Sheltering from German Bombers amongst the rocks on the beach

Liz Barrett interviewed by Becky Kendall at the Guille-Alles Library 5/2/2005. Recording transcribed by John David. Liz Barret was seven when the Island was occupied.

I remember my mother said “we’re all going to go at grandma’s, and she lives at Port Grat, and she said were all going to go down there, with auntie Gertie and uncle and all the rest of them, we’re all going to go down there and go into Port Grat bay. So get yourself ready and wear your warm clothes” and this sort of thing. And so we went down there and we went down onto the beach. I’ve a feeling it was dark, or it got dark anyway, and we went down amongst the rocks, and I can remember my auntie saying “If we’re not killed by the Germans we’ll be killed by the rats in these rocks.” I don’t know why I remember that but I did. And then the same auntie said “I’ve had enough of this, let’s go back”. And we went back to grandma’s house, so there was them and their family and us, I haven’t got a brother and sister, so we went back to grandma’s house, and then we all went back to our homes after that, and that’s when they flew over, they hadn’t bombed, they flew over that time, but later on , when they bombed the harbour, my father was down there that time, he was down there with two of his lorries with loads of tomatoes in them, because he was helping out the growers at that time to get them out, because he was a builder, so he was helping them, not otherwise?
I………. Where abouts were you, when they bombed down at the harbour?
We were at our house at the Capelles, at the bungalow where we lived. My mother was scared, my dad was away, he was being bombed at the weighbridge, Mum was scared to death, we jumped over the wall and went into the next house and went underneath their staircase, because we didn’t have one, we only had a bungalow. And she was very scared, she was praying to God anyway. Then we all came back, and dad finally came back.

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