The War-Weary Years

         By 1941 Eileen was expecting her first baby, and in Frensham we had first-row seating to watch the results of the bombings of London lighting the night sky.  We were near enough London to see the fires, but we hoped far enough away to avoid being a target of the Luftwaffe. 

         The worst time was one night in May, when over a thousand Londoners wee killed.  They said four hundred bombers crossed the channel, guided by a full moon.   The houses of Parliament were made unusable, so badly were they hit.  Waterloo Station was destroyed, as well as the Bow Church.  The British Museum lost almost a quarter of a million books.  Two thousand fires were started that night, and many of them continued burning through the next day.  On that night six firemen died and almost three hundred were injured.  London was bruised and battered.

         Prime Minister Churchill gave a wonderful speech over the wireless, and I remember some of it.  He said Hitler knows he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.  He said we must brace ourselves to our duties and bear ourselves so that if the British Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will still say that ‘This was their finest hour.’

         In late August Eileen went to Farnham to have her baby in the nursing home.  She and her new daughter stayed  there for two weeks.  That was normal in those days.  Not only that, the new mothers were given a pint of Guiness every night to help their milk production.  I was only able to make the trip to visit her once, and was only allowed to stay one hour, although the new fathers were allowed two.  Allan was away on a training exercise, but I learned they had agreed to name their daughter Eileen Jean.

         As I travelled home on the bus I couldn’t help but wonder what my granddaughter’s future would be like – I had no doubt we would defeat Hitler, but at what cost?