From: Tom Holloway (tom.holloway@u3a.org.uk)
Date: Sun Feb 21 1999 - 05:30:24 PST
. Peter Oviatt at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary asked..... > evacuees. Would you mind asking your panel of elders > to answer the following questions? Thank you. > > What did it feel like to leave your parents? I don't recall any anxiety about it. It seemed quite an adventure, and although I was only eleven I was well aware that people had to make some sacrifices. > What did you take with you? Nothing special. I think we had given up carrying gas-masks everywhere by then. > Did you go in groups or by yourself? I went with the new school I was joining. > Did you go to farms people's houses? All sorts. I ended up in a School Hostel, which was great fun. Our Master-in-Charge was Captain Shackel (Indian Army Cavalry- Retired) who was a bit strict but a great favourite with the boys - he would roar at us to get our homework done and get up to the dorms, but it was all a bit of a show; and he actually had a CAR and let us ride in it. Imagine - an Austin Seven about the size of a shoe-box with Ben-Acks at the wheel and the back seat packed with whooping shreiking schoolboys! Brilliant!! > Could you hear the bombing? Not from Exeter - no. Plenty of it in London though. Except in June/July/August it wasn't bombers, it was doodlebugs. Lots of them to start with, then the RAF started catching them as they came in over the channel and London didn't get so many. > Did you see German planes? Lots during 1940-1944 - after that only doodlebugs (which we heard rather than saw. They were very loud and had a very distinctive sound). > Were you afraid? No. I thought it was all a bit exciting -- but I could see that the grownups were afraid. If you mean "afraid of being evacuated" -- no, definitely not. I found being away from London a bit dull. > Did you travel with your brothers and/or sisters? No -- just the school. > Who took you to your new home? Various billeting officers. If you want a side-splittingly funny description of evacuees and billeting officers, ask your teacher to read a couple of chapters of Evelyn Waugh's "Put Out More Flags". A very funny book and very accurate. I remember one lady I was billeted with - very sad - both her husband and her son had died in action. I didn't like her very much - she was kind enough but she insisted on putting lots of newspapers under my bed-sheet in case I was a bed-wetter, and I was very irritated by the crackling noises every time I turned over in the night. > Could it be possible that a group of kids could have > been traveling to their new home and had their > journey interrupted by an attack? Possibly. It didn't happen to the train I was on though. > What food might kids have had along during the > evacuation? I'm not sure what you are asking here. What did I eat for the few months I was away from London? The usual stuff - bread and marge, not much jam, lots of cabbage and swede and potatoes. > What did ou do to comfort/calm yourself? Nothing. I was quite calm. In fact boredom was the main problem. > Did someone make you leave against your will? No. > Did you make new friends? Yes; lots. > If you had one lesson that you learned as an evacuee, > what would that lesson have been? > What would you want my class to know about being an > evacuee? Sorry - I can't think of anything. =================== Tom Holloway tom.holloway@u3a.org.uk Tel: (+44) (0) 1926-771772 Fax: (+44) (0) 1926-771707