- Contributed by
- MichaelJMiller
- People in story:
- Michael Miller, Mrs Dora Miller
- Location of story:
- Forest Gate, East London
- Background to story:
- Civilian
- Article ID:
- A4015513
- Contributed on:
- 06 May 2005
I was born in June 1940 and spent the war living in the East End of London. We lived close to an area of grassland known as the Wanstead Flats on which in 1944 troops were being assembled for movement to the south coast and embarcation for the Normandy landings. One day my mother, Mrs Dora Miller was shopping and was approached by a woman seeking directions to the Wanstead Flats. It transpired that the woman, from Glasgow, had come south to try to meet with her husband. After some discussion my Mother offered her a bed for the night in our large house. The woman found her husband in the camp and he managed to get out and spend the night with his wife, returning to the camp early the following morning. That day the troops were moved down to the South coast and on to Normandy. The wife returned to Scotland. Some days later a small parcel containing sweets and chocolate arrived for me from the woman who was manager of a branch of Woolworths in Glasgow.
Now, 60 years later, I still recall the episode and wonder if the soldier survived the landings and subsequent battles to return to Glasgow and his wife or whether their night spent in our house was their last together. I guess I'll never know!
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