KS3 / KS4 / GCSE History: World War Two stories and testimonies

Anna Cevirgin:
My name is Anna Cevirgen. My story goes back to the war. I am from Budapest,the capital of Hungary.When the war was progressing, my family,they got very worriedthat the bombs were fallover our house and kill us.

So they decidedthat they want to go in the country.Mother and Iwe went with uncle and his familyto a lovely little townbetweenthe Austrian border and my city, Budapest.We settled there in a farmhouseand we lived for a few monthsuntil it was a Christmas Eve.

On the 24th of 1943,We celebrated Christmas.And then we have heardknocking on the door.When we opened the door,we have found the police thereand the police ordered usto leave the villagebecause we were not nativeand resident in this place.So we had to be ready,leaving everything behindand go with the police.The police took usand put us onto a trainand we didn't know where the train wasor when was going.It went throughout the night traveland then in the morning whenwe look through the window,we realise that we have ended upin Austria in the town of Vienna.

Eventually, this train took usto Western Austria,south of Salzburg, a little town.They have droppedus there in the mountainsand we have been put into a schoolto wait, whatever could come.When we run out of money,my family got in a very hard timebecause we had nothing to eat.I as a child,I'd been eating grassand going to the forest,eating leaves and whatever I couldchew from the forest.And we nearly died of hunger.Anyhow, the mayor of this townhas heard about our story.And the mayor said: 'We give you ticketsso you can go and get a bottleof milk and a piece of bread.'

The Americans they offered us:'If you would like to go to America,you could go.If you want to go back to Hungary,you could go.We help you.'So my family decidedthey wanted to go back to Hungary.So the Americans, they helped us.I nearly lostmy life because of hunger.And also we have been attackedwhen we were on the trainby the American Air Forcebecause the American Air Forcethought it was a military trainand we ran for our lives out of the train.Mother protected me with her bodyand I was savedand here I am now. To tell my story.

Bernard Morgan:
My name is Bernard Morgan.I volunteered for the Royal AirForce on my 18th birthday,like thousands of other young men didduring the war.

I was in the Royal Air Forcefrom 1942 to 1947as a code and cypher operator.The war finished in May 1945.I was only 21 at the time.And all the younger airmen,including myself, within a week of the warin Europe finishing,we were sent by airback to Croydon,which was the main airport in Londonin those days, and from Croydonby special train up to Blackpool,where we received our tropical kiten route for Japan.Because that war didn't finishuntil the atom bomb was dropped in August.We were put on the boat at Southamptonand we went from Southamptonto, on the way, to Japan.And it was like this slow boatto Chinait was only a small boatcalled the 'Corfu'.

It was going so slow in the Mediterranean,that the crew on it painted the boat.At the time we got to Bombay,in India, the war was finished.So we thought, 'oh, the clever lads again,oh, we'll be on the next boat back home.'It was 14 months before we left Indiabecause people who joined up in '39,'40 and '41 had to be demobbed.That meansbeing movedout of the service back to civilian life.They had to be demobbedbefore people who joined in 1942.So we were stuck in India for 14 monthsand unfortunately during that time whenI was goinground the stationgetting everything, signed all the documents,I got diphtheria and in those daysit was quite a serious illnessand I was taken straight to the isolationhospital ten miles out of Delhi.So the only treatment I got was tabletsto get me off to sleepand cold waterand lying in bed for three months.

Of course I was writing home to my parentsas best I couldand my mother wrote back saying,Oh, you must be in hospital.Your letters are all stampedBritish Military Hospital.Of course that was - I didn't realise thatso I thought 'Oh if I write and tell herI've got diphtheria' -In those days, it would have given hera heart attack of some sortbecause she couldn't come and see me.She couldn't send me anything.So I wrote and said a white lie thatI was doing some typing.they knew I could type,but they never asked meduring my five years in the Air Forcewhat I did.They never once asked me, I couldn'thave told them anywayand then sadly they passed away.And I never told them what I didin the Air Force.Because you'd signed a secret documenton the court.That you wouldn't tell anybody for 50 years.

So I couldn't start these talksuntil 1994.So then when we sailed from India,when we were demobbed,came on a boat called the Empress ofScotland back to Liverpool,and just by chance, there was me dadon the landing dock at Liverpool.How on earthhe found out I was coming on that boatI don't know,because we have no telephonesin those days.

Graham Zeitling:
The sight I remember of getting to schoolone morning and seeing it's been bombed.That was a wonderful feeling.We all thought we're gonna have a great longholiday.In fact, the head teacher just went out,found another building,and we missed five days of schoolover Christmaswhile he found that building.

My father was a bus conductor.Toward the end of the war, they decidedto start having pantomimesfor the children of all the workers.And my father was a violinist,so he played in the orchestrafor the children'spantomime during the war, as wellas being a bus driver with very odd hoursand being in the Home Guard.

My French teacher,who happened to be French, right,was in the Home Guard as well,and he would often be on duty at nightand he would come to schooland fall asleep in front of us.Which we little boys thought was funnyand we could do silly things.

'Lend a hand on the land'Right?And that meant you spentpart of your summer holidayon a farmhelping the farmer bring in his crop.The first time I went was with the school,and when I got there,I was told that I was the smallestboy there, so I would work in the kitchen.So although I'd volunteered,very keen and enthusiasticto go and help the farmer,I was washing dishes for fortnight.Fortunately, every other year the war,I went with other people and I was helpingthe farmer and had a wonderful timeas well as being useful.This is the publicity that was put outby the governmentalong with many, many, many other things.Just: 'Give yourself a happy holiday:Lend a hand on the land.'And that's what we did.

My mother worked during the war.She had been a dressmaker,so she had a sewing machine in the house.When we were all givengas masks at the beginning of the war,it came in a cardboard box.So if you went out in the rain,it got ruined.So my mother made waterproof coversfor gas mask boxes.And the other thing that everybody had tocarrywas an identity card made out of paper.And if you took it outto show a policeman,it might get ruined by the water,the rain.So my mother made waterproof coversfor identity cards as well.That was her contribution to the wareffort.

The other important thing was thatwe had a catthat did its own thing for the war.Every time it had kittens,which was very frequent,we would sell them and send the moneyto the Red Cross for the war effort.So I like to say thateveryone in my familyhelped to win the war, including the cat.The dog,unfortunately, was too stupid to help.

Moya McCarthy:
Really it's as I got older thatI could understand what my motherhad experienced in terms of anxietyon so many levels.

The way women's lives changedwith the absence of the active men,women had to fill the role.And of course, until the war started,although it was very hard on my mother,she used to take us toschool in the morning,bring us home to give us food at midday,and then take us back to school, another long walk,and then bring us home again.I mean it was a very hard life for her,and no fridges or anything,so everything had to be boughtand cooked and so on.But when the call upfor women happened, they were directedto go where work was needed.

She did a variety of jobs:She'd been a telephone operator,she'd worked in engineering, she'dsupervised in Waring and Gillow's,which was an upholstery firmwhich switched to equipment for soldiers,and she'd been a supervisorof the machining.And of course, the other thingthat, in the factories and so on,the women had to be part of the firewatcherson the top of the buildingbecause people had to act promptlyif incendiary bombshave been dropped. Also,there were the women working on the farm.

Childrenwere allowed and paidto go and help with the harvest.So, as evacuees we did a couple of thingsmy mother would never have agreed to.One of the things was going to the cinemawith a lot of other rowdy children,she wouldn't have allowed that.But also going to pick peas.One of the other things that we did,there was no money involved,again something my motherwouldn't have allowed us to do:collecting waste paper.The great thing about being on the papersalvage, which is now called recycling,but we called it salvage, was that occasionallyold comics or books would be put out.Well that was absolutely lovelybecause we did enjoy comicsand they were difficult to get.The fun though of doing itas a group, we did enjoy that.Yeah.

Peter Penney:
For me as I grew up, war was normal.I lived in Wandsworth at the timeand the first bombsthat fell closeby were near Clapham Junction.And my mother had a Welsh friendliving in London.And she said, 'My sisteris the wife of a farmer in North Wales,so I know where I'm goingthe moment the bombs start, I'mgoing to stay in a farm.Would you like to come?'And off we wentto North Wales.

My father stayed in London.He'd been a regular soldierbetween the warsin the infantry, and he was injured slightly,and for that reason, my mother decidedto come back to London, and we came backand stayed with my grandparentsup the road for Christmas1940, which wasa silly thing to do in the sensethat the whole areawas being quite badly bombed.We had a magnificent bomb site to play on.And so as far as I was concerned,if there was a war going,it was a place, that if you werelucky, which was fine for children.

So we were back in London in a new,a different house,in a different part of the world,and my father carried on workinguntil he was called uptowards the end of 1942.June the 6theach year is a daythat I specifically remember my motherbecause it was the first timeI'd seen her with tears rolling downand she was gasping, finding it difficultto breathe as well.She was obviously,you know, emotionally supercharged.I wonder what on earth was going on.But she put her arm around meAnd I was on that side, like that, and she put herarm around my brother and she said,'I want you to remember this dayfor the rest of your lives'because she explainedthat she had just heard on the radiothat the allies had landed in Franceand she believed, like many people,it was the beginning of the end.

Little did she knowthen, that, you know, yet anotheryear, almost a year to go.And in fact, a couple of weeks later,of course, as peopleknow the first V1flying bomb dropped on London.And my mother arranged for meand my brotherto be evacuated yet again.And for the first time,this was without her.And my brother and I travelledwith other schoolchildren to Leicester.

Alan Francis:
I was nine when the war started,and I remembersitting with my mother and my brother,who's four years younger andNeville Chamberlain came on to saythat they'd given Herr Hitler an ultimatumto cease his aggression in Polandand no reply'd been received.

So with effect from 11:00that day, the 3rd of September,we will be at war with Germany.Big shockto the adults, of course,because it's only 21 yearssince the previous war finished. Herewe are at war again.And that had caused, as you all know,a big shortage of husbands and boyfriends,and fiancées and we're at it again,a great tragedy.

I had been doing a paper roundwith 88 customers for three years.So every morning I was up at six and outwith the newsand I felt quite a responsibilityto get this news out,although everyone would have known.But I wanted to get the news out throughthose letterboxes early in the morning.Now, people had had sing songs, bonfires -no bonfires allowedfor six years.And here we are with all this timberpeople who've carrieda piano and other musical instrumentsout into the street.And there's been a lot of jollity,but I went to bed reasonably earlybecause I've got to get up at sixto get this news out.And I went roundmy paper round, where everyone hadhad a fire, a bonfire in the street.I kicked the embers back in and gotall the fires going again.And that was my contributionto VE day.

Everyone was relieved.I had muted jollity,if that's the word.Because I'd lost my mother in the warwhen I was ten,through the bombing,and many people had been bombed anda lot of itbrought a resurgence of their sadness.But in general, there was,everyone had one thing in common,They'd all survivedand it was very, very happy.And further after that, my fathertook my brother and I to the coast.We hadn't seen the sea for six years,and the fish stocks were high.

And I recall the porpoisescoming across Bournemouth Bayand VE Day is declaredwhile we're down there.And again, there wasgreat jollity and relief.Everyone seemed happy.It was damn good news and very promptlyand as a result of VE Day,they had steam tractors on theon the promenade with steel horsesgoing outand dragging the sea defensesout of the sea under great tension.And out came these sea defenses,when they cleared a spaceof about 30 meters.

My brother and I went in to swim.There was still a lot of seaweed there.We were the first in to swim.As they pulledthe sea defenses out.In the evening, all the fountains are onand lights were on.And it was a great, great feeling.

Gladys Hale:
All of a sudden, one daywhen the sky was blue as blue can be.And I thought, 'Oh, thank God, it's blue.It's not raining, I can play out.'And my dad was talking to a friend.All of a sudden,this friend of my dad's shouted out,'What the hell's it that up there?'And he pointed to the sky.It was the RAFand the Germans fighting each other.

My mother grabbed meand my brother by the shoulderand she took us up and down the passage -'kneel down there and say your prayers.'I thought, I don't want to kneel andsay my prayers. I'm going towatch them fights that are going on.And that happened soon after thatthe Blitz started and I was lying in bedlistening tothe bombers and the guns going offcause we never went in a shelter.

All a sudden I heard a great big wooshand my brother and I was covered in bricks, dust and dirt.So the bomb had goneto the side of the flatsand I think my mother was too frightenedto come in the roomcause the neighbour came inand grabbed meand she was walking around and I sworeat Hitler. Children then didn't swear and I feltvery guilty because that womam,I couldn't look her in the face for weeksbecause I'd sworn.

Soon after that,we really had the Blitz very, very bad.And it was hell on earth.We used to get taunted by the Germans.We had a wirelesswhich was plugged in the electriclight socketcause you didn't have plugslike you've got now,and perhaps youlistening to ever such a good program.And then all of a sudden you hear itand it used to go: 'Dun dun dun dundun dun dadun dun da da' three timesand we hear this voice:

SPEAKING GERMANGermany, calling.Germany, calling.Alright, you Londoners.Like the rats you are.I shall let you come out your rat hovels.You can have a bathover the weekend and on Mondaywe're gonna bomb you again.'

And I hadn't seen my friends for quitea few days because with that heavy bombing.So we met in the yard and we with,with broomsbeing so important,sweeping up debris and we was like'Did you hear that Hitler?''Yeah!''Did you hear what he said?He called us rats.''Oh, we are not rats.''Let him come over hereand say that to our face.''We are really tough and we'll showhim what we'll do with him!''We'll give you Hitler, you coward.'

On the Monday, he started bombing again.On the worst night of the Blitzand I saw in front of me, fireseverywhere.The bombers had coming down every splitsecond.The guns are going, the searchlightswere out, the barrage balloons were up. London was on fire.I was under the bed at the timeand I thought, 'I'm fed up with this.'So I said to my mum, 'Can I come out?'She went, 'No, you stay there.''You stay there.''I could do with your father being here.''He's out therelooking after other people''and I've got all you kidsand nobody to help me.''So you stay there.'So I thought 'I've had enough of this.''I need to go to the toilet, can I go?'So she went 'All right, hurry up'.I went to the loo,crawled on my hands and kneescoming back and crawling again and I thought'I'm gonna look out the window'.So as I looked out the window,the church was on fire, fireeverywhere.And with the planes, the bombs are whistlingand there was a man shouting out 'London's onfire!''London's on fire!'And I thought to myself, 'Oh, my God,this must be just like''the great fire of London.'

Bernard Smale:
The Germans, as you probably know,had been doing mass bombing,which was called the Blitz.That didn't result in a definite ending.So they then designed thingswhich didn't lose pilots.And these were called flying bombs.Now, a flying bomb is what we calleda V1 or a Doodlebug.

Well,they had a ramjet engine and it went
IMITATES SOUND

And it stopped.It got to London,and most of them ran out of fuel.Some power dived, but most didn't.And it's got little stubby wingsso it didn't fall down vertically,it glided.So within 5 seconds,you knewwhether you were going to be killed or not,because you could see it comingduring the day.So if it was going 1000, 2000, 3000and it's heading your way,then you know thatsomething catastrophic is going to happen.But if it was going that way,you weren't selfish,but you'd think thank God it's not me, it'ssomebody else who's going to get it.And so they were dropping all over Londonlike this. The very first night they came.

We didn'tknow such thing as V1's existed.And all we could hear was
IMITATES SOUND

So what do we think?Oh, we're shooting downall these German bombers.Our attack guns must have got successfulat long lastbecause they were hardly shooting downany German bombers.And when we woke up in the morning,there was all this devastationbecause they carried a tonne of bombs.And that does a lot of damage when it explodes.So the V1's came over at nighttimefor the first one, and then they continuedto come over during the day.

One of the things that people perhapsdon't knowis that life in London still went on,people still got on their busesand their trams and went to work.I remember sitting on the tramgoing to work and seeing a V1, up here
IMITATES SOUND

Now, I knew I was safe,didn't I, because it was going that way,but something went wrong with its aileronsor what not and it turned aroundand I could see it coming back again.

So if you were over here in Streatham,while I was going up to London,they had a different perspectiveabout the bomb than me.When I went to work, I worked inHaymarket, just by Piccadilly Circus.And at lunchtime,I went up and had lunch on the roof, and Iwas on the roof eating my sandwiches,and a flying bomb came past me.Now, they only flew the heightthat helicopters fly now, only a coupleof hundred feet, and it flew past me.And I knew I was safe because it was going -And it landed in Shaftesbury Avenueand destroyed an area that just the church spirestill stands there.

Fear was when you couldn't see them orwhen you could see themcoming towards you.So one of the crucial thingsabout being youngor being old inwartime is the sudden advent of fearbecause you didn't knowwhether you were going to be safe or not.But the rest of the time,you were just like you are normally.The rockets went up in the airand they were flying ata thousand miles an hourand they came downbefore you could hear them.I was walking down the streetand suddenly, if you get this,maybe one is coming.

So the difference between the Rocketsand the V1'swas that the V1's you could seeand you could hear.So in some sensesyou had a margin of 'I'm safe',but with a rocket,you didn't know when it was coming.They were absolutely terrifying.Because the first you knew waswhen they exploded.My brother was seven years older than meand he volunteered, went into the RAF,became aircrew and was shot downon the way back and died when he was 21.

If I'd been older, I would have died,I expect,because I would probably goneinto one of these services.But he died. My mother becameill, had an operation and died.So it's just my father and myself.So I live with my father for many yearsand that'swhen we experienced the V1'sand the V2. Dad and I were bombed.I'm trying to remember, I think it was onceby a bomb on a parachute called a landmine.twice byV1's, and then once by a V2 rocket.

So we were luckywe survived. Each time we were,the phrase was 'bombed out',which meant the house was badly destroyed,but we weren't.So we were survivors.

Frank Tolley:
In 1940 when I was 19 I persuaded my parentsto let me join as a volunteerrather than waituntil another 12 monthswhen I would be called,be conscripted,to go into one of the forces.

We did 22bombing operations.On one occasion,it was on a night raid we had these two search lightsget us, and the pilot was doing his besthe was weaving and dodging to get out,but they were following him all the timeand I was just temporarily blinded.I couldn't see at allso we had to go round again.And the second timeI managed to get onto targetbut I was very, very unpopular.The crew played hell with me.Said 'Another time, just drop them,'and I said, 'You cannot do that.''You have to justify your existence.'

When those bomb doors are opened,films are taken.And I said to the gunners,'If we are attackedby a fighter, you don't fire above himto shoo him away.You fire to get him.And I have to aimto do what has to be done.'We were toldwhen we were briefed for that raidthat there wasa prisoner of war camp nearbyand we should bemost sure of being on target.And when we got over there,it was intense cloud.No master bomberto give any direction at all.I got everything ready,but I called to the pilotand said, 'I'm not bombing.''This might be friendly bombing.'The navigator chimed in and said,'Oh, I've got it here on H2S.'And he'd got that on his desk.And we thought this was the be alland end all of everythingbut reallyit was a forerunner of the television.

He could see the groundthrough the cloud so I called to him,'All right, you bomb,' which he couldif I'd gone for a Burton.He had a pair switch on his deskwhere he could release the bombs.And this he did.And apparently I was not the only bomberthat wouldn't bomb.Quite a number of navigatorsdid as our navigator did,but it was an utter failure.And Bomber Harris realised this,so he decided that we would haveto demoralise the people.And so he said that we would have tobomb cities.

We would have to do blitz raids, as the Germansdid at the beginning of the war.They didn't breakthe morale of the British people,but we didbecause our bombing was far heavierever than theirs.And we did some blitz raids,we must have killedthousands I would think and that's why'Bomber Command'for many years after the warwas a dirty word.

Kitty Baxter:
It was just mum and myself at home.The letter come through the doorand it's addressed to her,long brown envelope and I said, 'Ooh, mum,I think you've lost your job.''Oh no', She said,'What am I going to do?''Open it And read it to me'.So I opened itand then I opened it and I looked at itand I read it to myselfand I looked at her.And I thought, I can't read this.She said, 'Well go on, what's it say?'"We regret to inform youthe death of your husband on active service."

My dad had been killed, in Italy.That was just before the Normandylandings.Big battle at Cassino.Thousands of men lost their lives.And I remember thinking,Oh my God, what's going to happen?What's going tohappen? Dad's not coming back.I've been to thecemetery where he's buried out in Italy.I've been there once or twice.It's very sad to see allthose thousands and thousands of graves.He was in the tank.He was 41,but he was in a tank with two others.One was 20 and one was 21.Thousands of people of all nationalitieslost their lives.

They were awful,those V1's and V2'sbecause you didn't know they were coming.You would be walking along and then

IMITATES NOISE

and then it stops.And then you knew if it stopped above youyou knew you were safebecause it came down at an angle.The awful thing isyou never thought about those people.

Every time we came out fromthat shelter, every morning,coming out of shelter, all aroundus the buildings were down.Today, the thing that reminds me of warmore than anything is the smell.Is the smell of -if I go past a buildingthat's been knocked downand I can smell that,I can remember that smell of bricksthat are not there andbricks that have come down.

Yeah, it was a huge party.Looking out my bedroom window,they had this long table.They had got jelly and ice creamand cakes, things I hadn't seen for ages.And I'm looking out the bedroom windowand thinking, 'oh, look at all that.'My mum shouted at me, 'You needn'tbother to look at that.''You're not going out there,we have nothing to celebrate.'We lost our little babybrother and we lost my dad.

John Tasker:
So I remember coming home,it was funnyinitially you got the rivalry betweenthe children who hadn't been evacuatedand the ones you had.
'Oh, you ran away from the war,'
'Oh, but you was with your mother and dad.'
'We had to be without them'.
'They fought for the war,' and all this.

It didn't last long,children being children,and you soon integrated together.A lot of the parkshad been covered over with concretebecause they were used for anti-aircraftguns, the searchlights, accommodationfor wardens.So the parks weren'tavailable to us children.And so our playgrounds were the bomb sites,and all the groups of childrenhad their own bomb site.It was like turf wars.You had your own turf.That was your bomb site.And rival gangs wouldn'tcome across your bomb site or anything like that.

So we got this situation, was quite funny,and we was always searchingfor shrapnel, bits of shrapnelformed from, you know, guns or bombs.And they were quite plentiful,but they became a form of currency.If you could find a tail fromfrom an incendiary bomb,that was a real find,you know, a tail from an incendiary bomb,because that didn't burn,the rest of the magnesium they burnt out.

Most of the stuff was taken away by the,you know, clearance people.But I rememberfinding once a tiny little piece ofmetal, which is obviouslysome sort of bit of a bomb or something.I was showing to our friends, you know,couldn't make out quite what it was.

So in those days,all the houses had open fires.So my mates, a couple of my matesand me decidedwe'd see if this thing went bang, being as itmust be part of a bomb.you see, terrible.You think about it. But kids are kids.

My mother was out of workAnd so was my father.So we went into the house.About three of us got this and I stoked upthe fire and dropped this thing in there.Nothing happened for a second or two.We all gatheredround it and suddenly it went BANG!And it blew us backwards.Lots of bits of coal cameflying out of the fire.We had to scrabble aroundgetting in this coal before it burnt marksand all I can think about, it must havebeen some sort of initiator from a bomb.

LAUGHS

How we didn't injure ourselvesI don't know.Education was very, very difficult duringand after the war.The education I got when I was evacuatedwasn't very good.Most of the teachers were called upand we had retired teacher to teach us.When I went to school,we had very much the same thing.Teachers came back from the war,many of them were shellshocked.And you call itpost-traumatic stress these days.But that wasn't understood.And these men had to try and teach,unruly backstreet London kids.And it wasn't very easy for,the schools are overcrowded.Half of them had been bombed out.The rest were damaged.

We thought about nothing of having 60, 70,even 80 children in a class.And it was so crowdedthat you used to sit on the floorbetween the desks or on the windowsillsso it was when your turn - to change -to write, rather, you changed aroundand you had to sit around and change.That's very disruptive.And in those days of course you have got cor-,we've got corporate punishmentyou got the cane in those days.So if you misbehaved, you got whacked

Bernard Smale:
Before the war started, everybody thoughtthere was going to be a war.So all of us had gas maskshanging around our neck in little boxesand we were told thatif a war started, we would be evacuated.And on September the first, we were told,go to the railway station and trainswould take you away.

No one knew where we were going.Parents didn't know where we were going.Children didn't know where we were going.So it was a very grievous time.Parents were crying.Children were crying.And we filledthe train and away went the train.So some people wentperhaps north into rural areas.I went south onto the south coastto Shoreham, which turned out tobe a mistake because when the Germanshad finally conqueredFrance, the next thing they were going todo was invade Britain.

And the first thing they were to comeacross was children evacuated on thesouth coast, so they moved us.When I was first evacuated to Shoreham,there were no schools.No one had prepared for us to go.So we spent our time on the beachthrowing stones to each otheracross the groynes,you know, the wooden groynes that go out.And there was no school.Then gradually they got one day a week,then two day a week.And so my education virtually stopped.

When the war started, I was 12.And I didn't really do any, no O-levels,no A-levels, at all until I was 30.And then I went on to do two degrees.So all my education started from about 30because of the war,just taking me away at the age of 12and having no schooling at all.

Sometimes the people who had takenus in, didn't want us.Some people did, but othersthought 'we must do our duty and we must takesome of these peculiar things''called evacuees who are probably dirtyand probably not to be trusted.''Coming from the east end I bet,but we'll do our duty.'So some of the people who took usdidn't really want us.And I had a couple of those,and they were really unpleasant.

But there were other peoplewho really loved their childrenand formed bondsthat lasted after the war.When I was debouched from the train,we all stood onthe platform waiting for someone to comeand take us because peoplewere forewarned that these things calledevacuees were coming.Would you take a child?Well, I was one of the last left.I was standing on the platformand because people said,
'Oh, I'll take that little girl, oh, I'll a pair.'
'Oh, no, don't not look at that one.'
'I'll take that boy.'

So I was pretty well left.And in the end, someone came and took me.But she was only doing so, I think,because she thought it was her duty.She had two children of her own,which she greatly favoured.And I didn't havea particularly nice time with her.So I had three different billetsthey would call, you know, two different foster placeswhen I was in Shoreham.So it was a matter of chance whetheryou got people who really cared for you.

One of the worst waswhen I was in Woking, two elderly, manand woman, didn't really want evacuees,but they was doing their dutyand they were cold and indifferent.One thing stuck out to me, you know, littlethings stick out of your memory, at night timethey would give me cocoa,to drink mostly unsweetened,and I would sit in the kitchenand there was a little twosliding doors into the living room,and they would sit in the living room.So they didn't want me in the living room.So there was a sense of not being wantedsometimes.And some parentsdid try and get down with their children,but very few. Letters went to and fro.But mostly you were separatedfrom your parents as a rule.