"The British colony were kindness itself and we were always somewhere every afternoon and evening. We were there" until. the Sunday night when we/entrained for Lisbon. We got there' on Monday morning and finally boarded a cross channel packet which the British Government sent out te take home refugees from France. We finally sailed on Thursday afternoon with about 300 on board of all nationalities, mostly women and children, and that was the worst part of the whole time out, "We all offered our services and were doing four hours on look out and eight off (we had no escort) and washing dishes in between time. However, she could get a move on and she needed her speed, for we were chased by a sub on the Saturday morning and bombed in the afternoon, so we had quite an exciting time. We got to Holyhead on Sunday morning and were then sent round to Gourceh, so I wasn't far from home then. We were dumped ashore about 11:30 p.m. Sunday night and were taken in hand by the Seamen's Society, who did us well until we finished at the shipping office, and got our railway tickets for home. I had nothing except my uniform and a few odds and ends in my- attache case so I have been quite busy setting clothes, etc. "We are now in our new house and it is lovely and Iam getting quite a few jobs done there while I am at home. I am enjoying myself immensely, and have got 10 to 14 days leave, but I am hoping that I get a bit longer as it is quite a job to get gear these days. C. has been very brave about the whole business and as I have already said she had a worse time of it than I had, We. are certainly living in stirring times, but we are playing at home now, as Hitler is finding to his cost."
Netherlanders Said Made
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.