uncle would sort me out when he got home.
No sooner than we had sat down to the tea table she told me I was eating like a pig and had obviously crawled out of the gutter. Then came the pop, pop, pop from the engine of the moped that Uncle used to get to work every day. It wasn鈥檛 long before this sound filled me with complete terror because it usually heralded the chance of another beating. I could hear them talking about me and then in he came saying 鈥淚 hear we鈥檝e got a thief in the house, is this right?鈥� What could I say other than what I鈥檇 already told his wife that the money she鈥檇 found was mine. 鈥淥h I see we鈥檝e got a liar and a thief living with us, do we?鈥� He disappeared and came back with a switch in his hand and a look of frightening hatred on his face and he told me he was going to teach me my first lesson in honesty. When he hit me the pain was unlike anything I had ever known in my life but I was determined not to cry. This was a terrible mistake because it just seemed to incense him more and he hit me even harder In the end I could no longer hold out and stood there weeping fit to burst.

Another time Uncle came home from work with three oranges. I swear I said thank you but he claimed I hadn鈥檛 and so I had to sit on the three-legged stool whist first they slowly ate their oranges in front of me, and then ate mine.

I鈥檝e been asked why I didn鈥檛 complain about their cruelty and the truth is I did try. When they went on holiday for a few days without me I was lodged with another family and wrote to my parents telling them just exactly what was going on. I asked my new 鈥渇oster parents鈥� to post the letter for me never thinking they might be friends of Aunt and Uncle. Almost as soon as they got back from holiday I was called into the lounge and sat on the dreaded three-legged stool and handed the letter I had written and was made to read it out loud. I started to read it out trying hard to leave out the incriminating bits but was immediately told 鈥� No, Hugh you鈥檝e left something out鈥�. Boy oh boy did I get a beating or did I get a beating! I was black and blue for days after especially where the buckle from dear Uncle鈥檚 belt caught my legs. After that I decided I鈥檇 have to bite on the bullet however hard it was going to be.

After a while we heard form my cousin Maidie who was married to a doctor in Bristol that I could go and stay with her during the school holidays. It turned out to be quite a traumatic experience because when she met me at the station for the first time she was such an absolute twin to my own mother it was uncanny I honestly thought it was her and it was all part of some trick of my foster parents to torture me further. I just couldn鈥檛 believe my own eyes and I was reduced to tears every time she spoke or came near me. At the end of the holidays I begged Maidie to let me stay with her but it was no good and I had to go back to my jailers.

At the start of 1943 Mother and Dad agreed that if the air raids diminished I might be allowed back home and I will never be able to put into words the wonderful news that I got one day when I got home from schoo to hear that Uncle had heard from Dad that I鈥檇 be leaving at the end of the month. I even think he looked disappointed because he鈥檇 enjoyed the pain and suffering he鈥檇 heaped on me. I remember that my Mother couldn鈥檛 take time off from the restaurant my parents ran to get me, but as I looked out of the back of the taxi window I stuck my tongue out at the two of them as a last act of rebellion, but by that time they gone indoors!

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