Joan, a widow who was 11 when war broke out, describes her experience as an evacuee during the war. She remembers the day that war was announced, and seeing all the mothers in the town crying, although she didn't understand why at the time. Joan was evacuated from her home in Gillingham with 3 of her sisters. This was a painful separation, especially since they were not treated well by their two carers in their new home in Chartham. Joan later fell ill with scarlet fever and was put in an isolation hospital for 6 weeks, after which the sisters were taken home to their parents.  Joan recalls her experience being much improved after the family was reunited. She talks of the ‘happy days’ of ‘Digging for Victory’ and sourcing items for the local barracks. Although food was rationed, Joan remembers her mother reserving her meat ration so the family could have a Sunday roast. She also recalls using condensed milk instead of jam to make a tasty sandwich, and the jubilation on the days when boats of bananas and oranges managed to get through. She also speaks with fondness of the time spent in the Anderson air raid shelter in their garden, where they spent most of their nights. She relates happy memories of sing-alongs with their Irish neighbour who often joined them, and recalls often staying up all night talking and laughing- ‘I can’t say they were sad days… we were a community really.’ Although she doesn’t recall being scared of the bombing, the memory of Gillingham bus depot being bombed and setting the sky alight has stuck with her. Joan talks about the pub her father took over in 1942, where she worked as a barmaid. She recalls the celebrations of VE Day, when people sang and danced all night. It was shortly after this that her future husband walked into the pub after being demobbed from the Navy. They married and moved to Scotland, but he re-joined the Navy after 9 years, and she fondly recalls her years as a Navy wife.  Joan’s story reminds us of the often painful experience of evacuation, as well as the spirit of community inspired by the Blitz.

Lise de Baissac was a British citizen who was born in Mauritius but moved to Paris at 15. In 1940 she fled to Cannes and travelled via Portugal to London, where a cousin put her in contact with SOE. She was parachuted into France twice, once spending a year in Poitiers receiving agents and the second time in April 1944, working with her brother to distribute weapons to the Resistance before D-Day. She explains the training, how they were deployed to France, locating potential landing grounds, their flimsy communications and the limited instructions they were given. She reflects on her lucky escape after her first deployment, when her French helpers were arrested and one later died. She provides a vivid account of her experiences, including sad memories of people fleeing the German advance, her fears the first time she presented her false identity card, her terror when confronted by a German soldier trying to steal her bike.