Evacuee Boys (11 page)

A bombed London home after post-war restoration. (Author’s collection)

It was a pleasant little apartment in West Kensington, with two modern rooms, central heating, hot water in the bathroom, and an attractive little kitchen. In one room they left the furniture, carpet and lamp, which we took over and paid for later. We got our bedroom back except for the suite of chairs, which was retained by the arbitrator for his own use. I could not go to the auction because Uncle Eugene did not let me out of the Pop Inn, saying that there was no sense in going, seeing that I could not buy anything without money. The result was that the arbitrator told us that we could only have the £40–£50 if he bought the armchairs and corresponding sofa, not to mention the other furniture which cost several hundred pounds when we bought them. He consoled me by saying that at least I did not have to pay the remaining debt for the furniture. We did not grieve much over our losses. We had a modest lifestyle, a pleasant little flat and your grandmother was happy to be able to sleep in the shelter in the basement of the house, where many other residents also slept. That was not for us! We slept in our comfortable bed and hoped that a bomb would not find us.

We left for work early in the morning and returned late at night – usually dead tired. As we were coming home one night, just as we stepped out of the Underground into the street, we heard the sound of a bomb dropping. I grabbed Mum’s hand and ran with her to the nearest doorway. In her fright, she did not know whether to run forward or backward and I dragged her to the doorway. The moment we got under the doorway, a tremendous explosion shook us and we saw that the house on the other side of the road had been hit and was on fire, together with all the neighbouring houses. A stone fell from our hearts and we felt secure once again. We went to the flat and I went to the window to see what happened in the street. We did not turn on the light because the blackout curtain was not drawn. We heard another bomb falling and she shouted, ‘Get away from the window!’. She dragged me away from the window by force and at that moment all our windows were broken. If she had not dragged me away, I would have been cut up by the broken glass. We thanked God that no harm came to us. We lay down in the cold window-less room and snuggling up to each other we warmed each other up as we went to sleep. We were without windows for two years; it was impossible to get glass and they stuck cardboard in place of the windows. Often at night, when we had to change at Earls Court from the deep Underground to the surface connection to West Kensington, we had to wait for the train under the stairway, because bombs were dropping and it was not safe to go outside on to the platform.

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September
1940

Dear Mum & Dad,

I have not posted yesterday’s postcard, so I am including it in this letter. Yesterday I received your letter & the 3/6, for which I thank you very much, & I must congratulate you on your lucky escape. It was indeed a thing that we should all be grateful for to the Almighty, that the bomb that fell outside the house was a delayed-action bomb & not a high-explosive one. I hope this will also be a lesson to you, & that you will not take any more chances like that. I hope that the damage has only been slight, & that even if all the windows will be blown in, you will have the consolation that they will never blow in again.

I am sorry to hear that Mummy has lost her job, but still I hope, that by the time this letter arrives, Daddy will get his job at the B.B.C. I shall hang on to my job for the time being, especially as I want a pair of football boots, & besides I want to save some money for Victory. I have already got 3/- in the savings, & I hope to increase that this week.

I do not know, whether you know that there are some Hungarian people living in Pembroke Road, their name is Zsötés. They have a little boy of 8 up Bowden Hill (Hocock) who has been evacuated at the beginning of the war, – then he could speak no English at all, & now he is forgotten all his Hungarian.

I am going to meet John now, & read him your letter, as I only saw him yesterday in the morning, before your letter arrived.

Lots of love from

Andrew

6
October
1940

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am sorry I could not write for such a long time, but I suppose you will see that I am very busy nowadays. But to-day I happen to have slightly less work to do.

I received the Cambridge fee on Friday with many thanks.

There is very little news to write about, because my daily time table is so very monotonous. School, paper-round, school, homework, bed, every day. We have been having exams for last week & to-day & am doing fairly well.

Yesterday Mr. Kelly took me out in the car blackberry picking.

I hope you are all right, & that now you are put up well to sleep somewhere I thought, that my best plan after December will be to get a job straight away, go to evening school & in a couple of years time, when we hope to be English citizens, I can get all the Scholarships that I need for any course that I want to take. I shall only be 18 then & still have plenty of time, by then, I shall have some money saved up too & bear College expenses. I cannot afford t[o] pay any fees now & cannot get any Scholarships. Write & tell me what you think of it.

There is nothing else to write about, I shall get John to write again this week. Happy New Year (Roshashono was last Thursday & Yom Kipour will be on Saturday. I shall fast) & I hope it will bring more happiness than the last one.

Lots of love from

Andrew

14
October
1940

Dear Mum & Dad,

Thank you very much for your last card, which I received this morning. As you refer, to what will happen to us after December, I thought it might be as well to discuss the point in detail and make or plans the best we can.

Of course, there is no real problem if you are in Bristol. Then I shall get a good job there and save up sufficient money for some of the high school expenses. If, however you are still in London, as I hope you will not be, then I do not think it is advisable for me to go back to London, unless I am forced to. It is improbable that I can get a job in Melksham, but I might try and get one in Trowbridge or one of the neighbouring towns. Then however, the problem of lodging arises, for if I go to Trowbridge, then I shall have to get into somewhere for a sum which would nearly take up the whole of my wages. There is a great shortage of lodgings, and therefore the charge is high. Please consider these facts and decide.

We are quite all right, there are no air-raids, & I am busy, although not quite so busy as before. John has received his socks with thanks. He cannot write his letter because I am writing it in the dinner-hour, & have to post it before he can write.

Well I must get off to school now. So lots of love & luck

Andrew

P. S. Please send money, if you can.

9
November
1940

Dear Mum & Dad,

Thank you very much for your post card & letter to which, I am only able to reply now. I am afraid I have been rather busy, & now, 3 weeks before the examination I shall be busier still, so do not worry if the replies to your letters are slightly delayed as it is in this case.

To-day, I told Mr. Riddick
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that I could no longer carry on with my paper round, since I had to stay up a little longer owing to increased home work & extra lessons & therefore it was impossible for me to get up early at the same time, & do my work efficiently. It had to be one or the other, but I could not do both. I know you will agree with me in this & even though you will have to send me money more frequently to supplement my wages. I know this will be hard on your pockets but it is only a matter of 6 weeks at the most.

You seem to be rather anxious to know if I am not overworking myself. Well I do not think you need worry a great deal about that, especially now that I have given up the paper-job.

It is true that I did not go to school yesterday because I did not feel too well in the morning, but after my paper round I went back to bed for the morning & I feel all right now.

I am afraid I have hardly had time to comment on your misfortunes up to now, since I only wrote short cards, on which I could only just write how we were going on, & what we were doing, & how broke we were. Of course I am sorry that you have so much work today & had to move so many times, but the main thing is that your are all right.

Mr. Redfearn told us yesterday that we have an alternative of three things after the Cambridge:-

(1) To go back to London

(2) Stay at School

(3) Get a job round here

I think I am going to ask him if I could get transferred to a Secondary School somewhere if I paid. It is probable that I could pay the fees from my paper-money but I shall have to ask about that. If this is impossible than I think I shall try to get a job somewhere in the neighbourhood which will supply me with lodging money & a few shillings pocket money & in the meanwhile I intend to get further education at an Evening School & then to be able to go on to a University when I can get Scholarships. I do not think it is advisable to back to London now, & I’d not want to stay on at Kelly’s any longer than necessary, since they, I think they are planning to let the room in which I am now.

Well I cannot write any more, but I should like to have your views on the future. Please try to send money regularly, since I am sending my laundry out again & I have to save up for John’s birthday present.

Lots & lots of love & millions of kisses from

Andrew

P.S. I have not got any thing for Granny yet, Mrs. Robbins is still full up. Shall I write letters to the West Kensington Court address – in Conan Street or to the bar?
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