大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Simon Harris and has been added to the website on behalf of Patricia Pluck with her permission and they fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

My father volunteered for military service right at the start of the war. At the time I was five years old and I did not see him between the first wartime Christmas and when he came home at the end. He served with the Signals in Malta and Egypt.

My mother (Lena) was remarkable on her own. She remained faithful to my father despite opportunities, and always cared well for me. We lived on Quarry Hill in Tonbridge and had a fantastic view of all the barrage balloons and the Battle of Britain. Although I had the chance to be evacuated to America to stay with relatives I did not go. My relatives did send over clothes however and my friends who had been evacuated to Devon would send me sea shells from the beach. In fact we had an evacuee live with us for a year or so. She was called Kathleen and she had come from Lewisham. She was older than me and very helpful around the house. She also used to read to me which was probably very useful because the large number of evacuees in Tonbridge meant that I was only getting half a day at Sussex Road Infant School each week. I remember that the school had tunnels under the playground and we would all be hurried into them when the V1 and V2s started coming over. One day I remember seeing incendiary bombs coming out of aeroplanes before they missed the nearby target of Tonbridge station. This happened while I was at school and I think all the mums must have been tearing their hair out with anxiety.

When my father returned home I did not recognise him. But as we all began to settle down again to normal life he would always want to go on long walks and take the family with him. Perhaps he had missed the country he had been fighting for and wanted to experience it now that he had come back.

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