Evacuees

Written by Molly (Year 5)

The Government thought that evacuating children would be a good idea to keep them safe.

Who was Evacuated?

People that were under school age would go with their mum so that they were safe and because they might cry a lot for their parents.
Also disabled people would get evacuated because if they were in a wheel chair they would not be able to go very fast.

At the start of the Second World War, children that were living in cities and towns were taken away from their homes to the countryside, where bombs were not laid. 

The children had labels on themselves with an address and their full name. It was very important that your label would not come off because then you would not be able to be evacuated.

Why Were Children Evacuated?

The reason why the government said people should be evacuated was because they were worried that a new war might begin when Hitler came to power in 1933.

Some of the families the children went to were rich so they got a lot of food but some were very poor and could not afford much food.

People were mostly evacuated by train. Some people got evacuated twice because the first place they got evacuated to was getting bombed. Evacuation saved thousands of lives.

What Was it Like to be an Evacuee?

Some of the families that children were sent to had cruel people living in them. One girl, who was seven years old, got locked in a cage with stale bread and water.
Some children were lucky and got to stay with people that they knew. All of the children didn’t want to leave their family but it had to be done. The people who looked after the evacuees thought they had bad health and were dirty and smelly. 

Some children got evacuated with their teacher.  In the morning children would go to school with their parents and their parents would come with them to wave goodbye. Nearly every parent would cry.