大象传媒

13 May 1940 "our Exodus"

As we were invaded by the Germans, my father who was wounded would be evacuated to France, so my mother and her family decided to leave with her 6 children. There was no means of transport, so we left by train to the Belgian coast, Le Zoute, a lovely place at the frontier of Belgium and Holland near Bruges well known to a lot of Brits who had their own Golf, Tennis, Bridge, and Church Clubs, before the war. Our grandparents had a villa there, so we spent all our holidays there since 1931. As it was Whitsun half term, it was our first "porte d'attache haven...

The first evening we watched an Italian warship bombed and sunk by the Germans...quite impressing! The following day we left the grandparents and went by tramway. Each of us had a little money in a small bag hanging round our neck. Under our shirt and pinned on our chest our name and the address of our French cousins or friends we would contact if we were lost! For all of us children a great adventure had begun!

We arrived at Le Panne the terminus, we walked and by luck, we met some friends who offered to lodge us all for one night or two. My mother contacted some Belgian officials and as the frontier with France was closed, to stop that exodus of refugees, he suggested that to make all of us pass clandestinely in his army bread truck, if we promise to make ourselves invisible..We arrived safely in Calais. To find a roof, my mothers thought was to ask refuge in a convent (as she had 4 sisters "Nuns"). We rang at the Franciscans and they accepted us but changed their mind the following day when my brothers started playing football in the courtyard and once or twice they kicked the ball over the roof and of course climbed on the wall to dislodge the ball... Afraid the Mother Superior rang the Police. She thought she was sheltering a family who could be "The Fifth Column", as we called the spies at that time. Imagine my mother spying with 6 children aged 7 to 18?? Anyway the police fetched us and we walked through the streets of Calais...people were standing on their doorsteps watching that strange picture!

Fortunately the police realised their error and took us on foot to a large hanger where during the night we were bombed, all sleeping on the ground, my mother told us to turn our faces down so they would not be cut by falling glass. In the morning we went to the station really next door, hoping to get any train going south. If I had to learn what was patience it is certainly that day was my apprenticeship... we sat on our cases in the sun all day (fortunately May 1940 was a very sunny month), waiting for a train which never arrived.

Suddenly in the square my mother saw a lorry driver in an open coal lorry who seemed disorientated, my mother approached and he said, his boss had left and he did not know what to do, mother convinced him it would be lovely if he could drive us in his open truck to Nantes (in the Loire) where we had some French cousins.

So up we climbed and there followed the most exiting week.............

We stopped on our journey through the week in school halls sleeping on the stage, and once we slept in a Chicken coop! At least there was clean water to wash with at our final destination. You can imagine how we looked getting out of that coal lorry, our cousin did not even recognise us. The French in Nantes quickly realised there were a lot of Belgian refugees. They had put up a stall in the main street with tea and cakes for us. We finally arrived in the Rue de Strasbourg and our cousins helped us find a roof over our heads. We discovered the super Island Noirmoutier.. but that would be another story!

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