大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Kathleen Lockett from Crawley Library and has been added to the website on behalf of Anne Regan-Atherton with her permission and she fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

When the war started I was 4陆 years old. I lived on the Isle of Dogs in East London with my Dad, Mum and sister Joan who was 2陆 years older than me. People were remembering the German bombs which fell during the First World War, and wondering what this second conflict would bring. The island I remember from those days was dark. We lived in the basement of a tall house in Manchester Road. Opposite were high brick walls, all covered with the same black industrial soot, behind which were busy factories, warehouses and wharves. There was a lovely little park 鈥� the only green space 鈥� called the Island Gardens. When the bandstand was open, people used to dance on the green in the evenings.

When Joan and I were evacuated for the second time, I remember standing in a line with lots of other children, and I was very hot and thirsty. Someone walked along the line handing out bottles of cold milk and straws. We went by car to a tiny place in the country called Lidstone in Oxfordshire. There were only a few stone houses along a road and up a hill, but there was lots of green grass with stone walls. The lady who takes us into the house is called Mrs Harris, but we must call her Auntie. She is thin with a long wrinkly face and black eyes and hair, which is straight and pulled into a bun at the back.

One day at school we do drawing with coloured chalks. Then someone calls my teacher Miss Osborne to the door. I can鈥檛 see who it is, but I leave my desk and creep over to look. The others whisper, 鈥淥oh don鈥檛, you鈥檒l get into trouble.鈥� But I seem not to care. I just have an excited feeling and while Miss Osborne is talking, I see some brown shiny shoes and shout, 鈥淢um, Dad!鈥�, although I still can鈥檛 see anyone. Then they come into my classroom and are smiling at me. Miss Osborne shows them my picture, which she says is very good, the best one in the class. My Dad takes my hand and Miss Osborne says I can leave early. We go to collect Jan and I am so excited my tummy is all jumping, and I could burst with happiness.

We have a lovely time with Mum and Dad, and even Auntie is very nice. We go for walks and it is very hot. We see a funny looking round building, with slits for windows and no glass. My Mum says it is a pill box for our soldiers to hide in and then shoot at the Germans if they invade. It should stop them from being killed by tanks, please God. My Mum says, 鈥淕od bless those boys. I pray they don鈥檛 get killed.鈥� We leave, and suddenly I feel sad inside again, and wonder what will happen. When it is time for my Mum and Dad to go home, I walk some of the way with them to the big road where they will catch the bus. My tummy trembles, but I have a different feeling with it 鈥� the happy feeling has gone and this one feels afraid.

Joan and Me walked a long way after school to a place where they give you gas masks, which everyone must have. They are made of black rubber with goggles, and mine smells horrible when I put it on. There is a long rubber tube which goes over my mouth and it has a shiny bit on the other end. The man says this is to let us breathe and the masks keep out the gas that the Germans might drop. If we don鈥檛 wear them the gas will kill us, so we must carry them wherever we go. I can鈥檛 see or breathe with mine on, so if the Germans drop the gas I will die anyway. Auntie is pleased with us because we went to get them. Our teachers say we were very good to walk all that way, and if we can do it so can all the other children.

Some Yankee soldiers came to stay in Lidstone. They are nice, but have much better uniforms than our soldiers. Sometimes Joan and I wait for the convoys to pass. All the trucks are full of Yankees who wave to us and throw out chewing gum, sweets and oranges for us to pick up. The Yanks come to the pub and they give us money, but we are not allowed to take it. So they put money under the chairs and tables when they sit outside. After they go, Joan and me have to sweep up, and Joan picks up all the money and hides it away.

Auntie wonders if we should not allow black soldiers to drink in the pub. Then she puts a piece of paper in the window, and writes on it, 鈥淣O BLACKS鈥�. One day she went into Chipping Norton to shop and get the wireless accumulator charged up. She was carrying her shopping bags and the accumulator when some Yankee soldiers rush by and nearly knocked her to the ground. They didn鈥檛 stop, but then a black soldier came up to her and said, 鈥淚鈥檓 very sorry madam, can I help you?鈥� He picked up all her shopping. After this, the 鈥淣O BLACKS鈥� sign is taken away. I couldn鈥檛 understand why black men should be bad anyway, just because of being different looking, and they are fighting the Germans as well.

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