Poignant Stories
Hi everyone!
I thought it was time that I tell you about an event that occurred in my early childhood, as described to me by my mother before she passed away. For some reason, my mother didn't tell me very much about the things that had happened to her, so I had to wait until I was in my late thirties before I was told the following true story. I guess she found it hard to talk about her sadest moments.
I was 19 months old when my father died, which meant that my mother was forced to go out out to work in order to provide for us both. Prior to the war mum had worked in domestic service and as a nurse, but as we all now know, the war changed all of that and women were encouraged to work in areas normally occupied by men. That is why my mother ended up working in a munitions factory. (She used to brag to me about operating a lathe!)
Apparently, while my mother worked, a neighbour of her's cared for me. Bombs were dropping over London, and my mother's neighbour became panic stricken as she did not want the responsibility of anything happening to me while I was in her care. Because of this, she told my mother that she would no longer care for me, and suggested that mum make arrangements for me to be evacuated out of London. Mum took her advice, and approached the relevant authorities so that arrangements could be made for my evacuation.
It seems that very little contact was made with my mother by the authorities about where I would be sent. The only advice she was given was that she had to arrive at Waterloo Station on a particular date, at a particular time, and someone would be there to meet her. Mum dutifully turned up at the appointed time; waited on the platform, and was met by a woman who introduced herself as being a representative of the relevant government authority. She then asked my mother if her child was Eileen, and when my mother answered 'Yes', the woman apparently took me from mum's arms, walked away with me, and alighted the train that was standing at the platform. My mother told me she didn't know the woman's name, or where I was being taken, and she watched the train leaving the station without knowing where I had gone. It was apparently one week before anyone made contact with her to tell her that I was at Fern House in Dorset. For a whole week mum had no idea what had happened to me! Can you imagine that?!!
As a footnote to this story, the woman who looked after me while my mother worked, continued to live in the same house, but soon after my departure the house was bombed, and the woman was killed. As they say: 'There but for the grace of God, go I".
Eileen Roberts
Hi Gerry and all, I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the fact that September the First 1999 is the sixtieth aniversary of the start of the evacuation scheme.
I was evacuated that day sixty years ago by ship from Dagenham Docks to Great Yarmouth, thereafter to complete five years of living with foster parents.
The ship was the Paddle Steamer Royal Sovereign.... Anyone else evacuated on that day?
I was for one and still remember it well. How confused we were, not knowing what was going on and being separated from our loved ones. It was a day that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Gerry Wiseman
Hi Ken & Gang,
I remember others saying they were evacuated on that day too. Which intrigued me a little seeing as Britain didn't get truly involved until two days later. But this book I have now, does note the evacuation on 1st September. I have listed just a few interesting facts from my book for the years 1939-1940 that some may find interesting.
1939 1st September Germany invaded Poland. Blackouts begin in Britain; Air-raid sirens are sounded for the first time and women and children are evacuated from cities.
3rd September Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany.
10th September Canada declares war on Germany and British Expeditionary Force enters France.
17th September Soviet troops invade Poland and, after Warsaw falls to the Germans, Poland is effectively partitioned between Germany and the Soviet Union.
23rd September Petrol rationing begins in Britain.
4th October "Dig for Victory" campaign is launched in Britain, encouraging people to grow their own food.
1940
8th January Britain rations butter, sugar, bacon and ham.
9th April Germany invades Norway and Denmark in a renewed Blitzkrieg that ends the so-called Phoney War.
10th May Germany invades Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.
Winston Churchill replaces Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister in Britain. 26th May Britain begins to evacuate troops from Dunkirk.
30th May The British Government orders the removal of signposts and street names.
10th June Italy declares war on France and Britain.
14th June Paris falls to the Germans.
22nd June France concludes armistice with Germany, signed in the same railway coach that witnessed the surrender of Germany in 1918.
24th August Our house in Portsmouth was demolished by a direct hit during an air raid on this Saturday afternoon, fortunately we were not at home at the time. (The book didn't include this as an 'important' date, but it is important to me.......
3rd September The USA agrees to send 50 destroyers to Britain in exchange for leased bases in Newfoundland and the Caribbean. Britains war enters its 2nd year. 7th September The London Blitz begins.
William wrote: if any of you were old enough to listen to Chamberlain's broadcast on 3rd Sept and what your feelings were........??? William
Yes, I remember it very well. I was sitting at the kitchen table (we only had two rooms downstairs, the kitchen and the front room) with my mother. As we listened she said to me that we were going to be in for a hard time and I (11 at the time) cried.
Jim Elks
Yes I remember it. The whole family, 4 of us, sat around the radio. Mum and Dad were sad, but, I was really rather excited that someone was going to do something about Hitler and the Germans. The air raid siren went off soon afterwards and I remember imagining dogfights in the air , like those I read about in WW1. It was some time before it dawned on me that the planes involved would be Spifires and Messerschmitts, not Camels and Fockers. I was aeroplane crazy at the time and it has lasted all my life. The grim part of war didn't really hit me till we lost our housv in the November 1940 blitz. Straight after that we were evacuated as a school to Lincoln, which was the center of I don"t know how mant airbases, mainly for bombers. By that time I was in the ADCC which later became the ATC.
Ralph Worthington