The group’s summary Commences with her early memories of "Mr. Hitler's War", lying in bed listening to the bombs falling on London, walking with her family on Wandsworth Common when a German plane was brought down by the Home Guard and waving to a Troop Train on Clapham Junction station packed with soldiers returning from Dunkirk. She also remembers the night their house was demolished in a raid, taking refuge in a street shelter and her subsequent evacuation travelling on a crawling train with her Mother to South Shields on Tyneside. Later she recalls her Father's courageous war service in the 8th Army, parachuted into Greece, behind enemy lines as a special operative, to train the Patriots hiding in the mountains, her poignant recollections of her Father's farewell, after coming home on leave, before fighting in the Malayan Jungle against the Japanese and ending with her memories of his final homecoming returning as a shadow of his former self.
What do I remember of the Second World War? At that time, I was at that very early stage in my life when one is keenly aware of one's surroundings. And so by the time the bombs began falling on London I knew all about "Mr. Hitler's War"!
Before 1939, our family home was in the South West suburbs of Fulham, but when my Father joined up — just ahead of the declaration of war — my Mother decided to make her home with her parent's on Wandsworth Common. And it was there, I have some of my earliest memories of lying in bed at night, listening to the wailing sirens.
This was my excuse to get out of bed "shouting sirens", get into my little boiler suit and under the table in the dining room. I was told this was the safest place for me and I spent many hours there. Sometimes I wore my Mickey Mouse mask whilst I was being taught to read and write.
One other early memory I have is being out walking one day with my Mother and her sister, my Aunt Betty, on Wandsworth Common, when a German plane came down low — so low, that the Home Guard brought it down! The noise was naturally deafening! Terrified, we ran for our lives and I found my arms almost being pulled out of their sockets! But what frightened me most of all, was the sight of my Mother crying once we had arrived home.
Yet another memorable occasion was being on Clapham Junction Station and seeing a crowded, troop train. Soldiers were hanging out of the windows waving. My Mother picked me up and pointed to the men saying, "Never, never forget them — they are very, very brave". They had just returned from the hell of Dunkirk and I have never forgotten that day.
Meanwhile, my Father had been sent to the desert in the 8th Army and then trained as a special operative. He was dropped by parachute behind the enemy lines in Greece to train the Patriots hiding in the mountains. Later, he was awarded several very, important medals for his bravery.
One night our house had a direct hit and I was awoken by my Mother who in order not to frighten me said, "Wake up Jill we have just had a "nice" bomb!" I remember the room was full of smoke and I was amazed to see a door lying on the floor, which we had to walk over to get out! The house was reduced to a shell. Goodness knows how I slept through that!
We then set off for the street shelter. But half way there, I said to my Mother, "I could not go without my Teddy Bear"! So Mummy, taking her life in her hands, bravely went back to find him. Amazingly Teddy had survived (and today he sits on my grandchildren's bed) Now, with Teddy safely rescued from the rubble, we all set off once again to the shelter.
My next worry was how to get to sleep without anyone seeing I was sucking my thumb. So when a passing Mother said to me, "It is okay to suck your thumb Jill", I was absolutely mortified!
My Mother — ahead of her time — did not believe it was right that children should be evacuated away from their Mothers. So the two us risking the raids, stayed together throughout the war. And the very next day after our house was blitzed we went up North to Tyneside. We travelled on an unheated, crawling train packed full of soldiers. It took us seven hours! There at South Shields, we stayed in the home of two elderly ladies for the remainder of the war.
There were no sweets, no bananas, no new toys and no new clothes, but what one never has one never misses — or so it is said! These shortages continued for long after the war had ended. So long in fact, that I was a Girl Guide when a parcel of clothes — jumpers, dresses, cardigans and coats — came from America.
Each girl was allowed to choose one garment apiece. I remember spending the longest time searching before I finally came away with a pretty, candy-striped, skating skirt. My Mother was furious! And no, I didn't even skate!
One of the happiest memories I have whilst living in South Shields, was being given a very, special parcel for my birthday. To my delight, when I opened the brown paper wrappings I found a lovely, pink birthday cake from my Daddy! Of course it hadn't really been sent by him, but then I believed it had. And it still makes me cry to remember just how many years I continued to believe that he had sent it from where he was fighting.
I was in complete shock when years later the truth just "came out"! My Mother was amazed that I had truly accepted it for so long. Her thoughts were, of course, to keep my Father's memory alive.
Then one never-to-be-forgotten day, my Daddy came home on a month's leave. And when he left, I remember being hugged so close against him that the buttons of his soldier uniform pressed into me. When I looked up at him, his eyes were shiny and glassy but then I was too young to understand that they were the unshed tears of a man leaving his family and going off to fight.
He was dropped by parachute once again — this time into Malaya — where he fought in the jungle against the Japanese. Here he stayed until the end of the war.
Although my Mother and Grandparents tried to keep the bad news away from me, one day I somehow found out about the Concentration Camps and I learnt that people were being gassed. I worried so much about this, until I worked out that my Mother and I would just breathe into each other's mouths and we would be safe. I slept well that night.
At last, the great moment arrived, when my Daddy finally came home. By then, he was a shadow of his former self. He looked so thin and so yellow from contracting malaria of which he suffered from for the rest of his life.
Again he received many medals for his courage.
But after all the time which had gone by, he was alas, a Father that I did not know.