大象传媒

As told by Marion Gilbert to NLIS

The 2nd World War broke out in the year I was born and when I was about six months old my parents, Stanley and Frances Unwin, moved us to Long Buckby in Northamptonshire to escape the bombing.I was born in Barkingside, Essex, which was too close to London not to be affected by the Blitz. My mother's youngest sister Doreen, aged about 9 years, also moved with us and so I grew up with a ready-made older sister who also became my second mother in later years.

My earliest memory of the war was in 1944 when my father, who was a senior recording engineer with the 大象传媒, enlisted with the war recording unit. I remember so well the day he left dressed in army uniform and having been given honorary officer's rank in case of capture. My mother was a great believer in the stiff upper lip and was trying very hard not to cry but not quite succeeding. We lived on the upper storey of Holly House in the High Street, Long Buckby and my mother made me say goodbye to Daddy at the top of the stairs. She went down and turned to me to tell me to stay at the top and wait. I am sure this was because she didn't want me to see her crying and I remember sitting on the top stair feeling sad with my younger sister Lois and baby brother John in the house behind me.

My next vivid memory must date to the autumn after VE-Day when my Aunt Grace, my father's youngest sister, and her two children Karin and Richard came to stay with us. These cousins were born in Germany, my aunt having married a German just before the War started and they had been living in Germany throughout the war.
There was a prisoner-of-war camp in Station Road and as Christmas approached I remember my father asking my mother how she felt about inviting some German prisoners for Christmas dinner. Mummy said there would be room for two and my father and his sister, who both spoke good German, visited the camp and issued the invitation. Some of the men were not at all interested but two of them duly came and thoroughly enjoyed my mother's home cooking. My father had specially taught my little sister and me to sing a song in German which we performed after the meal with Lois standing on a chair beside me. I remember being fascinated by the fact that the taller man, who was the more out-going personality, smiled a lot and had several teeth missing and I can still recall how a tear rolled down his cheek as we sang.He picked me up afterwards and sat me on his lap and talked to me in German which my father translated for me. In spite of the big tear he had apparently enjoyed our singing very much and was very touched. I remember the other man smiled a lot but was rather shy.

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