Open Writing

About May 1941, we evacuated ourselves out of London with another family and, for the next year, my father and I with the other man and his daughter commuted daily into London either by train or bus and sometimes car. The daughter was about three years older than me and I adored her.

Although nothing happened between us, she took advantage of my innocence and occasionally would do things to embarrass me. On one occasion, when we were leaving for the country, she found that her mother
had inadvertently packed and taken the skirt she was supposed to wear for the journey. Instead of hiding the fact, she boldly displayed her lack of wearing apparel to a lady passer-by, by opening her coat to her. On another occasion she seductively and tantalisingly displayed her naked leg to me when she was changing clothes behind a curtain. Maybe she was expecting something from me, but she never got it.

My father by then had his own little business in waste reclamation, which mainly consisted of buying suitable goods and damaged government surplus, from which could be sorted salvageable items, and by employing a few sewing machinists who could repair them. In this time of rationed clothing, second-hand clothing was very acceptable everywhere. The business prospered and it became quite important in its own way and we soon had customers all over the country buying these goods.

It was not possible for me to continue to work for someone else whilst living in the country and the consequent irregular hours of my attendance, so I started working for my father. I soon learned to use an electric sewing machine as well as the little miracle specialist 'overlocker' sewing machine that was indispensable to our work, and to make minor repairs to these irreplaceable machines, to sort out suitable material for our attention from the tons of goods that came our way, to parcel and sew up bales of finished goods for dispatch and to load and unload the lorries handling these goods. Carrying heavy bales and sacks on my shoulders built up my body and I soon became a quite muscular young man, despite the general food shortage and basic diet that everyone endured during these times.

Around this time I joined what was then known as the LDV, which meant Local Defence Volunteers. The group I was with mainly seemed to guard buildings in the district. I don't know what was in them, but they must have been important enough to require our presence. This group later became the Home Guard. I also joined the Air Training Corps, a cadet organisation where we learned all things aeronautical, navigation, aircraft recognition, telegraphic Morse code, marching etc. I was even able to experience my first flight, although I was petrified at the time, since it was in an old-fashioned 'Tiger Moth' aircraft with open cockpits. When the pilot did a 'loop the loop', I was almost scared out of my wits! I did join the
Corps band however, and played the base drum in it. I enjoyed that as I had hopes of eventually joining the Royal Air Force when my time came to be called-up.

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If you wish to make a donation to the Elsa Benedyk Memorial Fund, set up by her friends and colleagues entirely without Raymon’s knowledge to provide funds to support the children's ward of the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem to commemorate her life of work with children in her nursery schools, it would be most gratefully received. The amount that you give will not be revealed to Raymon. He is not a trustee of the fund. Your cheque, payable to the Fund, should be sent to the fund's Treasurer Mrs I Dokelman, 14 Charville Court, 30/32 Gayton Road, Harrow, Middx HA1 2HT.