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During World War 2, many children were moved from areas that were at risk from bombing. The children had to leave their families and go to live with strangers in less dangerous parts of the country. This was called evacuation. Foster parents usually took their children. However, many discovered that life away from home was no picnic. Some thought it would be fun and exciting, like an adventure.
All the younger boys thought it was a holiday, but not sure why the women and girls were crying. The first school children were evacuated on the 1 st September, 1939 - the day Germany invaded Poland. In the first three days of September 1939, nearly 3, 000, 000 people were transported to the countryside, these were mostly children. They thought that they would be home before Christmas.
It was usually the poorer children were not used to travelling. The wealthier family children were not upset on a average compared to the others. This was because they were used to travelling and being long distances away. Some parents even visited their children at weekends! Within a week, a quarter of the population of Britain would have a new addresses. At the start of the war schools were moved together.
The children wore identity labels, gas masks hanging from their necks and a small suitcase full of clothes and food for the day. They left in the early hours of the morning when it was dark. The majority were schoolchildren, who had been sent away were labelled like pieces of luggage, separated from their parents and accompanied by new people and teachers. They were just numbers in older peoples view! Most parents tried not to cry, some parents couldn't let go.
Parents gave instructions to their children these were to not complain, Grin and smile however you feel, look after your brother or sister and not forgetting to write home. The teachers or supervisors kept the children happy and told them not to worry. Kids were in good moods. That was before they left. Children were transported by trains. These trains were more often than not dirty.
The children were all packed together. Most of the kids weren't used to long distances and by the time they got out they were hot, bothered, tired and dirty. After they had arrived they were promptly sent to village or church hall. The village or town, officers lined the children up against a wall or on a stage in the village hall, and invited people in to take their pick. This is where the phrase "I'll take that one" became stuck in the memory of the evacuees. This seriously effected them.
Steve Davis, a clinical psychologist specialising in the study of war trauma, says this was the first of many moments that caused upset and humiliation for the evacuees. No-one wanted to be picked last. These were usually the poorer scruffy children left over. The people who experienced evacuation remember it by the painful memories the trauma of separation, isolation, the tensions of fear and anger and images are of busy train stations, shouting officials and sobbing mothers.
Most were unaware of where they were going, what they would be doing and all were not sure of when they would be coming back. Some even remember catching fever's and colds! Grown-ups thought evacuation was a shamble. This was because hundreds of children arrived in the wrong area, with little or no rations. And the fact that there were not enough homes to put them. "It was soon obvious that we just didn't have the bed space. " The Government was all for evacuation. It did this in many ways.
Three of these were by: posters and advertisements to convince parents to send their children to a better place and exaggeration on the amount of carnage to caused in the future. The government thought that there was enough housing to pack the children in... yet they were wrong. They thought that everything was well planned, but people were making arrangements behind their backs. Some families had to take more than three children. The ministry of health played a big part during the war.
Evacuation of schoolchildren from London went without a hitch, or so they said. This was probably because they had told the children it was a adventure. But the older knew too better. For many people, it was a life-enhancing, mind-broadening experience, leaving them with new knowledge's which they might of never learnt.
Others, were unlucky and were beaten, mistreated and abused by families who didn't want them and didn't care about them. One boys rations were stolen by his host family, who ate his food whilst he was given a diet of nothing more than mashed potatoes. He was horsewhipped for speaking out and, with a bruised and bleeding body, was eventually taken in by the police. There was a boy who was locked in a birdcage and left with a chunk of bread and a bowl of water! ! ! ! During this terrible time in life things were happening to the uncertain younger evacuees.
Around 450 evacuees, 12 percent say they suffered some sort of mental, physical or specifically sexual abuse during their time. They just wished they had told someone. Every one had different emotions. All these things which affected the children made them remember the bad side yet some had a fun time. The good memories seem to of faded from their minds. This Is A poem About Evacuation Which Shows One Persons Feelings: On The Train Platform On the train platform, Everyone was bustling, Busy and fussing, I stood there alone, My cloth bags packed, Everyone was crying, The adults were too, Then suddenly, I was bewildered, A guard blew a whistle, Held up a green flag, The train set off, For a great house in the country, The city left my sight, I cried out, It felt like I was burning, Burning all over, Then blackness came over me, I was cold, I woke, Two women were bending over me, In a small blue room, With a cloth on my head, I couldn't go, I couldn't stay, What should I do?
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