Fragments of War

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Joyce Hibbert. Fragments of War

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FRAGMENTS OF WAR

Stories from Survivors of World War II

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“I looked over the side of the listing Athenia and far below there was a bobbing lifeboat seemingly full of people. I decided to obey the man’s order anyway. I laid my handbag down and asked one of the men to tear my skirt so that if necessary, I could jump more easily. He ripped the skirt up one side and helped me attach my handbag to my belt. Then wishing me luck and instructing me to hang on to the steel cable leading to the lifeboat, he sent me over the side. Down and down I went, hand over hand with feet sliding on and off the cable until finally they came to rest on a ledge. Someone pulled at the hawser sharply – I felt more movement – and imagined that the lifeboat below was moving away. Was this the end for me? Should I drop into the water and take my chances? Just then a voice yelled ‘Come on, you’re doing fine.’ My ankles were gripped and I was literally thrown into the lifeboat on top of others. We pulled away immediately. We were seventy living and one dead.”

In sole charge of 8A, a navy blue-jerseyed seaman gave instructions, kept order, and worked unceasingly. Barbara Bailey was to remember him by the name Eileen embroidered on his seaman’s jersey but never learned his real name.

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