Today I received a surprise package from my Granddad who lives in England. It was so touching and thoughtful and honestly brought tears to my eyes. I don't see this man nearly as much as I'd like!
My parents are both British. My dad grew up in Lowestof England, an eastern fishing town, and my mommy grew up in Hastings England, a southern seafront town where on clear day to can see France across the channel! My parents moved to the states a few weeks after they got married and have lived here ever since. We all try to go over every summer to visit all of our family but sometimes all of our schedules conflict and it becomes harder than we originally thought.
Some of my fondest memories from when I was younger are memories of sitting in my Granddad's living room (my grandmother dies of cancer when I was 18 mos old) during the evenings when we would go visit. I have ALWAYS had this obsession with the second world war perhaps because my family all have first hand experiences and thrilling stories to tell. My Granddad was only in his teens during the war but still has hundreds of stories of air raids, blackouts, and bombings. One of my favorite stories he's told me is when he was 15 or so and heard a German air craft come flying in over the sea. He was down at the garage (gas station) in the Old Town and didn't want his mother to be home alone during the raid. (this was earlier on during the war) As he was running as fast as he could home he looked over his left shoulder and made eye contact with the German pilot (apparently they flew VERY low to the ground) who turned a blind eye and flew past him. He has always said he's never felt his heart sink as much as that moment.
(Granddad, Me, and Joy at their wedding two summers ago)If you've been over to my house you'll know I have three 'Keep Calm and Carry On' original posters framed on my living room wall. I ordered these originals from Barter Books in London. It's one of the three posters produced by the British Government's Ministry of Information on the eve of the odd World War in 1939. The other two were 'Freedom is in Peril' and 'Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory."
Today my Granddad sent me a little gift... this little book. It's a modest attempt at inspiration for hard times. I sat and read every quote inside. I love it!...
Although, the best part of the package was a letter my Granddad had written to me about a part of the war he didn't know much about but had memories of and wanted to share them with me. He had written out two pages of his experience, and thoughts of his evacuation during the war. Here's a few parts... "I was 9 years old when I was evacuated away from Hastings, it was in 1940 and I went with my mother, my granddad ad Grandmother. My Father had to stay home and work. I cannot remember anything about the journey but we arrived at Wells in Somerset and we were billeted in a school ever night. I cannot remember much about that time except that I had palled up with another boy who came from New Romney in Kent and we found a sweet shop where we bought some chocolate covered coconut cars, the taste of which stays with me today."
"On the first night we were there we had heard a lot of planes flying aound and the noise of distant bombing which apparently was a Bristol a busy port and city not that far away from us! In the early morning we heard the noise of a low flying aircraft and as we were on the side of a hill we were able to look down on a German bomber! The plane was either in difficulties or was flying low to avoid attention, we never found out which"
"How long we stayed away I cannot remember but eventually we returned to Hastings, the war was still on and as we approached Lewes in Sussex the train was halted in a tunnel because there was an air raid on the town, we were in the tunnel until the all clear was sounded.
What a wonderful evening tonight was!