大象传媒

For me, the worst year of the war was the first. I was evacuated from London with my school two days before war was declared. I was with my twin sister, and we were taken to a village about two miles from Chichester in West Sussex. We weren鈥檛 at all happy, being treated more like servants than children, by a very young woman whose husband had just been called up into the army. We had to share her bedroom with her 鈥� my sister being made to sleep with her in the bed!

After a few months, our parents found out about our situation and removed us from there, and for a while we lived with Mum in a condemned cottage on the outskirts of another village. Then Mum wanted to be back in London, so, after Christmas 1939, we were 鈥渞e-billeted鈥� to live in with a family who actually employed servants 鈥� a very different situation than before. They had two children who were about our age, and also another evacuee. A few months there, and then the father, who was a retired high ranking officer in the Royal Navy, was called up to do his 鈥渨ar service鈥�. I understand he had to do shore duty. In other words, he was too old to go to sea, but not too old for office work. The family decided to move away in order to be with him.

Once again my sister and I were transferred to yet another billet. This time to live with an older couple. At last we were settled. We loved them, and they told our parents that they wanted us to stay with them until the war ended.

The only trouble was that we had been evacuated to the South Coast, which, after France fell to the Germans, became what was known as the front line. We used to watch the 鈥渄og fights鈥� overhead between the Spitfires and the German fighter planes, cheering when the German planes were hit and booing when a Spitfire crashed. The sirens were constantly blaring out because of enemy aircraft overhead.

One day I was out walking when the warning sirens sounded. I heard a plane approaching, looked up to see the black crosses on the wings of a Messerschmitt which was coming straight towards me at rooftop level. Then it machine-gunned the length of the road before it turned to go out to sea again. I looked down and saw a bullet lying on the path, not far from my feet. I picked it up and it was still warm. It is now carried everywhere I go. I call it my lucky charm!

In the summer holidays, the evacuees had the opportunity to go to school, where games were organised for them. This was done in order to give the families a respite from us all. Towards the end of August we were on the way home for our lunch when the air raid sirens sounded. My sister and I turned back and ran for the school shelters. We heard the sound of a German bomber flying extremely low. Then the whining sound of bombs falling, followed by deafening crashes. Soon after that the all clear sirens indicated it was safe to go out again. We were just leaving the shelter when someone called out, 鈥淲here are the twins, they have to come to our house.鈥� We emerged, to be told that one of the bombs had fallen on our billet, and the bungalow was a complete wreck. It seems that the German bomber had been hit by our anti-aircraft fire, and the crew had ditched their bombs before crashing into the sea. No one had been hurt, as the man of the house was out at work, and the wife had gone down the long garden, looking to see where we were.

Once again we had to be found yet another family who would take us in. Mum and Dad came down immediately to sort out what could be done. As we were due to start in yet another school, (a secondary one this time), we were transferred to Chichester.

The first day at our new (another evacuated) school passed quite happily. We rushed home to tell our parents all about it, and they weren鈥檛 there. We were told that Dad had gone back to London to see how badly our house had been damaged by a bomb that had fallen the previous night. Mum was in another house which had a 鈥榩hone, waiting to hear from Dad. He found that our London home had had a direct hit and had been completely demolished. This was at the beginning of September 1940.

Although we had lost everything, nobody was killed or hurt in any of the incidents.

There were just ten days between the two bombings.

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