My life as an evacuee
Selin Genç
This writing task is dedicated to the person it is about, my grandmother, Ann. This was a very special time in her life and it was amazing to hear some of the things she told me about.
Foreword, In London, many people were evacuated. There were bombings in the highly crowded areas, which lead to people moving almost entirely out of the country, just to be safe. It was expected to be bombed in their area since others had already attempted to bomb factories. If they would miss, houses and schools would be hit, putting children in danger. Some were sent to Cornwall and Devon, others to even further places such as Australia, Wales, Canada, Scotland and the United States. Although some might have made it to where they had planned, others went to the closest place they could and were picked to be taken care of by the local people in that region. The parents would be waiting with their children carrying packed lunches and their clothing, ready for the train. Each child had a label pinned to them showing their name, home address, which school they attend to and where he/she was going to. Even though of course leaving home was tough, some of the children actually loved where they ended up going to.
Some had been so used to the city style, others hadn’t even known how cows give milk. They had never even seen proper farm animals before. Soon enough they had developed to love the peaceful countryside, making friends and taking care of the animals. They would all go to school together with the local people and become friends. Though some of the locals would say it was unfair that the evacuees would get a little more special attention than they do, being thrown parties and all. A life of an evacuee was turned from terrifying to simply alright.
Do you know or have met anyone who was evacuated? When I was 4 years old, I was evacuated from my home. In 1942, my mother could only take one child with her, so she took my brother. My mother Daisy and my baby brother Douglas to Derbyshire, then myself to an orphanage near London. At the time, my father was living in Liverpool working in a bomb factory. It was all so unfamiliar to me. I was the one waiting for that one day where we would all be back together again. Finally my father had found a considerably suitable home for us all.
When the war began, being so young, I didn’t know what was happening. The only thought that went across my mind was that someday I’d be with my
family again. When we got back together it was difficult for everyone settling in. After everything my mother and brother went through, being supposedly safe again only gave them second thoughts about our future. Despite all of the jittery feelings some of us still had about previous moments, we were just all so grateful for what we had and that couldn’t change the bond we had together as a family. Since my father worked the night shift at the factory, so he would be sleeping during the day time. The house he found us was a stone house with cold floors, no central heating, one gas light which was our source of electricity and one gas ring to heat things on. We cooked most of our food on a fire. One day my mother was heating up all of our water on the gas ring while my baby brother Doug was playing with trains. He starts running around the entire house, “Choo Choo!” “Choo Choo!” As he makes his way into the kitchen, my mum was holding the pot of boiling hot water, she see’s my brother coming closer so she lifts up the pan but it hits the top of his head, the water pouring down his back, one of his shoulders in particular as he screams as loud as he has ever screamed before. “Aieeeee!” he shrieked. My mother shouts for my father “Leonard!” as he jumps right out of bed and runs down the stairs in his bare feet. By this time everyone is screaming so I throw myself on the floor, grab the cushions from the armchair, pulling them down over my ears, anything to stop the horrible noise.
By now the neigbours have come running into the house, seeing what all of the trauma is about as someone starts running down the street to the phone box to call the ambulance. When it finally arrives, they hop in and get going. He had to stay in hospital for about a month until he could finally recover. When he got out he had bald patches on his head and scars all down his back. But after all of that, I will never forget his dreadful screams. Bibliography: BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/world_war2/evacuation/>.
About the Author, Selin Genรง is Turkish and English and was born on October 9th, 2002 in Leeds, England. She has lived in Istanbul her entire life and goes to school at IICS (Istanbul International Community School) She has a 16-year-old brother named Can and has 2 cats and one dog. She loves animals, one of her most enjoyed hobbies to do is baking, her favourite colour is mint green/teal and her zodiac sign is a Libra.