大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Emma, a pupil from Teversham Primary School on behalf of Mr F Head and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Head fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was born in 1938 and was the youngest of five children living in London. When WW2 broke out in 1939 the Prime Minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain insisted that families were evacuated to safer parts of the country because London was considered unsafe. The Germans were bombing London which was known as the Blitz. My two elder sisters were sent to Skegness, and my brother and sister were sent to Suffolk. I stayed with my mother as I was still only a baby. We were evacuated to Chesterton. My father served in one of the Reserve Occupations in London and was later transferred to Cambridge and worked in an aerodrome. My family were reunited in 1942. I remember a German plane crashed in Scotland Road, Chesterton in 1944. My mates and I went to have a look at it. The plane was still smouldering and there were no survivors.

I remember rationing and my Mum had a coupon book called a Ration Book. Several years after the war ended I saw a banana for the first time. It was given to one of my friends. I didn鈥檛 know that you had to peel it first and thought it tasted disgusting!

Later I was drafted into National Service which was compulsory for every male. I served in Berlin, Germany and I was there when the Berlin Wall was erected. I was part of the British guard at Spandau Prison where several high ranking German officers were being held including the SS Officer Hess.

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