I survived the bombing of London and was evacuated twice along with many other kids.
First time to Banbury Cross, Oxfordshire, but I've no idea of the date, probably late 1940 or early 1941.
Second time to Havelock Street, Kettering, Northampton, Mr. and Mrs. Best, two absolutely wonderful people who were childless. I can't remember how long I stayed. The second evacuation was because the Germans were bombarding England with V1 and V2 rockets, the work of Werner von Braun, builder of the Apollo Moon Rocket.
I can't remember the first experience, but the second was when the Americans arrived for the invasion of Normandy and were in training. I came home from the park one day and said to the Bests that there were some new people in the town in uniforms that I didn't recognize. They said that the "Americans are here to train for the invasion of France and to save us from the Germans." During the war, we received powdered egg from America because of severe food rationing.
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The one event that sticks in my mind from the Kettering experience is when the Italian prisoners of war occupied the Salvation Army building on Havelock St. The prisoners were up on the third level or even the roof, and a bunch of us kids were calling up to them. The prisoners tossed something off the roof which we intercepted before it hit the ground. I managed to capture it and ran off home to the Bests. They told me it was a grapefruit, something that had come in a food parcel from Italy for the prisoners. The Bests said it was a present from the Italians for being so well looked after in England because Italy would not be a desirable place to live at this stage of the proceedings. However, I can't remember what happened to the grapefruit. I don't remember leaving Kettering although I suppose my mother retrieved me as she did from Banbury Cross in Oxfordshire, which I'm sorry to say is a complete blank spot in my memory.