大象传媒

"Well there was the Dunkirk, evacuation of Dunkirk. There were other things, people weren鈥檛 told about, but since of course they鈥檝e come to light. In the West Country, when all those American soldiers were missing, and. Only the local people, of course people couldn鈥檛 travel there wasn鈥檛 the public transport. You couldn鈥檛 use your car. If you had a cycle you were made, and you looked after it almost like a newborn baby 鈥� to save the tyres and that sort of thing. I think in some ways it did good, made people get together more, help each other, encouraged people to save what little bit they had to save. I think it鈥檚 sort of a way of living; if you lived in those times it will never leave you. You won鈥檛 sort of waste money or anything like that, which I suppose is a good thing. The only thing is the tax man jumps in and grabs his share.鈥�
鈥淵ou did hear bits and pieces [about the Jewish Holocaust] which were very worrying. Very worrying. And there were people, I went to the college at Isleworth, there were two girls, who鈥檚 father was of Polish origin and they lived near, near Northolt aerodrome and they had to get out of there. The Government found them another place to live. People like that weren鈥檛 to live near a military area. But there were families which were separated over things like that, which was sad is some ways, because those people were, they wouldn鈥檛 have done harm to a fly sort of thing. They were all scrutinised, and had to report to the police station and all that sort of thing. There wasn鈥檛 any fear of terrorism like there is today, it was far more free and easy for people, because they were all kept in check.鈥�
鈥淥h yes [people] knew about [the Resistance movements in Europe]. When you worked in it you had first hand knowledge. They made a series after the war for television, which was very, very interesting, and I think somebody that probably worked for either M15, or M16 and Government Communications which of course took over both those places, establishments. It was a very good series, very interesting. I can鈥檛 think what it was called offhand, but it was about agents in France, how they were dropped and people in the villages helped them, and they got the information of what the Germans were doing and that sort of thing. Then somebody else would be dropped in another area. They鈥檇 have to walk, your legs were made for walking sort of thing. But this series was very, very good, very interesting. I can鈥檛 think what they called it now, at all, but I know we used to watch it. Television it was on, [the interviewer鈥檚] Mum used to watch it, she used to get quite excited about it. Could she stay up to watch it. It was interesting."

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