I have been AWOL for a few weeks, I hope some of you have missed me…..
I have been busy working on a tender document which has proved much more difficult than I ever imagined when agreeing to do it. I mean, three weeks of my life is too much to spend on writing something that I didn’t enjoy. It has been submitted now, at 11.45 am to be precise so I’m free now to write something I do enjoy enormously…
Thank you to Rochelle for everything, loved your post and photographs about the Friday Fictioneers get together, so lovely to see you all in the flesh, so to speak! Thanks also this week to Kelly Sands for the photograph.
Genre: Family History
Word Count: 100
We’ll Meet Again
Eight year-old Sheila skipped alongside her mother, so excited to be going on this adventure. They met other families on their way to the station. Some mothers were crying, Sheila idly wondered why.
Her mother, never one for showing much emotion, kissed her as she opened the door to the special carriage on the train. She checked the gas mask was in its box and Sheila’s name tag was securely fastened to her coat.
‘Be a good girl. Say your prayers and do as you’re told. I’ll see you soon.’
It would be four eventful years before they met again.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Notes:
Sheila is my aunt. At the outbreak of WWII almost all the children of the city of Hull were evacuated to safety. Everyone knows how badly London and other cities were bombed, but for reasons explained below, the bombing of Hull was kept off the newsreels and out of the papers.
http://www.mylearning.org/the-hull-blitz/p-3047/
40again's Blog 
That was an amazing story due to it being so real. Glad for your Aunt 🙂
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Thank you! Must have been a terrible time, thanks for reading 🙂
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Really loved this story because of how real it is. Glad for your Aunt.
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Thank you, so pleased you liked it:)
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Dear Dee,
Welcome back. Sorry you had to bang your head against that tender agreement. Loved your story. Turbulent sky, turbulent times.
Aloha,
Doug
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Dear Doug
Thank you,it’s good to do the writing I like!
Glad you liked the story, I will be over to see yours soon.
Dee
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DEEEEEEE!!!!!! Good to see you, darling! I’ve been absent myself, so it’s good we’re back here together. Good to see that your writing is still as sharp as ever — even without the family connection, this was a bittersweet piece. Lovely pairing with the Vera Lynn song (which always makes me think of Pink Floyd’s song “Vera”)
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Helena, good to hear from you, as always. I have a lot catching up to do…pleased you liked this little story, it is one I’ve heard retold many times, it was nice to be able to use the outline here.
Think Vera Lynn will go on for ever….
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Love the detail of the gas mask with Sheila’s name on it. Really brings the story to life Thanks for this little snippet of history, Dee.
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Thank you.
So pleased you enjoyed reading it
Dee
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I can see them at the station. Nice to have a happy ending.
Lily
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Yes they were some of the lucky ones
Thanks for reading, glad you liked it.
Dee
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thank you for sharing the history behind your story. so very sad the parting but knowing the children were kept safe and your aunt later reunited with her child makes this a story with a happy ending. love the video too. 🙂
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It must have been a very bittersweet time for the mothers, losing their children yet knowing they were bring sent to safety.
Yes, Sheila was collected and brought home safely after her ‘adventure’ some children sadly had no-one to come home too when the war was over.
Thank you for reading, great to hear from you
Dee
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Lovely story…so much said in so few words.
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Thank you so much 🙂
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Your story was interesting enough to have me read your links. Now the question I have is why did you include the gas mask? I’m sorry that the connection doesn’t register. The gas mas made me think of Nazi concentration camps. I would have expected possible some other “protective” devise, if anything, on a train. And where did these children go to? Other families members? Was there a shelter that Britain set up for these children? Randy
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Hi Randy
At the start of WWII all citizens, including babies, were issued with gas masks, which they had to carry with them at all times. The government were afraid that the enemy may used gas to bomb the country. It was one of the jobs of the Air Raid Wardens to stop people and check that they were carrying their gas mask when they were out and about.The mask came in a special cardboard box, with a carrying strap made to fit over the shoulder.
The children from the cities were sent to families in the country, far away from the bombing. Sometimes families had made arrangements beforehand, quite often with relations living away from the main cities; other times the children arrived at a town hall somewhere and were just lined up and chosen by people who has agreed to ‘take in an evacuee.’
Quite often there was a lot of humour – for instance it was common for children from the the cities to have never seen a cow or a sheep and most were totally unaware where milk can from. On the other hand, children living in the country had no access to cinemas, music halls or other kinds of entertainment the city children were used to.
When the expected big raid on London didn’t happen, a lot of children were reunited with their families, only to be sent back when the blitz started. Sadly a lot of children had no home to go to when the war was over.
My aunt was sent away from Hull, a port that was very badly bombed, to a family in the Lincolnshire countryside, she had a happy time, made friends with the daughter of the household and kept in touch with her ‘other family’ for many years.
Hope this helps to answer some of your questions.
Dee
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I could feel the sadness in this story.
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Thank you Shirley.
I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like to have to part with your children like that, thankfully my family had a happy ending, others were not so lucky.
Dee
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Dear Dee,
Very well done. It seems that you and I were joined at the hip this week.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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PS Love the video and song.
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Dear Rochelle
After reading your story I can see what you mean!
Thank you for reading
Take care
Dee
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I love this historical fiction. I wish I could do it as well.
Glad to have you back.
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Thank you Dawn it’s good to have the time for ‘my writing’ again.
Good to hear from you, as always
Dee
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Dee, Welcome back! I was very little in the 40’s, but heard many of the stories and saw movies about it later. My older brother was in the U.S. Navy during the war. I can only imagine what people went through. It would have been so hard to send you child away from you, even for a good reason. Your family was blessed they got back together again. I read the link and really enjoyed the music. Very well written as always. 🙂 —Susan
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Hi Susan
Thank you for your lovely comment and for taking the time to let me know a bit more about you.
They were terrible times for lots of people; I’m just so glad my family were reunited.
Dee
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