Rhymes and Remembrance

By Gillian Mawson

Throughout the course of the Second World War, around 3 million British people were evacuated. Gillian Mawson has interviewed 600 evacuees, including mothers and teachers who travelled with the children to take them to safety. During the war, some evacuees wrote poems which described their experiences of leaving home, the evacuation journey and what it was like to be 'chosen' by local families at journey's end. When the war ended, they described meeting their parents once again, whilst some described their sadness at leaving behind the 'foster families' they had come to love. Brought together for the very first time, these poems are emotional and moving and share an overlooked aspect of wartime evacuation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scimitar Edge
• Release date: Nov 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781910718889

Book preview

Rhymes and Remembrance:

Poems written by Britain's Second World War Evacuees

by

Gillian Mawson

Evacuees arrive in Disley, August 1940

A share of the profits will be donated to

RAF Metheringham Airfield Museum

Published by Scimitar Edge

An imprint of Purple Unicorn Media

Copyright 1st edition © 2018 by Gillian Mawson

Copyright 2nd edition © 2022 by Gillian Mawson

All rights are reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-910718-88-9

This book is dedicated to my friend, Mrs Joan Ozanne, B.E.M., who passed away on 30 August 2018. She was evacuated from Guernsey to England in June 1940 and encouraged my research into British and Channel Island wartime evacuation for many years.

She will always have a place in my heart.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: - - - TORN AWAY FROM HOME

PART TWO - - - STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND

PART THREE: - - - THOUGHTS OF HOME AND THOSE WE LOVE

PART FOUR - - - WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SENT TO SAFETY

PART FIVE - - - VICTORY AND THE RETURN HOME

PART SIX - - - LOOKING BACK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

During the Second World War, around 3 million British people were evacuated, the first wave occurring in September 1939. Since 2008 I have interviewed over 600 evacuees who spent some or all of the war years in Britain. Included in this number are those who were evacuated as adults – mothers, fathers and teachers – who travelled with the children to take them to safety. I have also been given access to wartime family letters, diaries, documents and photographs. I have also interviewed Channel Island evacuees who came to England and Scotland in June 1940, just before their islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for five years.

These wartime interviews and documents reveal an interesting aspect that was important to many evacuees during the war - the writing of poetry and songs. Some are very emotional, particularly regarding the evacuation journey and the experience of being chosen by local families at their journey's end. Despite evacuees being 'sent to safety' many experienced emotional or physical abuse, or were neglected by their foster families. Evacuees also endured the danger of air raids in areas that had previously been deemed to be 'safe' and many did not survive the war. Children from cities lost their lives when they fell into