Homesickness and Fleabites; a Story of Evacuation by Harry Frankland

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Annie Keane of the BBC on behalf of Harry Frankland and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was 6 or 7 at start of war, and was evacuated from my home in Mitcham to Egham early on in the War. The stress on parents at that time must have been unimaginable — having to send their children away, combined with the stress of the war generally.

I was only in Egham for 3 weeks, and I was incredibly homesick. I came back home then, but went away again twice more during the war.

I remember one time when I was about 8 years old, sitting what seemed like a little country school. We were asked to start writing with in joined-up writing — I didn’t have a clue how to do that!

About 9 months after coming back from Egham, I was evacuated up to the North East — I was staying with family. It was a very small house, and I remember the whole time that I was there I was scratching. We all had fleabites, all the time. Children these days probably can’t imagine what it was like, and even though I was very young, I knew that it wasn’t right — people shouldn’t have to have lived like that.

My final evacuation was in June 1944, when they started buzz bombing. I live in Croydon now, only 2 — 3 miles from Mitcham where I grew up, and Croydon had the most buzz bombs in the city.

My final evacuation was to Hartlepool. I was never away for more than 3 months on each of the evacuations, and was moved from school to school through the whole war. I didn’t really understand everything that was happening when I was an 8 year old, but the experience has stayed with me for the rest of my life. When I visited the war graves in Belgium a few years ago, it brought it all home to me about the sacrifices that had been made.

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