Britain's Wartime Evacuees

Britain's Wartime Evacuees PDF Author: Gillian Mawson
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 184832443X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
With the declaration of war in September 1939, the Government Evacuation Scheme was implemented, in which almost one and a half million civilians, mostly children, were evacuated from the British cities thought most likely to be the targets of aerial bombing. The fear of invasion the following year resulted in another mass evacuation from the coastal towns.Hundreds of thousands of school children, and mothers with babies and infants, were removed from their homes and families, and sent to live with strangers in distant rural areas and to entirely unfamiliar environments. Some children were also sent to countries of the Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia. The evacuations had an enormous impact upon millions of individuals, both those that were evacuated and those that had to accommodate and care for the displaced multitude.Over the course of eight years research Gillian Mawson has interviewed hundreds of evacuees from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Families have also allowed her access to the testimony of those who have passed away. Coupled with the extensive newspaper coverage of the day and official documents Britains Wartime Evacuees provides not just a comprehensive study of the evacuations, but also relates some of the most moving and emotive stories of the Second World War.

Britain's Wartime Evacuees

Britain's Wartime Evacuees PDF Author: Gillian Mawson
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 184832443X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
With the declaration of war in September 1939, the Government Evacuation Scheme was implemented, in which almost one and a half million civilians, mostly children, were evacuated from the British cities thought most likely to be the targets of aerial bombing. The fear of invasion the following year resulted in another mass evacuation from the coastal towns.Hundreds of thousands of school children, and mothers with babies and infants, were removed from their homes and families, and sent to live with strangers in distant rural areas and to entirely unfamiliar environments. Some children were also sent to countries of the Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia. The evacuations had an enormous impact upon millions of individuals, both those that were evacuated and those that had to accommodate and care for the displaced multitude.Over the course of eight years research Gillian Mawson has interviewed hundreds of evacuees from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Families have also allowed her access to the testimony of those who have passed away. Coupled with the extensive newspaper coverage of the day and official documents Britains Wartime Evacuees provides not just a comprehensive study of the evacuations, but also relates some of the most moving and emotive stories of the Second World War.

Guernsey Evacuees

Guernsey Evacuees PDF Author: Gillian Mawson
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752490931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
In June 1940, 17,000 people fled Guernsey to England, including 5,000 school children with their teachers and 500 mothers as 'helpers'. The Channel Islands were occupied on 30 June - the only part of British territory that was occupied by Nazi forces during the Second World War. Most evacuees were transported to smoky industrial towns in Northern England - an environment so very different to their rural island. For five years they made new lives in towns where the local accent was often confusing, but for most, the generosity shown to them was astounding. They received assistance from Canada and the USA - one Guernsey school was 'sponsored' by wealthy Americans such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Hollywood stars. From May 1945, the evacuees began to return home, although many decided to remain in England. Wartime bonds were forged between Guernsey and Northern England that were so strong, they still exist today.

When the Children Came Home

When the Children Came Home PDF Author: Julie Summers
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1847377343
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
A moving and revealing insight into the real experiences of children evacuated during WWII and the families they left behind On 1 September 1939 Operation Pied Piper bgan to place the children of Britain's industrial cities beyond the reach of the Luftwaffe. 1.5 million children, pregnant women and schoolteachers were evacuated in 3 days. A further 2 million children were evacuated privately; the largest mass evacuation of children in British history. Some children went abroad, others were sent to institutions, but the majority were billeted with foster families. Some were away for weeks or months, others for years. Homecoming was not always easy and a few described it as more difficult than going away in the first place. In When the Children Came Home Julie Summers tells us what happened when these children returned to their families. She looks at the different waves of British evacuation during WWII and explores how they coped both in the immediate aftermath of the war, and in later life. For some it was a wonderful experience that enriched their whole lives, for others it cast a long shadow, for a few it changed things for ever. Using interviews, written accounts and memoirs, When the Children Came Homeweaves together a collection of personal stories to create a warm and compelling portrait of wartime Britain from the children's perspective.

See You After the Duration

See You After the Duration PDF Author: Michael Henderson
Publisher: America Star Books
ISBN: 9781448923861
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Why would British parents risk sending their children to safety over submarine-infested waters? How would American and Canadian families and public respond to them? What adventures would the children experience and what would be the long-term effect on their lives and on attitudes on both sides of the Atlantic? This book sheds light on an aspect of World War II that is little known on either side of the Atlantic. It is a tale that is at times moving, often humorous, evoking an authentic picture of life and attitudes sixty years ago. It is a saga of separation, a story of unashamed patriotism, and an important and very readable contribution to the literature of World War II. Innumerable volumes have been written about the transatlantic relationship, but here is a book that goes to its heart, the unbreakable emotional bonds that stretch across a vast ocean. Neither sentimental nor mawkish, Michael Henderson has captured the essence of this enduring, moving, wartime saga. Raymond Seitz, US Ambassador to Britain 1991-1994. Those of my generation, born towards the end of the war, are often haunted by the thought of what might have happened had we been just a little older. Michael Henderson tells us in a fascinating narrative, filled with adventure, drama and sadness of children taken from their parents to a foreign land for their own safety. One of the things I liked most about this book is the light it casts on some of the nooks and crannies of war-time North American life. Sir Christopher Meyer, UK Ambassador to the US 1997-2003

Evacuees

Evacuees PDF Author: Gillian Mawson
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473849322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
This oral history shares firsthand accounts of Britain’s child evacuees who were sent to live away from home at the outbreak of WWII. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Britain initiated Operation Pied Piper, evacuating more than three million civilians out of areas considered prime targets for bombing. It was the largest ever transportation of people across Britain, and most of those moved to safety in the countryside were schoolchildren. Social historian Gillian Mawson has spent years collecting the stories of former evacuees. This book includes personal memories from more than 100 child evacuees, as well as their teachers and foster parents. Told in their own words, these accounts reveal what it was like to settle into a new home with strangers, often staying for years. While many enjoyed life in the countryside, some escaping inner-city poverty, others endured ill-treatment and homesickness.

A Girls War

A Girls War PDF Author: Doreen Drewry Lehr
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781599321868
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
It probably doesn't surprise anyone to learn that for each one of us, a childhood does matter. It's a lesson the planners of Britain's World War II evacuations should have kept in mind. Doreen Drewry Lehr searches for her childhood, lost when she was sent away from her mother before she was even five. She finds precious clues in conversations with those who shared her wartime experiences on the beautiful, isolated and harsh Yorkshire Moors. The second part of the book surveys Britain's social policies that separated children from home and parents from the 17th century until 1967, when the last children left Britain - the majority falsely labeled as "orphans."

Who Will Take Our Children?

Who Will Take Our Children? PDF Author: Carlton Jackson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000460452
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This book, first published in 1985, is a scholarly examination of the of the British wartime evacuation of 4 million people, mostly children, from the cities to the countryside – and how it affected social life during the war years. It uses hitherto unpublished material from the collections of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board and the Mass Observation Archive.

The Impact of Civilian Evacuation in the Second World War

The Impact of Civilian Evacuation in the Second World War PDF Author: Travis L. Crosby
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000458431
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
This book, first published in 1986, examines the wartime evacuation of children in Britain from their homes in cities to safety in the countryside. It analyses the social impact of the separation on parents and children, and teases out of the official records the origins and assumptions of evacuation planning. It examines the aims, implementation and evolution of the evacuation policy, its success or failure and its effect upon post-war social planning in Britain.

Out of Harm's Way

Out of Harm's Way PDF Author: Jessica Mann
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 1472220749
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
In June 1940 Britain expected enemy invasion. Despite Churchill's determination to fight on the beaches, many parents made desperate efforts to send their children abroad to safety. Thousands left for America, Canada, Australia and other distant countries. In this revealing new book, Jessica Mann, herself a wartime evacuee, looks at the experiences of those who were sent away to a foreign land including their dangerous journeys across U-boat-ridden oceans, and asks how they coped with being away, and also how they found life back in the UK on their return. Drawing on extensive original research and memories of many former evacuees, including Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Williams, Jessica Mann builds up a moving portrait of a lost generation.

Evacuees

Evacuees PDF Author: Mike Brown
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752495720
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
As the last days of peace ebbed away in 1939 and the outbreak of the Second World War appeared inevitable, a massive exodus took place in Britain: nearly two million civilians, most of them children, were taken from the cities, industrial towns and ports to the relative safety of the British countryside. For many of these bewildered children this was the first time away from their families or even their own home town. But for overseas British nationals evacuacted to the mother country from the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, the shock of the upheaval was great indeed. Carrying pitifully few belongings, they had no idea where they were being sent - for many it was the beginning of a great adventure, for some a nightmare. Mike Brown combines factual narrative with contemporary eyewitness accounts and oral history extracts to investigate the phenomenon of evacuation in Britain during the Second World War. Illustrated with a variety of contemporary photographs and ephemera, Evacuees provides a fascinating, amusing and sometimes disturbing glimpse of how children and adults coped with the trials and tribulations of evacuation. It will appeal to anyone who is interested in reading about life on the Home Front during the Second World War, and especially to anyone who was an evacuee.