Blue Ormer Publications, the 'go-to' site for books about the Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II, has recently announced the release of a new volume on the subject.
Occupied, written by Victoria Robinson, is a beautifully illustrated book which aims to provide an introduction to the subject for primary school children.
Immediately prior to the arrival of German troops in 1940, Guernsey’s children were evacuated to Britain where they remained until the war ended.
Their experience forms an essential part of present day culture of the island and the subsequent liberation of
Guernsey is still celebrated annually on Liberation Day, 9th May.
Guernsey is still celebrated annually on Liberation Day, 9th May.
It should be remembered, however, that the experience of evacuation was not peculiar to the Channel Islands: city children throughout the UK were also dispatched to rural locations for their safety.
It was of these unhappy youngsters that I wrote in this recently unearthed, long lost poem.
EVACUEES
They departed with labels and tears,
boots-to-grow-into, neat Sunday Best,
like so many letters addressed
to the future. Boys with their peers,
large suitcases, children’s small fears.
Girls departed with ribbons and wraps.
Young strangers to strangers, they went:
train-whistle a poignant lament.
Who could predict years would elapse
before the Nazis would collapse?
At train stations, noisy and damp,
they were gusted like seeds on a breeze,
obedient and eager to please,
to Billet or National Camp:
small child-letters, each with a stamp.
Each stamp bore the face of the King
who beckoned their fathers to war,
though one generation before
had sworn, nevermore. Now they sing
to try to be brave, that’s the thing.
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