Mr. Brabyn, Billeting Officer
"UNCLE BILL'S" HERITAGE OF KINDNESS
…England late in
1940, was a nation besieged, still reeling from the shock of Dunkirk and the
realisation that the ever victorious German Army was now poised just a few
miles across that stretch of water the English Channel. The civilian
population, women and children, the elderly, and the sick, were taking a
terrible and horrendous nightly battering from wave after wave of Luftwaffe
bombers, pouring down a deadly hail of high explosives and incendiary bombs, on
several occasions setting the whole of the East end of London and the adjacent
dockyards aflame.
The fury of the
Nazi blitz compelled the government of the day to put in to operation, a
massive evacuation scheme from all the major cities, of children, and mothers
with babies, relocating them to places of comparative safety into the English
countryside.
David a nine year
old Londoner, with his younger brother Ron' and still younger sister Iris, who
at the time was six years of age, are sent to the West country to a remote
village called Blackawton, approximately three miles in from the South Devon
coastline known as Slapton Sands. Three years or so later, this stretch of
coast would become the scene of a tragic disaster. During a pre D-Day
amphibious assault exercise known as "Exercise Tiger" close to a
thousand American soldiers and Naval personnel were killed and drowned (that it
is one of the most tragic stories of WW2). Unknown to David at the time a
family namesake of his, an American sailor S2c, Henry, A, Blackie a crew member
of the USS LST 507, was killed when a couple of German torpedoes slammed into
the ship's side.
For these three
London evacuee's life was to prove less than easy for quite some time to come,
uninvited to a part of England that was considered to be forty years behind the
times, amongst people who viewed any outsiders with extreme suspicion almost to
the point of animosity. Their first billet was an old farmhouse of mud walls,
thatched roof, and dirt floors, located about one mile from the village itself.
It was the middle of the night and pitch black darkness when they were taken to
their new home, it is not surprising that the three little evacuees were
terrified, also being unable to understand anything that was said to them,
owing to the thick west of England dialect which sounded like a foreign
language to their ears. Scared and frightened they huddled into one another and
cried themselves to sleep, David trying all the while between his own tears ,
to comfort his brother and sister.
The stay at the
farmhouse was terminated by the billeting officer, a London man Mr Brabyn,
charged with the responsibility of integrating the evacuees into their new
community, and at the same time watching out for the welfare of all the London
children involved. The removal of David, Ronald, and their sister Iris was
brought about by a sharp eyed temporary London lady teacher, who had noticed
that the children ate dry bread and tomato sauce sandwiches for school lunch
day after day, and who upon questioning David learnt that this was and had been
their total diet for the six weeks they had been at the ancient farmhouse,
horrified she wasted no time informing Mr Brabyn, who arrived promptly
at four o'clock in the afternoon school leaving time, in his pre war Austin 8.
Having not the slightest inkling of what was about to transpire, the three
clambered excitedly into the old car for their first ever ride in such a
magnificent (in their eyes) motor car. On arrival at the farmhouse Mr Brabyn
proceeded to give Mrs S , a very severe talking to regarding her lack of care
and feeding of the three, during which time they started to fear for themselves
after Mr Brabyn would leave, much to their surprise and relief the
billeting officer instructed them to pack their bags and gas masks and get back
into the car, whereupon he drove them back to the village and put them up in
his small cottage provided by the authorities, where for the first time in six
weeks they had a decent meal.
After being
rebilleted with new foster families, life went on as normal as life could be
expected to in the prevailing wartime situation…
http://www.war-records.com/War-Records.Visitor%20Section%2021%20(Poems%20of%20War).htm
Prepared by Bob Dalrymple, PO Box 122, Dapto, NSW Australia 2350
eMail: bob@relativelyyours.com