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Don McDouall was evacuated from London during World War II when he was five years old. He was sent to the small country village of East Hanney to live with Grans and Grampy at a house called Tamarisk. He now lives in Australia.
Grans told me that I didn't have a home with her anymore, she threw me out on the street and told me I was to go to the 'Pound'. (We all thought this was a children's prison but in fact the 'Pound' was called 'Poundcroft' and was a children's home.) I just could not believe that I was to be imprisoned in the 'Pound' as I hadn't done anything wrong. The police hadn't come for me, so why did I have to go to prison?
Right there and then I decided to go to find my sister Esther who had been billeted in Swindon as an evacuee. I hid my clothes that Grans had put into a sack, in a hollow willow tree. Then quickly made my way to the railway station. I hung around for a while and a goods train came steaming into the platform.
I asked the station boy if it was the train to Swindon. He told me that the train had come from Swindon. I felt really angry with myself because that meant every time in the past that I had attempted to get to Swindon I had been going the wrong way!
After waiting for a couple of hours I started to walk, following the railway line. It started to get dark so I picked a dry place in one of the viaducts and scrabbled together a heap of dry grass and leaves for my bed.
It was still dark when I awoke and it was starting to get cold so I decided to do some more walking. The moon was full so I could see easily. I could see lights in the distance and thinking it was Swindon I stumbled my way forward thinking of what I was going to say when I got to see Esther.
I walked as fast as I could. It was easier to walk on the sleepers but you always ended up missing your footing and landing on the stones. Twice I had to get off the track for passing trains, hiding each time, because they probably had people out looking for me.
It was early morning when I saw the station ahead. When I got to the station I saw an enameled station sign saying Challow. I was disappointed but I knew Challow was one of the railway stations you had to go through to get to Swindon.
I skirted the village of Challow making no attempt to obtain food because that was how I had always been caught before. I was starting to get very hungry, as I had not eaten for nearly two days, when in front of me I could see three men working on the line.
I went around them and then saw a trolley with train wheels on. It was off the lines and on it was a large wooden box. I thought perhaps there might be food inside. I got up courage and lifted the lid. Inside were raincoats, tools and on top of all this were three cloth-wrapped bundles. The aroma of cheese and onion made me drool.
I grabbed all three bundles and hurriedly ducked into some Elder bushes. If I took all the food the men and the police would be soon looking for me. Trembling with fear I undid each cloth. I took some food out of each bundle, stuffed it down my shirt and placed the bundles back in the box. With my heart in my mouth I scrambled back down to the field and ran for my life.
I covered perhaps another mile before I sat down in the shade of some Elm trees and scoffed all the food I had stolen. An onion, a portion of bread, some fatty bacon, a cheese sandwich, an apple and a tomato. I was so hungry it hurt as I wolfed the food down.
Suddenly I felt everybody was after me, so I started to run across the fields always keeping in line with the railway. I had a couple of scares along the way. Some bloke saw me and started to wave his arms about a bit. Then later a bloke who was cutting hay with a scythe saw me, and his dog ran after me. But when it came near it only wagged its tail.
Later in the day I could here a clanking sound on the tracks, it was the three men that I had stolen the food from, riding on the trolley. I gave them a good half hour start then started walking again.
I came to another small town. Near the station was a road sign. The black letters said 'Swindon 4 miles'; tomorrow I would be with Esther.
This time I walked along the road, I don't know why. As I walked in the grass alongside the road I saw what I dreaded most, a black car coming towards me. It was too late to head for the hedges. My heart was in my mouth, it was a black 'Wolseley', that meant it was the police.
The car passed me. I didn't look at it and it kept going. I turned and watched and suddenly it stopped. Like a rabbit I bolted. Somehow I got through the hedge and ran through a herd of cows, then fell over a fence into a lane. I quickly slipped into a dry ditch and tried to keep myself from making a noise. Slowly my heart stopped hammering in my throat and it got dark. I fell asleep feeling very hungry.
Rain woke me up and my clothes were wet through. I decided to start walking again and soon came to another town. There was the strong smell of chips cooking. I crossed the road to a fish and chip shop and I gazed with longing at the man behind the counter packing hot steaming chips into newspaper.
I searched all the discarded greasy newspaper bundles that lay scattered around on the wet ground but found nothing I could eat in any of them. Then I started to look for dropped money. I suddenly remembered a con that Roy and I used to get money to get into pictures.
There was an iron grating set in the pavement near the fish and chip. I sat down on it and started to cry. Numerous people passed me by and then a man stopped and asked 'What's wrong son? I told him I had dropped a tanner down the grating. The man felt in his pocket, 'I've only got a thrupney bit' he said and he handed it to me. I thanked him profusely; he ruffled my hair and was gone. Ten minutes later I was walking up the street, the rain had stopped and I was scoffing hot, vinegar soaked chips.
I couldn't find my sister Esther or Linden Avenue where she lived with the Miller family. I was exhausted with looking when a policeman on a bike stopped me and wanted to know who I was and where I was going. I didn't try to run as I was too tired. The constable walked me slowly to the local police station.
They put me in a cell and gave me some blankets. They also gave me four thick slices of bread and jam and a large tin mug of milk. I was woken later by a lady shaking me. She told me that they had sent a policeman around to Mrs Miller's and Mrs Miller told them that Esther didn't live with her anymore and had not done so for over a year.
I cried myself to sleep. If I couldn't find Esther that would mean I would still go to the children's prison. Next morning a friendly policeman gave me a big dish of hot, milky porridge. Later they put me in one of their big, shiny black cars and drove me back to East Hanney. We stopped at the big gates of the 'Pound'.
Don McDouall, Australia, 2001
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