Description
Object description
Well-written word processed memoir (75pp, written 1996) of his experiences as a Belgian refugee in London, May 1940, and subsequent evacuation with his mother and brother to St Austell, Cornwall in early 1941 before being repatriated to Belgium in July 1945, including interesting descriptions of his brother's mistaken arrest by the security forces, his hospitalisation with diptheria and the hospital's precautionary measures during air raids, school life and various childhood pranks (including cutting barbed wire on the beach), his brother Charlie's service with the 118th Minesweeping Flotilla at Harwich, his various billets and the different attitudes to Belgian refugees, the fraternisation of local women with servicemen (particularly Americans), cinema and radio entertainment, the shooting of the film FRENCHMAN'S CREEK at Penrice, the country house where he was billeted, the Colonel of Penrice, who was a known German sympathiser, victory celebrations, his return to Belgium and his feelings of remoteness from his father caused by wartime separation, and his involvement with the 50th anniversary celebrations of D-Day and VE-Day, together with his ID Card (29 May 1940), the ID Card (28 May 1943) and Aliens Certificate of Registration (15 June 1942) of his mother, and 14 photographs referred to in the text.
Content description
Well-written word processed memoir (75pp, written 1996) of his experiences as a Belgian refugee in London, May 1940, and subsequent evacuation with his mother and brother to St Austell, Cornwall in early 1941 before being repatriated to Belgium in July 1945, including interesting descriptions of his brother's mistaken arrest by the security forces, his hospitalisation with diptheria and the hospital's precautionary measures during air raids, school life and various childhood pranks (including cutting barbed wire on the beach), his brother Charlie's service with the 118th Minesweeping Flotilla at Harwich, his various billets and the different attitudes to Belgian refugees, the fraternisation of local women with servicemen (particularly Americans), cinema and radio entertainment, the shooting of the film FRENCHMAN'S CREEK at Penrice, the country house where he was billeted, the Colonel of Penrice, who was a known German sympathiser, victory celebrations, his return to Belgium and his feelings of remoteness from his father caused by wartime separation, and his involvement with the 50th anniversary celebrations of D-Day and VE-Day, together with his ID Card (29 May 1940), the ID Card (28 May 1943) and Aliens Certificate of Registration (15 June 1942) of his mother, and 14 photographs referred to in the text.
History note
Cataloguer APR
History note
Catalogue date 1996-11-02