Julie Summers - When the Children Came Home

review by Maggie Perkovic on show June 2011
THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF BOOKS WRITTEN
ABOUT EVACUEES DURING THE WAR, BUT THIS ONE
ISA LITTLE DIFFERENT AS IT TELLS THE STORIES
OF THE RETURN OF THESE EVACUEES AND HOW
HARD IT WAS FOR A LOT OF THEM TO SETTLE
DOWN AGAIN.
THERE WERE THREE MAJOR EVACUATIONS
DURING THE SECOND WAR.
FIRST WAS IN 1939, THE SECOND IN 1940, AND THE
LAST IN 1944 WHEN THE VI AND V2 WERE SENT
OVER.
IN THIS BOOK JULIE SUMMERS TELLS THE STORY
OF WHEN THESE CHILDREN CAME HOME.
FOR SOME THE EVACUATION GAVE THEM A NEW
LOOK AT THEIR LIVES, AND RETURNING HOME WAS
NOT A GOOD EXPERIENCE, FOR OTHERS THE
EVACUATION WAS A MISTAKE, AND THEY WERE
DREADFULLY UNHAPPY, EVEN WORSE SOME HAD
THEIR LIVES RUINED FOR EVER.
IN THIS DAY AND AGE TO IMAGINE YOUNGSTERS
SENT TO A FAMILY WITHOUT VETTING THEM FIRST
SEEMS INCREDIBLE, BUT THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED,
THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS WERE SPLIT UP, A
NIGHTMARE FOR THE OLDER ONES WHO WERE
TOLD “LOOK AFTER THE LITLE ONE”
THIS WAS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE CASE OF THE
CITY OF BENARES.
OF THE NINETEEN VESSELS THAT LEFT TO TAKE
THE EVACUEES ABROAD, 16 ARRIVED SAFELY,
THREE DID NOT, BUT THE STORY OF THE CITY OF
BENARES IS THE MOST TRAGIC, AND CHANGED THE
GOVERNMENTS ATTITUDE TTOWARDS THE WHOLE
SCHEME.
THE SHIP CARRYING NINETY CHILDREN ON THEIR WAY TO CANADA WAS HIT BY A TORPEDO,NEAR
ROCKALL, SHE SUNK WITHIN FORTY MINUTES
THIRTY CHILDREN WERE KILLED INSTANTLY BY THE
FORCE OF THE EXPLOSION, THE REST STRUGGLED
IN THE DARK AND CONFUSION TO MAKE FOR THE
LIFE BOATS, WITH THE ESCORTS CALMING THEM
AND HELPING.
TRAGICALLY, SOME LIFEBOATS FILLED WITH WATER
AS THEY WERE LOWERED, OTHERS FILLED WITH
CHILDREN TOSSED AND BILLOWED IN THE STORMY
SEA, THE WEATHER WAS FEROCIOUS, THE
CHILDREN IN THEIR NIGHTDRESSES INADEQUATELY
PROTECTED FROM THE ELEMENTS, FADED AWAY,
MANY DIED FROM INJURIES AS THEY LEFT THE
SINKING SHIP.
HMS HURRICANE REACHED SOME NEXT DAY,
FOURTEEN HOURS AFTER THE TORPEDO STRUCK,
MANY LIFEBOATS WERE FULL OF DEAD CHILDREN,
SOME WERE FLOATING IN THE SEA STILL HOLDING
ON TO ANYTHING THAT FLOATED.
DIFFERENT STORIES THAT CAME OUT WERE HORRIFYING; A BOMBED OUT FAMILY LET THEIR
FIVE
CHILDREN GO ON THE SHIP FOR A NEW LIFE
ABROAD ONLY FOR THE CHILDREN TO DIE AS THE SHIP SUNK.
MARY CORNISH WAS IN A LIFEBOAT WITH 46 SOULS, 32 INDIAN SEAMEN, SIX
EVACUATED BOYS, A SHIPPING MAGNATE PLUS OTHERS AND THE BOAT WAS THE SIZE OF AN
ENGLISH BUS, ONLY FOUR FOOT LONGER.
THEY
WERE IN THAT BOAT FOR OVER A WEEK, HOW THEY SURVIVED WAS DUE TO THE REDOUBTABLE
LADY MARY CORNISH, DUE TO HER
ENCOURAGMENT AND BRAVERY ALL SURVIVED BUT
AN INDIAN SAILOR DIED AFTER THEY HAD BEEN
RESCUED BY HMS ANTHONY.SHE HAD BEEN WORKING AS AN ESCORT TO evacuated girls and was devastated to LEARN HOW MANY OF THEM HAD PERISHED. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SINKING IS MIUNUTE IN DETAIL AND ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING IN CONTENT. THIS IS A WELL WRITTEN WELL RESEARCHED AND QUITE APPALING IN SOME STORIES BUT HEART WARMING IN OTHERS. A STUNNING AND SOBERING PART OF HISTORY
review by Mags