Evacuees were not held up by visas

I was evacuated and the English were very good to us.

Parents read from the paper that we would have to evacuate as it was very likely that the Germans would arrive. The Germans bombed the harbour first and that was a war crime – they said that they thought that the tomato lorries were ammunition lorries. When you drop a bomb on an ammunition lorry there would be a massive explosion but with a tomato lorry it would just go squash.

I have spoken to people who were fired on. One was going from Town to St Sampson’s in a car and a bullet passed between him and his father who was driving. Another one was fishing out in his little boat and saw splashing in the water, heard the noise of the plane and realised that they were firing at him.

My mother took me up to the Vale School – Roy Carre was headmaster. We were bussed down to the harbour as not too many people were allowed there in case it got attacked. Mother stayed behind to look after Grandma.

After waiting some time we boarded a Dutch cattle ship and were kept down in the hold below decks where all the stalls for the cattle were and there was a trough that ran around the side of the ship that you could be sick in if necessary.

We eventually arrived safely at Weymouth, where you could see ships that had been attacked and had been dragged into the bay. When in the bay we were allowed up on deck of the Batavier IV and the crew showed us all the bullet marks from when they had taken part in the Dunkirk evacuation and afterwards they came to pick us up.

We were landed and given sandwiches and a medical. First medical I had ever had – and the doctor said I had a heart murmur and would probably grow out of it, but I never did.

Channel Islanders took a direct line from Weymouth to Wigan, which was quite a long journey. When we got there they didn’t know what to do with us to get us clean so they let us use the swimming baths.

We found ourselves in a big hall filled with camp beds. I was five at the time and never felt scared because I didn’t really understand what was going on. Only about a year before we had arrived back from South Africa – my parents divorced there and mother brought us home to Guernsey again.

Wigan must have been a distribution centre as some went to Scotland, some to Yorkshire and some to Cheshire. Mother said to my big sister Cynthia, wherever you go make sure you take him with you. All the children stood in a group and the villagers came down and picked out their children.

Farmers came down to look for children to work on their farms because the men had gone. This lady picked out Cynthia and she went to go to the lady, dragging me along with her, and the lady said I want her but not him.

My mother’s sister and my cousin who was two years old at the time evacuated to Yorkshire. They found us and the Red Cross took us from Cheshire to Yorkshire where we stayed for the next five years.

When my aunt evacuated to Yorkshire, the council gave her an empty house and neighbours came round with furniture and beds.

The English were very good as they fed us, clothed us and educated us. My two sisters and myself went to school in Yorkshire. Whilst things weren’t all easy, what with rationing etc, we were treated very well. Although they decided to take my tonsils out in hospital and I wasn’t very pleased about it.

I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on until we had the air raids and night time air raids when the planes flew overhead on their way to Manchester, as they were not interested in the small town just outside of Bradford.

When we came back Guernsey was in a thorough, thorough mess, with mines everywhere, including on the cliffs. In fact Uncle Peter had his leg blown off when he stepped on a mine.

Nobody was asking us for a visa when we were evacuated back then.

HENRY FARNWORTH

St Martin’s.