The Second Flight: A Sequel to Lord of the Flies

By Elizabeth Blackwell

Less that two years after the publication of William Golding’s adaptation of the accounts of the boys who survived the crash of their aircraft, the survivors of the second flight of evacuees - who were girls and had been presumed lost at sea, were discovered in 1963. This second group had succeeded in establishing a thriving community in which they flourished. Their discovery, subsequent to their having disabled the nuclear device set up on a nearby island, inspired world wide public adulation that was to lead to global ban on nuclear weapons and many other sweeping social reforms.

This book, edited by the grandmother of one of the survivors of the second flight, is a compilation of historic articles, diaries, speeches, broadcast transcripts and official reports in order to provide a definitive factual reference to these events which went on to change the course of world history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9780244734732

Elizabeth Blackwell

As the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, Elizabeth grew up in Washington, D.C., interpersed with stretches in Africa, the Middle East and Italy. She graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in history and communications and later received a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. In her varied career, she has worked as a restaurant hostess, waitress, TV station receptionist, medical school secretary, magazine editor and freelance writer. Book author is by far her favorite of the bunch. Elizabeth lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, three children and an ever-growing stack of must-read books.

Book preview

The Second Flight:

A Sequel to William Golding's Lord of the Flies

Edited by Professor Lady Elizabeth Blackwell OBE AC

Republished 2018

Copyright

Copyright ©2018 Robert Blackwell MA (overseer of the estate of Lady Elizabeth Blackwell)

All rights reserved. This book and any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the original publishers except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First year of printing: 2018

ISBN: 978-0-244-73473-2

e-mail: [e-mail]

Contents

Preface to the 2018 Edition

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Preface

PART 1: The Flight

Address to Girl Guides Association 1964 Annual Meeting

Historic Background: Peters Island

Historic Background: Peters Crisis

Address by Rt. Hon. Harold MacMillan, 10th March 1961

Historic Background: Peters Crisis (continued)

Historic Background: St. Christopher Atoll

Island Journal 28th March – 5th April 1961

Address by Rt. Hon. Harold MacMillan, 7th April 1961

Seven O'clock Evening News Summary, 7th April 1961

Historic Background: Peters Crisis (conclusion)

Historic Background: Operation Blackberry

PART 2: The Return

Letter to Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson, 4th June 1962

Island Journal 12th – 16th September 1963

Operation Blackberry: Test log 63-09-15 - 16

Operation Blackberry: Radio communication 63-09-16

Operation Blackberry: Transcript of interview 63-09-16 1655Z-1727Z

Operation Blackberry: Radio communication 63-09-16 1743Z

Operation Blackberry: Radio communication 63-09-16 2013Z

Operation Blackberry: Radio communication 63-09-16 2146Z

Operation Blackberry: Capt. Chipper SitRep 63-09-16 2140Z

Operation Blackberry: Radio message 63-09-17 0334A

Diary, Professor Elizabeth Blackwell OBE AC

Operation Blackberry: Radio message 63-09-27 1700Z

Diary (continued), Professor Elizabeth Blackwell

The Homecoming

Address to visitors, USAF Mildenhall 63-09-28

The Homecoming (continued)

That Was The Week That Was (excerpts)

The Homecoming (conclusion)

Diary (continued), Professor Elizabeth Blackwell

Appendices: Official Reports

Operation Lilly: Summary of Government Report February 1964

Royal Air Force Board of Enquiry

Preface to the 2018 Edition

Lady Claire Meresford OBE AC

I am very pleased to see a new edition of this book in print after so many years. Its importance as an historical document is, if anything, greater now than when it was first published in 1976. It has been used as a resource all over the world by teachers of history and politics and has also been read by millions of people for enjoyment. I still receive hundreds of letters every year from admirers and well-wishers, far too many for me to answer personally, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your kindness and appreciation.

Finally I must thank my nephew Robert Blackwell who does a magnificent job of caretaking my late grandmother’s estate, for overseeing the publication of this book.

Introduction

Since the conclusion of the events documented in these pages I have been approached by several publishers, all asking me to consider writing an account of the Islanders’ discovery, but my time was always taken up by more immediate and practical concerns and so I had to decline.

However, it has become obvious that there is a need for a concise, reliable and definitive account of the experiences of the Islanders, given the number of inaccurate and speculative books that have appeared in the last few years. After discussing the matter with my granddaughter and several others, I have agreed to edit a collection of original documents and articles in order to produce a single definitive resource.

This book is mainly intended for those too young to remember the events that took place between 1961 and 1963, so it has been necessary to include some explanation of the historical background of the Peters Crisis. I had originally intended to include extracts from a reputable history book or encyclopaedia but this proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Firstly, all of the written accounts of the period are either so brief as to be almost useless or so detailed that their inclusion would more than double the length of this book and secondly, all but the briefest accounts demonstrate some degree of personal bias on the part of the author. I have therefore reluctantly agreed to write the passages of background information myself. My publisher also suggested that I include extracts of my private diaries during the period of the Peters Crisis, which I declined for two reasons. Firstly this book already includes substantial chunks of my personal jottings and I do not wish to include any more. Secondly the content of my diaries during that period are not especially helpful: during the crisis itself I was very cautious about what I wrote for fear that my diaries could be used as evidence against me in the event of my arrest, and during the weeks following the crisis when the whole nation was at odds with itself, I wrote down many extremely prejudiced and spiteful comments, some of them about people I knew well, which I am not at all proud of. Nothing would be gained by having these remarks published.

The extract from my diaries included here - 20th September to 3rd October 1963 - is published in full; absolutely nothing has been edited out in order to avoid the accusation that I might be hiding something. This means that you the reader will to be treated to all of the tedious complaints and observations of a 67 year old lady; please feel free to skip all of the parts that are simply too irritating to bear. If any of you find my scrawlings to be of genuine interest and would like to read more then you will probably not have long to wait. I have stated in my will that all of my diaries and letters are to be donated to the library of Newnham College Cambridge after my death.

All of the other documents assembled in this book have been available for public scrutiny for some time.

It is inevitable that some events are described more than once in different documents. Also, some of the more technical parts of the official reports make for very tedious reading and I do encourage you to read only those parts of this book that you actually want to read and not force yourself to absorb the contents of every page.

Professor Lady Elizabeth Blackwell OBE AC

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the British Broadcasting Corporation for their permission to reproduce transcripts made from amateur audio recordings of the television programme That Was The Week That Was, broadcast 28th September 1963. I would also like to thank the Girl Guides Association for their permission to reprint Claire’s speech to the 1964 Girl Guide Conference, which was first published in a special edition of Guiding in September 1964, and Royal Navy News, for their permission to reprint Rear Admiral David Meresford’s article The Homecoming, first published in January 1964.

Finally I thank my friend Izzie, who provided me with invaluable help in checking over this book prior to publication and pointing out to me at least some of my more grievous errors.

The Editor

Preface

Claire Meresford OBE AC

I would like to thank my grandmother for agreeing to edit this work and hope that it may serve as a reference for future generations who will only know about the remarkable events documented in these pages from books and films.

I would also like to clear up one issue that has been raised several times in the past regarding the level of collaboration between my grandmother, my father and I in the writing of my speeches and articles. My grandmother has given me advice on my essays and speeches ever since I was 11, so it is hardly surprising if her style can be detected in my writing. The extract from her diaries published in this book indicate quite accurately the circumstances in which my speech to the United Nations was composed. Both my grandmother and my father gave me advice during the planning of the speech but the content was entirely my own work. Regarding my father’s article for Royal Navy News reprinted in this book, it is true that I did collaborate with him on this. My father has many talents, but writing articles for a popular readership is not one of them. He was used to writing only formal reports and his first attempt at the article was terribly stilted and boring, so he asked me to help him improve it. As well as helping him to write in a more informal style, I also made suggestions regarding the use of anecdotes and seemingly trivial details which he would not have thought to mention. It is therefore not surprising if the style of this article is similar to my own.

That is all I need to write, so now you may proceed with the rest of the book.

PART 1: The Flight

Address to Girl Guides Association 1964 Annual Meeting

Central Hall Westminster, Claire Meresford AC

When I was asked to give this address, I was told that I should feel free to speak for as long as I wish on whatever subjects I choose and that I should not be afraid to include my own personal opinions and observations. Well, my mother has been telling me that I talk too much since I was three and many of my fellow Islanders agree with her. So I had better warn you that you are about to get exactly what you have asked for!

It has been suggested that my grandmother is the real author of my recent speeches and articles; this is untrue, although it is not surprising if people recognise her influence in my own work considering that she has given me advice on writing since I was eleven. When I showed her my preparatory notes for this speech she was not very impressed! She warned me that when preparing to speak to an audience who you know may not agree with you, you must be concise and reasoned, but when speaking to a gathering of people who are bound to agree with everything you say, you can ramble on to your heart’s content! I will refer to both my grandmother and my father several times during this speech, because without their support and advice I would not be here today.

I have been asked to speak to you all because of my own personal experiences as one of the Islanders and I am sure that most of you are hoping that I will be talking about those. You will not be disappointed. However, what happened to me was one small component of the series of events that have affected the lives of everyone in Britain and those events were themselves part of the wider sweep of history that moved inexorably from World War II and all its horrors to the present day. My grandmother has given me many things, one of which is a love of history. She has taught me that history is not about memorising facts, but about analysis, interpretation and the rigorous questioning of evidence. The study of history is not simply a pastime but a means of understanding the present and shaping the future. Even while I was on my way home on board HMS Belfast, I knew that I needed to research the events that led up to the Peters Crisis and to understand how the dreadful situation that almost cost me my life could have come about. I now want to make some suggestions regarding how we all, as Guides, as women and as citizens of the world, can help to make it a better place for everyone.

[Editor’s note: HMS Belfast is now a permanent museum moored on the River Thames opposite the Tower of London. Despite her remarkable history during World War II, she is now most famous for having brought Claire and her fellow Islanders back from the atoll.]

During the past six months I have had the honour to talk to many present and former Guides in Britain and abroad. They have told me about their experiences and achievements during the Second World War and I have to say that I found it a very humbling experience. The adulation that has been heaped on myself and the other Islanders is not entirely justifiable; compared to the many Guides who carried out their duties during World War II, we had it pretty easy. We arrived with equipment that was positively luxurious compared to that found at an average Guide camp, let alone in a country ravaged by war. We had plentiful supplies of food, fresh water and fuel; we found ourselves in a very pleasant, indeed what many would describe as an idyllic location. Most importantly we were never in any real danger, at least not until the very end of our stay. Compared to the accounts that I have heard and read of Guides taking charge of refugee children and helping to recover the injured from bombed buildings - well, as I have already said, we Islanders had it pretty easy. Even the conditions under which we were forced to leave the country were not nearly as bad as those faced by thousands of refugees before and during the Second World War.

Many of you here are old enough to remember that war, but to my generation it is history. We have grown up surrounded by stories and films about World War II and in every school playground boys - and it is always boys - play war, with British fighting and killing Germans, although I am pleased to say that this activity is now increasingly frowned upon. My grandmother often told me that the problem with reading history books is that you only find out what is written in them, you never know what has been forgotten or ignored. I have come to realise that regarding World War II, there are certain matters that have been ignored. History has recorded the hardships and heroism of Home Front, but in comparison to the attention given to the armed forces, the significance of the contribution made to the war by civilians and especially women is still not sufficiently acknowledged. To quote one of my grandmother’s oft-repeated comments, we always learn a great deal about history but almost nothing about 'her-story'.

In 1934, Olave Baden-Powell herself wrote in a letter:

Should it ever come about that England does go to war again it would be none of OUR MAKING. This is far more difficult for MEN to consider. But for women there are always the all important matters and ways in which they can serve humanity – in peace and war – i.e. nursing, caring for children, alleviating suffering of all kinds, food production, and so on.

This quotation always reminds me of one of my grandmother’s comments; when told that Girl Guides worked for exactly the same badges as Scouts, plus additional ones such as cooking and sewing; she said What is additional about those skills? They are the most essential! There is no question that the most important factor in our ability to survive on the St. Christopher Atoll was the fact that all of us Owls, both Brown and Little, were experienced Guides and that most of the younger Islanders were Brownies. We had not only learned all of the essential skills needed for living under canvas and fending for ourselves but also resilience, fortitude and determination. When Dr. Chilford and Professor Spencer, accompanied by my grandmother, began the task of observing our community they constantly asked us how we had learned to do a certain task, or how we worked out how to organise things in a particular way. We almost always gave them the same answer; that is what we learned at Guides! Once we were on board HMS Belfast, Dr. Chilford commented that the government had instigated a top-secret operation and commandeered a Royal Navy destroyer to send a team of experts half way across the world in order to find out how to run a Guide Patrol!

It seems that as soon as our discovery was made public, we Islanders were regarded as heroes who had achieved something unprecedented and remarkable that was an example to the world. In some ways this has been a very good thing; we have helped to turn public opinion away from excessive nationalism and warmongering but from the start this adulation made me uneasy. We were not great heroes; we simply did what we had to do in order to survive. It is true that we did show ourselves to be courageous and resourceful but is that not exactly what is expected of every Guide?

From the point of view of the Guide movement, it seems that we were discovered at just the right time. Only a few years ago, our organisation was criticised for being too old fashioned, regimented and stuffy. Most of us knew that this was unjustified; if proof were needed, Guides and Brownies and all other uniformed organisations were barred from meeting during the Peters Crisis. Scouts and Guides have always sought to break down barriers between classes, races and nationalities. Since our discovery, Guide membership in Britain has more than doubled and the number of Guides has increased all over the world.

For a while, the more extreme elements of the anti-war movement presented us Islanders as an example of their ideal of a perfect harmonious community and that we spent all day singing, dancing and collecting shells, proving just how wonderful life could be if there were no rules, no authority, and no men. This was partly due to the impression that was given by the films and photographs of our community that were taken soon after we were discovered. We certainly all looked very happy then but that was not how we looked when we first arrived on the island. For many months we were often exhausted, confused and frightened. The more extreme end of the peace movement has tried to claim that the health and intelligence of the younger Islanders was due to them living without any authority or discipline. This is ridiculous. From the start, we knew that we had to insist on discipline and order. We were totally responsible for the survival of all the younger Islanders. A dessert island may look like a paradise but it can also be deadly. There are tides and currents just off shore that can take you out to sea in minutes, there are many plants that look edible but are poisonous, there are coral and rocks that can cut your feet to pieces and there is always the possibility of venomous snakes, spiders or jellyfish.

Caring for children is not an instinct that we all possess; it is a set of skills that need to be learned and practised. Like all skills, some of us are better at them than others and there is nothing to be ashamed of if you have no aptitude for this particular task yourself. Some of us Owls arrived on the island with prior experience of looking after children but most of us did not. There were many times when we shouted at the younger children, bullied them and even hit them, without any justification other than that we were tired and upset ourselves. I feel that it is important to acknowledge this; we were not perfect or superhuman. Indeed, I sometimes wonder if we Guides are given too much praise for our own good. At my former school, there were girls who were reluctant to join the Guides because they felt that they would not be able to live up to our high standards; they saw us as being so responsible, resourceful and self-disciplined and of course we often are, but we are also fallible.

Continuing with the subject of my former school, it is of course now famous and so is its headmistress, Dr. Felicity Palmer. It seems that many of us Islanders had parents who were quite liberal in their attitudes and chose schools for us that were more progressive than most. Being girls, we had the additional advantage that our parents were not necessarily concerned about our future careers when selecting a school and so its record of academic achievement was not always their chief concern. My former school has become so famous that plans are in place to open two additional establishments run on the same principles; much to my former headmistress’ delight, they are to include many pupils from other countries. Dr. Palmer has also been asked to contribute to the government enquiry into education and childrearing which the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson instigated immediately after our return.

Like all of the Islanders, I was at school when the state of emergency that is now called the Peters Crisis was declared. Dr. Palmer had insisted that all classes and activities carried on as normal, so that we would have no time to sit and worry ourselves silly over what was happening in the rest of the country. The fifth and sixth formers were allowed to watch the television or listen to the radio so that we could keep ourselves up to date with the situation but the younger girls were given only the bare minimum of information so that they would not become too distressed. Although we were largely sheltered from what was happening around us, we were not permitted to leave the school grounds under any circumstances and we were told that we would not be able to communicate with our families. Like everyone else in the country, our food was rationed and while we had enough to eat, it was rather dull.

On March 26th 1961, we saw two soldiers arrive in an army vehicle and ask to speak to Dr. Palmer. This frightened all of us, as we thought that they might have come to arrest some of the staff or even some of us. They only stayed a few minutes and we were relieved to see them go. Soon afterwards, Dr. Palmer called Amanda, Sarah and I into her office and we knew that something very serious had happened. She told us that we had been selected to be evacuated out of the country for our own safety and had been given this special privilege because of the senior rank or status of our fathers. We were to pack our things immediately and a coach would be coming to collect us that afternoon and take us to an airfield from where we would be flown to a friendly country. This of course was a terrible shock, especially since we could not contact our parents to say goodbye or even to tell them what was happening, the public telephone system having been shut down. Once she had given us the official information, Dr. Palmer told us that she appreciated how distressing this must be for us that she was certain that we were in no real danger, that we really were being evacuated to another country and that we would be treated decently on our arrival. We packed our cases and went to sit in the sixth form common room, where the television was located. The coach did not arrive until about half past five, so we had to sit and wait all afternoon. We watched the television the whole time in case something might be said about anyone being evacuated but it just seemed to keep repeating the same news over and over again. When the teachers came in to watch, they tried to hide their reactions from us but they were obviously afraid and angry.

Then Mrs. Barker, our English teacher came in and told us that the coach had just come through the main gate. We said goodbye to a few of the teachers and the sixth formers but Dr. Palmer had decided not to tell any of the other pupils what was happening because she thought it would be too distressing for them. She came up to us to say goodbye and we could see that she had been crying. This came as a shock; Dr. Palmer is a kind headmistress but she is usually very reserved. She then hugged and kissed us on our cheeks and told us not to be frightened and that the whole business would sort itself out very soon. Then she gave us all a basket in which the staff had put some cakes and sweets and a few gifts. My basket contained one of the cook’s own Bakewell tarts that she knew I liked and the book of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poems that I was always borrowing from the library. Incidentally, I offered to return the book last year but was told that I am allowed to keep it! Those baskets made me realise just how grave the situation was, and that in spite of Dr. Palmer’s reassurances, we were all afraid that a nuclear war would break out and that very soon the staff and pupils and our families might all be dead. We went out to where the coach was waiting, the door opened and a girl of about my age jumped down and walked straight over to us. She asked who the headmistress was and when Dr. Palmer identified herself, the girl told her in a very authoritative voice that there were many young children on the coach who had not had any food or drink since midday and did she have anything to spare, even if it was only water? She also asked if everyone on the coach could use the school’s lavatories. That was how I first met Stella and I have to say that I thought she was incredibly rude! I had never heard anyone speak to Dr. Palmer in that way and I decided then and there that Stella was not the sort of person whom I would want to be friends with, not a very Guide-like attitude! Thankfully Dr. Palmer is a far better judge of character than I was then and she went to look inside the coach. She was horrified to see that many of the children were no more than nine years old and that other than the driver, there were no adults on board to take care of them. She then proved her worth as a headmistress and also as a Guide Patrol leader! She told Sarah and I to start leading the children towards the lavatories and told Amanda to go and tell the other prefects to come and help us. She then went straight to the kitchens to organise the packing up of whatever food and drink could be found. Stella told the younger girls to get off the coach and follow me to the lavatories. They barely said a word and I’m sure you all know that if a group of nine year old girls are completely silent, something is seriously wrong. They looked at Jane and I with great wide eyes and some of them took our hands as if desperate to have something to cling to. One of them, Sally, kept her free arm around her yellow stuffed rabbit and refused to let go of it. I am pleased to say that she still possesses that rabbit. It takes quite some time to get twenty confused and frightened children to the lavatory and by the time they were all back at the coach, Dr. Palmer and the kitchen staff were approaching carrying bags of food and bottles of squash; I only realised later that the contents of those bags much have come out of the staff’s rations. We said one last goodbye to Dr. Palmer and got on board the coach. Stella was sitting at the front with an empty seat next to her so I decided to do the proper thing as a Guide and sit there but Stella told me that it would be better if we sat apart so that we could supervise the younger children more effectively. Again I thought that was quite rude of her, but of course she was simply being practical.

A journey on which you are alone, being taken away from home and to a destination about which you know nothing is a frightening experience. I have spoken to Guides who were taken from their families and put on a train which took them to an unknown country as part of the Kindertransport, and I have some understanding of what that experience must have been like for them. I remember seeing another of the youngest girls, Lesley, hunched up in a ball leaning against the window and sobbing. I got out of my seat and onto hers and took her on my lap and held her tight to try to comfort her, but I knew even then that I was holding on to her to comfort myself. When we reached a town, we saw for the first time the impact of the state of emergency and it came as quite a shock. The coach had to stop at a checkpoint before we could even enter the town and a soldier came onto the coach to check the driver’s documents. Quite a few of us were from military families and were used to seeing men in uniform but there was something about the manner of this soldier that frightened even us. There was hardly anyone about, none of the street lights were on and most shop windows were boarded up. We then saw three soldiers arresting someone. They pushed him against the wall and then one of the soldiers searched him while another pointed a gun at his head. We had to go through another checkpoint as we left the town and then the driver shouted to us that we would be at the airfield in an hour.

When we finally got to the RAF base, the driver stopped the coach at the main gate and got out to speak to the sentry. We had to wait quite some time while the driver argued with him. The sentry made a phone call and eventually the base commander came out and spoke to the driver himself. Finally the gates were opened and we went inside. We were led off the coach and into a very bare looking hall where some trestle tables and chairs had been set out. The base commander came in to speak to us and told us that he had not been warned of our arrival. He said that conditions on the base were very difficult due to the state of emergency and that we would have to stay in the hall until an aircraft arrived to take us away. He assigned two members of the Women’s RAF to look after us and they were obviously as surprised and confused by the whole business as anyone else. They said that they would try to find some refreshments for us and hurried away. They came back with cups and plates, jugs of squash and plates of sandwiches and then they brought in mugs of tea for us older ones. After a while, the base commander came back to speak to us and said that he had been informed that our aircraft would be arriving soon. He also said that a second coach load of evacuees was on its way, this one carrying a party of boys. Under different circumstances we might have thought this rather exciting, but we were too tired to care and were quite relieved when the base commander told us that the boys would be taken into a separate hall to wait for the aircraft.

We had to wait for several more hours before the base commander returned and told us that a pair of aircraft were on their way and would be landing in thirty minutes. Stella asked him what our destination would be and he told her that it would be a Commonwealth Island in the Caribbean but he did not yet know which one. He also explained that the aircraft did not have enough seats to carry everyone and so two aircraft would be needed. Then one of the female officers came in looking very agitated and told him that she was unable to keep the party of boys in