2 September

It was also the day Bill Shankly was born (1913) and the day the great Jackie Blanchflower died (1998)

Of course to the uninitiated, this was the day that the Second World War effectively began and very soon there was to be no Football League as our grandfathers and fathers knew it for quite some time.

I invited quite a lot of abuse on Another Site at the time Lubos Kubik was told by one poster on there to "leave my club and take your foreigners with you" because I expressed abhorrence that someone could refer to people from the Czech Republic and Poland in quite those terms and so disrespectfully given the long founded bond and sense of comradeship those of an older generation maintained between this country and those two savagely raped and pillaged states torn apart by those two despots Hitler and Stalin.

Anyone who doubts what I am talking about should avail themselves of the FACTS of the historical chronology going back some one hundred years or more before 1939 of which this country was so willing a participant, that led to the long held suspicions between the Poles and the Russians, the Prussians and more latterly the Germans and Czechs; the futile treaties and frontiers drawn up and the general hatred of one another that exploded into World Wars TWICE within two decades in the first half of the twentieth century.

That this country was so sick of war that it stood by for far too long in the nineteen thirties whilst Germany and Russia made their moves and carved up these resource rich nations and bilaterally began genocide on a most horrific and numerous scale ever seen in the history of mankind should never be forgotten.

That so many willingly and heroically put their own lives on the line in defiance of that wickedness and evil should never be forgotten either, and certainly I hope never again to read on a forum appertaining to our common interest that "foreigners" should be "taken" and leave our midst in quite such a thoughtless and sweeping manner.

Yes, even the most football obsessed amongst us should ALWAYS be more concerned about what is going on in the world than in our own little sporting fiefdom!

Tuesday the J.Vine show was very moving and full of some happy, but many very sad stories from people who were evacuated from places like London when they were children, at the start of World War Two. Some retold the day they were evacuated and the lives they lived with their temporary foster parents. I was the case that anyone who had a spare room in their house, had to take in these children, but they did receive a payment for doing so.

Put onto trains and at the other end just so often lined up against a wall, as the foster parents walked past and picked the ones they wanted. Big and strong looking boys were picked first, followed by the bigger girls. Some of the children may have been with their bothers or sisters and were told by their mother to stick together, but so often never happened.

While some were treated very well, so many others were used as no more than slaves and suffered all sorts of abuse and poor treatment. Many would have found after the war that their own parents had been killed, or there was no longer a family home.

It makes you think how easy today’s children have life and just how hard it was for children only seventy years ago. I don’t think if there was a world war three, that children would be evacuated as they were in 1939, for a start I’m sure everyone who could take children would have to be fully vetted.

For me to hear these stories often told with real tears and emotions, it made me so thankful I was born around nine years after the war finished and so grateful for all those who died to make the country I live In a free one.

A bit more information
During the Second World War, many children living in big cities and towns were moved temporarily from their homes to places considered safer, usually out in the countryside. The British evacuation began on Friday 1 September 1939. It was called 'Operation Pied Piper'.

Between 1939 - 1945 there were three major evacuations in preparation of the of the German Luftwaffe bombing Britain.

The first official evacuations began on September 1st 1939, two days before the declaration of war. By January 1940 almost 60% had returned to their homes.
A second evacuation effort was started after the Germans had taken over most of France. From June 13th to June 18th, 1940, around 100,000 children were evacuated (in many cases re-evacuated).

When the Blitz began on 7th September 1940, children who had returned home or had not been evacuated were evacuated.

By the end of 1941, city centres, especially London, became safer.
From June 1944, the Germans attacked again by firing V1 rockets on Britain, followed later by also V2 rockets. 1,000,000 women, children, elderly and disabled people were evacuate from London.
This new way of attacking Britain carried on until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.


When did Evacuation end?
World War Two ended in September 1945, however evacuation did not officially end until March 1946 when it was felt that Britain was no longer under threat from invasion. Surprisingly, even 6 months after the war had ended, there were still 5,200 evacuees living in rural areas with their host families.

Many evacuees' had returned home long before March 1946. In April 1945, the Government began to make travel arrangements to return the evacuees to their homes when the war was over. By 12th July 1945, more than 100 trains had brought 54,317 evacuees home to London.