Browse content similar to Children of World War II. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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They told us Britain had declared war on Germany. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
I used to go home looking up to the sky, | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
hoping that I would see a dog fight. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
It was like one big adventure. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
'That's me, Isabel. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
'And that's my granddad, Alan. He's 82. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
'At the start of World War Two, he was nine years old, just like me.' | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
'During the war, Granddad lived at the top of this hill. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
'From here, he'd often see British war planes | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
'going off to fight enemy planes attacking London.' | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
Sometimes I go to school by car, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
but mostly I go to school by walking. How did you get to school? | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
Well, I used to go to school on my roller skates. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:08 | |
But of course, as you can see, | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
this hill is quite steep. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:11 | |
But there was no danger because there was no traffic. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
'The mile-long journey had taken 20 minutes to walk, | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
'or less than ten on his roller skates.' | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
'This is his school - Preston Park in Wembley. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
'It's still here today.' | 0:01:29 | 0:01:30 | |
Is this your classroom? | 0:01:37 | 0:01:39 | |
Yes. I was last here in about 1940. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:45 | |
'Granddad's classroom would have looked something like this one.' | 0:01:45 | 0:01:50 | |
The different things about that time was, our teachers don't wear suits. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:56 | |
No. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:57 | |
And we don't have blackboards. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
Yes. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:00 | |
We don't have individual desks either. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
Yes. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:04 | |
AIR RAID SIREN BLARES | 0:02:04 | 0:02:06 | |
'Sometimes, when Granddad was at school, | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
'they'd hear an air raid siren, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:11 | |
'which meant that enemy planes were in the area | 0:02:11 | 0:02:13 | |
'and might be dropping bombs.' | 0:02:13 | 0:02:15 | |
What happened if an air raid went off when you were in school? | 0:02:15 | 0:02:20 | |
It really was disruptive and the headmistress here | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
has written about the daily effect this had on the school. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
So here you see September 6th, for example. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
"School began at 10.30 this morning | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
"and at 2.15 this afternoon, following air raid warnings". | 0:02:34 | 0:02:38 | |
September 14th. "School opened at 10.50 following the all-clear, | 0:02:38 | 0:02:43 | |
"but children went to the shelters at 11 and remained till 11.40." | 0:02:43 | 0:02:48 | |
If the air raids happened during school, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
then I think I would feel a tiny bit scared. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:56 | |
'But Granddad wasn't scared.' | 0:02:56 | 0:02:58 | |
I used to go home sometimes hoping, looking up to the sky, | 0:02:58 | 0:03:02 | |
and hoping that I would see a dogfight with the Hurricanes | 0:03:02 | 0:03:06 | |
and Spitfires attacking the bombers | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
and all the white lines and tracks left in the sky. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:13 | |
Because, for a young lad, believe me, that was very exciting. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:20 | |
'During the war, 9,000 bombs fell in the area where Granddad lived. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:26 | |
'Because of the bombing, many children were evacuated | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
'to safer parts of Britain or even to other countries. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
'Some of Granddad's school friends were sent to Canada on this boat.' | 0:03:33 | 0:03:38 | |
Here, on September 23rd, is a very sad entry. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:43 | |
"The whole school was shocked today | 0:03:43 | 0:03:44 | |
"when we received the news that seven children | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
"lost their lives when the ship | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
"in which they were being evacuated to Canada was torpedoed. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
That would be a bit sad if two of my friends got torpedoed. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:59 | |
Hmm. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:00 | |
AIR RAID SIRENS BLARE | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
This is an air raid shelter that was used during the war. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
'If a bombing raid happened when Granddad was at school | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
'the whole class was sent to an air raid shelter. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
'There's one like it in the school today. It's now a museum.' | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
A lot of old stuff from the war. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
Oh, yes, yes. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
Did you rush to get out of school and into the air raid shelter, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
or did you all have to line up sensibly? | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
Ah! We filed out and no-one was allowed to run from the classroom. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:35 | |
So we came out in an orderly fashion. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
Then the teacher checked | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
that everyone was out of the classroom and we'd be counted in. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
It was like a fire drill. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
Were you allowed to talk? | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
Oh, yes. Oh, yes, you could talk and carry on. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
We used to take some exercise books in and try to work. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
But if anything's going on outside, it is a big distraction. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
You can't concentrate, really, can you? | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
I used to like to sit near the door | 0:04:59 | 0:05:01 | |
because I liked to hear what was going on. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
It's quite similar to this | 0:05:03 | 0:05:05 | |
because there's wooden benches going opposite each other | 0:05:05 | 0:05:10 | |
and they're doing their schoolwork which they would be doing. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:14 | |
This is a purpose-built solid brick air raid shelter | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
with a reinforced roof, as you can see. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
How did you feel in the air raid shelter | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
when there were bombs going off around you? | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
We weren't really scared, no, not at all. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
But the uncertainty of the rockets was the worst thing | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
because the V1s, you could hear. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
And if the engine stopped, you knew there was imminent danger. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
How did you know when the air raid had finished? | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
Well, the siren would go up high | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
and then stay on high for a steady pitch. | 0:05:49 | 0:05:55 | |
ALL-CLEAR SOUNDS | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
When the all-clear siren sounded, | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
Granddad and his friends collected pieces of metal called shrapnel | 0:06:02 | 0:06:06 | |
from the recently exploded bombs. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
Here's two examples of shrapnel. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
And they really are thick, jagged steel. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
Here, just hold a piece and see what you think of it. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
It's very sharp and heavy. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
Hmm. Yes. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
It would hurt if you threw it at someone. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
-It would hurt a lot. -Oh, yes, oh, yes. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
And it's very, very strong. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
'Granddad lived in this house with his mum, dad and brother.' | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
Is that your mum? | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
Yes, that's my mother. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
That's my brother Robin and my mother... | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
Elsie Francis. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
And that's me as a young lad. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
My brother was not pleased that I hadn't smiled. | 0:06:56 | 0:07:01 | |
Did you have a bomb shelter at your house? | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
No, we didn't have anything like that here. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:07 | |
My mother and father went to sleep | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
underneath the table in the front room. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
So if the ceiling came down, the table would protect them. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
My brother, Robin, was behind a bookcase | 0:07:15 | 0:07:19 | |
with a cover over the top | 0:07:19 | 0:07:20 | |
and he slept in the corner there. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
'Granddad slept on the sofa under an ironing board.' | 0:07:23 | 0:07:27 | |
Now, this ironing board | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
was put across the back of the bed like this. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
And then put on the back of a chair | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
and the seat of the chair was level with my bed. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
It feels weird because you can see, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
like, the ironing board in front of you | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
instead of the top of your ceiling. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
But, of course, when all the lights went out | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
you could forget about it, couldn't you? | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
I would have felt a bit scared. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
One night, when everyone was asleep, a bomb fell on the house next door. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:08 | |
How did you feel in the morning | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
when you woke up and you realised a bomb had hit the house? | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
I realised something very serious had happened. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
And I could hear a lot of shouting. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
And, er...then I was picked up by a police inspector. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:27 | |
And my brother, Robin, was picked up by a fireman | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
and we were carried out of the house. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
The people next door, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
where six people had been killed, had stood no chance. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:41 | |
So the emphasis on the rescue was to try to get my mother out. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
And the worry was, would the house collapse while they were doing it? | 0:08:46 | 0:08:50 | |
So my grandfather said, "Well, I'm going in anyway." | 0:08:51 | 0:08:57 | |
So the rescuers went in, they followed him in, | 0:08:58 | 0:09:04 | |
and, er...but it was too late. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
My mother had been killed and we were all in a state of shock. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:14 | |
Granddad's mum, my great-grandma, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
was one of the 60,000 people that died in Britain | 0:09:31 | 0:09:35 | |
during the bombing raids of World War Two. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:38 | |
'Granddad's told me lots of stories | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
'about his life growing up as a child in World War Two. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
'But my favourite was that he slept under an ironing board | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
'and it saved his life.' | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
That's your great-granddad. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
And we called him Our Butcher | 0:10:06 | 0:10:08 | |
because that's where we used to get all our meat. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
Yes. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:12 | |
'That's me, Anesha. I'm 11. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
'And this is Mrs Campbell. She's 78. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
'She's been a family friend for many years.' | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
-Do you remember Nanna Lily? -Yeah. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
-You must take after her, Anesha. -Yes. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
Mrs Campbell was five at the start of World War Two | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
and lived with her mum and dad. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
This was my dad. And his name was Simon. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:38 | |
And he was born in Jamaica. He came over into the country. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:42 | |
He was in the Merchant Navy. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
'Mrs Campbell's dad would go away on ships for up to two years at a time. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:50 | |
'They carried goods like food, coal and oil. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
'His job became even more important during the war, | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
'as Britain relied on these things to survive.' | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
The family lived in Bute Town, close to Cardiff Docks in South Wales. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:08 | |
The docks were targeted, along with many big cities, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:13 | |
by enemy bombing raids. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
Over 2,000 bombs fell on Cardiff during the war | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
and hundreds of buildings were destroyed. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | |
It was quite a dangerous place to be in | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
and that's why some parents wanted their children to be evacuated. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:30 | |
Being evacuated meant leaving your home | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
and going to live in smaller towns and villages outside the cities, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
which were less likely to be bombed. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:40 | |
'Three million people were evacuated during the war.' | 0:11:40 | 0:11:45 | |
Mrs Campbell was one of them. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
She was sent with her classmates from St Mary's, | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
the same school I am at now. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:52 | |
Right, Anesha. Now you're going to be an evacuee. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:56 | |
There's your suitcase. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
There's your gas mask, which is very, very important. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:06 | |
And there's your label. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
'Labels were important in case children got lost.' | 0:12:10 | 0:12:14 | |
And everyone had a gas mask, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:15 | |
just in case poisonous gas bombs were dropped during air raids. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
Mrs Campbell and I are going on the same journey | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
that she took as an evacuee when she was seven. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
We didn't go on trains very often. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
I don't think I'd ever travelled from this station before. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:37 | |
So although we were a bit unhappy, | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
we were also very excited. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:44 | |
Children from cities all over the country | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
were evacuated on trains like this one. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
Some of our little cases. I had a small case. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:54 | |
That's a gas mask. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
-They all look happy, don't they? -Yes. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
Because, to all of us, it was like one big adventure. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
We're going to Aberdare, which is 25 miles from Cardiff, | 0:13:09 | 0:13:13 | |
to where Mrs Campbell and her school friends were evacuated. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
Do you remember what you saw when you were on the train? | 0:13:20 | 0:13:24 | |
Actually, it's 70 years since I was evacuated. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:29 | |
So my memory's not all that good. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
But one thing I do remember is seeing so much green. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
Because where we lived in the docks, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
we didn't have a lot of greenery. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
Did you know how long you were going to be in Aberdare for? | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
No, we didn't. We didn't have any idea. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
All we knew was, we were going to be evacuated | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
and we were supposed to be staying there until the end of the war. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:54 | |
And I remember some of us were looking at our gas masks | 0:13:56 | 0:14:01 | |
and wondering if we'd ever need to use the gas masks. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
I think we just, for the most part, enjoyed the journey. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:08 | |
Although we did have some children who were a little bit upset. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
-But you made the most of it? -Oh, we made the most of it. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:14 | |
Those are very good words. We made the most of it. We had to. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:19 | |
Yes. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:20 | |
'When Mrs Campbell arrived in Aberdare, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
'she got off the train, just like me, | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
'with her suitcase, gas mask and label.' | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
We all had to walk down to the school. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
I wanted to go and remember saying, "I want to go home to my mother." | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
This is where the Aman Junior School was when I came here. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:44 | |
It was really very, very different | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
but it's the stonework that I remember most of all. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:54 | |
The stones and the mountains and the green trees. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:58 | |
They remind me of when I was here all those years ago. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
We all stood in the big hall and people would come in. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:08 | |
And they would say, "Oh, I'll have these children", | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
or "I'll have those children". | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
And I remember that my friend, Betty Neale and I, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:16 | |
we were about the last two to be chosen | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
because we wanted to stay together. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
And I wondered if anyone was going to come and take us, | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
or if we'd have to get on the train and go back home. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
So then we were feeling a little bit apprehensive, as you know, | 0:15:27 | 0:15:31 | |
why hasn't anyone come along and taken us? | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
But a nice couple, Mr and Mrs Challenger, | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
they said that they wanted us to go and stay with them. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
Mrs Campbell and her friend Betty walked a short distance | 0:15:41 | 0:15:45 | |
to this house, where Mr and Mrs Challenger lived | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
with their daughter Hazel. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
We came into the house | 0:15:52 | 0:15:53 | |
and Mrs Challenger had a meal arranged for us. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
It was placed in front of myself and Betty Neale. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:01 | |
And I think it was then that it dawned on us | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
that we were away from home. And we just sat there. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
We didn't pick up the knife or the fork. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
We just sat looking at each other. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
And then Mrs Challenger said to us, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
"If you don't know how to use a knife and fork, | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
"bach, use your fingers." | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
She just thought that because we didn't pick up a knife and fork | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
that we didn't know how to use them. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:29 | |
How would you have felt if you were in my shoes? | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
That you were coming out, leaving your mum and dad | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
and coming up here | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
to live with strange people? | 0:16:36 | 0:16:38 | |
I think I might have felt left out. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
Because they would have had a daughter that would know them | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
and they might treat me differently than they treated her. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:51 | |
I don't think we ever felt left out. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
But now and again, Hazel and I would have an argument. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:58 | |
But the thing is, I could say, | 0:16:58 | 0:17:00 | |
how did she feel that here were her parents taking in two other girls? | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
-Yes. -And previous to that, she'd been the only child in the house. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
Did your parents ever come to visit? | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
My hair was really, really bushy and my mother used to plait it. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
But I'm afraid Mrs Challenger didn't know how to plait my hair. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
So my mother would come up on a weekend. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
She would plait my hair tightly and then all during the week, | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
I'd just go like that with a brush, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
so that was nice and flat. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
And my plaits stayed in place. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:36 | |
And also my dad, who was a seaman, was going away to sea | 0:17:36 | 0:17:41 | |
and my mother brought him up to see me. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
He brought me a handbag, | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
a little leather handbag that he'd brought from another country. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
And I remember it had Red Riding Hood on it. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
Why did you go back home to Cardiff? | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
I went back earlier than I was expected to | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
because my dad was killed in September 1942. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:03 | |
His ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
And I think my mother was a bit upset about that. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:14 | |
And she just felt quite alone with me being in Aberdare | 0:18:14 | 0:18:20 | |
and my dad not coming home any more. What she said to me was, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
"I'm taking you home because if we're going to die, | 0:18:23 | 0:18:27 | |
"we'll die together." | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
I went home, but unfortunately I left the beautiful handbag | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
with Red Riding Hood on. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
I've always regretted that | 0:18:41 | 0:18:42 | |
because that was the last thing that my father ever bought me. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
After the war, Mrs Campbell went back to St Mary's School | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
and later became a teacher there. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
But she never forgot her experiences during the war. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
The fact that you were, you know, taken from your house, your home. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:05 | |
Put on a train, met new people. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
It almost... | 0:19:08 | 0:19:09 | |
To me it was almost like an adventure from an Enid Blyton book. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:13 | |
Hi, Tyler. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
Oh, that's lovely. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
-How are you? All right? -Yeah. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
'That's me, Tyler. I'm nine and that's Sarah. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
'She's a friend of my Nanna.' | 0:19:42 | 0:19:43 | |
I've started rugby at school. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
Have you? Great. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:48 | |
'Sarah's 83, but at the start of World War Two she was 11.' | 0:19:48 | 0:19:52 | |
During the war, Britain's cities were attacked by enemy aeroplanes. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:59 | |
Bolton in north-west England, where Sarah lived, | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
wasn't as badly bombed as other places. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:05 | |
But the war had a big impact on Sarah and her family. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:09 | |
She was in this church when she first heard that war had broken out. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:17 | |
The priest was serving Mass | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
and then he told us that Britain had declared war on Germany. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:27 | |
I was very frightened. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
And I ran all the way home, | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
thinking that on my way home, | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
there'd be Germans coming round any corner at any minute. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:40 | |
That was just being silly, wasn't it? But that's how I was. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
Did you know anybody who was in the war? | 0:20:45 | 0:20:48 | |
My father was in the war from the beginning. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:51 | |
Well, my mother wasn't very pleased because he'd joined up. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
In joining up, her dad volunteered to be in the armed forces | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
and fight for his country. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
As war went on, | 0:21:01 | 0:21:02 | |
all fit young men had to join up. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
What did you feel like when your dad went to war? | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
There were things that you used to be a bit frightened of, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:12 | |
as you always relied on your father. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
And it made it worse because they couldn't write to you. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
Just now and again you'd get a little card | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
and it had been censored with the officers. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
They couldn't tell you much. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:29 | |
"Censored" meant the soldiers' letters would be checked | 0:21:29 | 0:21:33 | |
to make sure they didn't give away any secrets. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
Sarah's dad was away for long periods | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
but was given permission to visit her in hospital | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
when she became sick with diphtheria - | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
a very infectious illness. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
Sarah was kept away from all visitors for six weeks. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
If your mum came to see you, | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
they had to look through a window outside at you. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
They couldn't come in. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:56 | |
And, in my case, they got my father home on leave. | 0:21:56 | 0:22:01 | |
He was stationed in England at the time | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
but he could only speak to me through the window, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
which upset me a great lot. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
Who looked after you when your dad went to war? | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
Well, my mother had to work. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:16 | |
I was the one that did a lot of things. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
I had a little sister to look after. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
She was seven years younger than me. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
During the 1930s, most women stayed at home | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
to look after their families. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
But during the war, women did traditional male jobs | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
whilst the men were away fighting. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
If I had to look after my sister, | 0:22:35 | 0:22:38 | |
it would be happy because I'd be with her, | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
but sad because my mum would be at the mill | 0:22:41 | 0:22:46 | |
and my dad would be at war. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:48 | |
I used to cook a meal for when my mother came home from the mill. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:52 | |
I was only 12. You know what I used to make? | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
-What? -Corned beef hash. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
Because it was easy. | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
During the war, there was far less food to go around. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
Rationing was brought in all over the country | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
to ensure that everyone got an equal share and had enough to eat. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
What did you eat during the war? | 0:23:13 | 0:23:15 | |
-Well, would you like to see? -Yes, please. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
-Ready? -Um-hm. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
-That's quite a lot. -Per person. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:27 | |
Oh. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:28 | |
For a week. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
'The sorts of food that were rationed were jam, sugar, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
'butter, cheese, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
'meat, eggs | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
'and even sweets.' | 0:23:39 | 0:23:41 | |
If that had to last me one week, I'd never feel full! | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
And it would be hard. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
Did you, when you were little, sometimes go | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
-and sneak into the kitchen and take some? -Oh, yeah. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
You couldn't get tinned fruit at all. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
But now and again, you'd get word that there was some somewhere. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
My mum, she got this tin anyway, pineapple chunks, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
and put it away for a special occasion. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
And I just don't know what come over me, but I just got it down, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
right off the top shelf. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:10 | |
And I made a little hole in the top, poured all the juice out. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:15 | |
I drank the juice. Oh, it was good! | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
I hadn't had any for a long time. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
When my mum come to use it, quite a long time after, | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
it was all furred up inside. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
Gone bad. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:30 | |
Where did you get your bread from? | 0:24:30 | 0:24:32 | |
They used to deliver that by horse and cart. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
And my mother used to say, before she went to work, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
"Now, we only need a loaf today." | 0:24:38 | 0:24:42 | |
But sometimes I was a bit naughty. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
And it was too much for me and I'd get a doughnut. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
And when my mother came to pay the bill on a Friday, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
she wasn't pleased with me at all | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
because I'd had a few extra things. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
But when I used to see them on the tray, I couldn't resist it. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
There were no supermarkets then, so Sarah's mum had to visit | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
different shops to buy her meat, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
cheese and vegetables. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
The shops, there weren't a long way in between. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
You'd get them on every corner. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
I'd feel exhausted if I was going to every shop. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:17 | |
And then coming back with everything ready | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
and then maybe have to go again. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
Many people added to their food rations | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
by growing their own fruit and vegetables in gardens | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
and on any spare land. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:29 | |
The government started the Women's Land Army | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
to increase the amount of food grown in Britain. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
Over 80,000 women worked on local farms. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
And Sarah wanted to be one of them. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
'I wanted to join the Land Army but I was only 14.' | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
I was going to be naughty because I was a big girl, | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
and say I was older than I was. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
Just to join the Land Army. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:55 | |
But the sister at our school... I was ready for leaving school then. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:59 | |
She said, "Well, if you're that keen | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
"and you know you can't go in the Land Army | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
"because of your age, | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
"I can find you a job to help the farmer." Which she did. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
Sarah spent hours and hours weeding fields like this one by hand | 0:26:10 | 0:26:15 | |
to help grow food for the people of Bolton. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
Did you take any of your own food home? | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
She used to give me cabbages and potatoes and flowers for my mother. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:29 | |
And of course my mother liked that, you know. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:32 | |
And I could drink as much milk as I wanted during the day, | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
when it used to get warm. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
So, you know, it was pretty hard work, really. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
But you had this sense that you were helping. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
And that's what it was all about. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
This is where I used to live here. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
Has it changed much? | 0:26:51 | 0:26:52 | |
One day, my mother was taking to me a shop | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
and in the distance I saw this soldier walking up our road. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:59 | |
And, you know, I said, | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
"That's my father." | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
So my mother said, "It's not your father, he's in France." | 0:27:04 | 0:27:08 | |
But Sarah was right. It was her dad. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
He had a beard, which he didn't have before. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:17 | |
And he was just unkempt, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
not tidy at all, which is understandable. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:25 | |
Anyway, we got him home | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
and when he'd had... | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
a wash and a shave, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
a nice hot cup of tea, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
he came round a little bit. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
But when he did go to bed, I think he slept for three days. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
Sarah's dad had been fighting in France in May 1940, | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
when the German army pushed the British forces | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
into a small area of the French coast. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
Over the next nine days, | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
he was one of 340,000 men brought back to Britain | 0:27:56 | 0:28:00 | |
as part of the evacuation of Dunkirk. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
To welcome Sarah's dad back home, they had a street party. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:08 | |
But it was not until the end of the war in 1945 | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
that the whole country could celebrate. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
See all the happy faces there? | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
Everybody smiling. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:22 | |
The party went on all night and all day the next day. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:31 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:52 | 0:28:56 |