大象传媒

I was born in Bermondsey in October 1930 so I was nearly 9 years old when war broke out. My father worked in the docks when work was available and there was never any money to spare. My memories of the war in London have become a little clouded with time, but as the war progressed I can remember the bombs falling and we just lived for the day - if our friends and family were there the next morning it was a bonus.
Eventually the time came to be evacuated. I had an older brother, George, and a younger sister, Mary and we were all seperated. I do know that shortly after George went into the army and despite being a Londoner he enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders.

My friends and I joined a queue of children carrying our gas masks and were taken on a double-decker bus to Maidenhead in Berkshire where it was assumed that we would be safe. When we got off the bus we had to line up and wait to be picked. Being a boy who probably looked a bit rough and scruffy three of us had to wait till the very end as nobody wanted us(we pinched apples from an orchard while we waited). Finally a place was found for me but I did not stay there long - if I remember I stole the seed potatoes in order to have something to eat as I was permanently hungry.

Being in the country was very strange as I had never seen grass and cows before - I truly thought milk just came in a bottle. The local people were not too keen on evacuees from London and generally thought we were up to no good even if we were behaving ourselves. We could only have two half-days of school each week but as I had never attended school in London, anything was better than nothing and I learnt to read and write. We were very close to Lord Astor's estate at Cliveden and it was not unknown for us to poach his rabbits. I also thought that the end of the world was at the end of the meadows by the Thames because our teacher told us - we often walked there and saw Queen Whillamena from the Netherlands.

My main aim, however, was always to get extra food or earn money to buy some. I am ashamed to say that I stole small amounts of my teacher's rations that she sent me to get. There were a lot of Canadian soldiers around and a favourite way to get money was to go right up close to them in the evenings when they were by the Thames with their girl friends and in desparation they would pay us to go away. There was a Canadian military hospital at Taplow nearby and we saw ambulances going there - with hindsight they were wounded and possibly from the Dieppe raid.

If we went to Sunday School we were allowed to go on outings so I used to go, but only for this! I also learnt a great deal from gipsies who used to camp on Maidenhead moor, which now is just a very small patch of grass, and used to enjoy baked hedgehog!

I just missed being sent to Canada when I was evacuated but two brothers whose name was just before mine alphabetically were sent and sadly the ship was torpedoed and they were killled so I had a lucky escape. However, having being sent to a 'safe' place, I got myself a delivery round later on and was blown off my bicycle by a 'doodlebug' and have many scars as a consequence and it is highly likely that some of my subsequent back problems are connected to this.

By the time that the war ended I was living at Ashford in Middlesex but cycled to Maidenhead for VE day. There are numerous tales of my time as an evacuee and from time to time I recall them.

My everlasting regret is that although I met up with my brother again, my father was killed in a bombing raid and my mother was very badly injured - half of her face blown away and when I later visited her in the hospital where she had to spend the rest of her life she had no idea who I was. I saw my sister just once at the very end of the war - I think my brother arranged it, but then I lost trace and apart from knowing that she lived in St. Thomas hospital nurses home in the early 1950's I have never been able to find her.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.