Anne Hirschle - July 21, 2006
Hosting American Soldiers
Do you remember what it was like prior to D-Day? Do you remember a build up of...
Yes.
....a more American presence.
Yes, we had-my mother had given her name to the American-you could do that, you could offer hospitality to American soldiers. So, although we weren't very good about rituals and things, for the Jewish holiday she had given her name to whoever was doing this and they sent us um, some American soldiers who were stationed in England and they would come to our house. So we had made a lot of friends-one was a pilot and different American troops. And as this build up, we-I got increasingly sad and, and-because I worried about all these young men we had had in the house. Every time they came on leave they would come to London and, and stay with us and so I was very aware. And I remember the morning of the invasion. My mother came into my room and said, "The invasion has started," I still get goose bumps. And uh, that must have been June 6th, I think.
Yeah.
Wasn't that the inva...and she said to me, "The invasion has started," and I burst into tears because I just knew so many people who I thought were now really in jeopardy. And uh, then I remember we had-I had a big map on the wall and we would put pins in, you know, to trace where, where the forces were going, so. I did have one, I did have one incident, which I think is very interesting. Um, when I was evacuated at thirteen uh, I told you briefly, to Gloucestershire.
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