A mixture of emotions

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Leona Siaw of BBC London on behalf of Marjorie Loftus and has been added to the site with his permission. Marjorie Loftus fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Marjorie Loftus v 014
I was 14 when the war finished. The memory I have most of all is the fact that we hung onto every word that Churchill said. He made everyone (even the school children) feel part of the war effort. We had to be very economical with everything and had to collect things like sheep’s wool. The most important thing I can remember I think is there was a prison of war camp up in the
Yorkshire Dales. The prisoners used to come to our farm to work during the day and my mother didn’t understand they were prisoners and she used to look after them and mother them.

I had a boyfriend too, he came from Brighton. I thought he was very posh because he spoke with a posh southern accent.

One of the girls in my class was from the Channel Islands, we were horrible and used to tell her that the Germans had eaten her cat. I feel a mixture of different emotions. On the war itself. I was still in school but I do remember that the nation seemed so at One. Everyone was taking part in some way or another. I really, truly believe that if Germany had won, the children wouldn’t be here. I didn’t realise how near we were to being taken by the Germans. I thought the Americans were amazing. They brought these indoor fire works and I just thought they were amazing. I can remember too that I had a little berry on and one of the soldiers picked it.

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