We'll gather lilacs..............

I found this lilac bush alongside the river in Shawford. The idea of gathering lilacs in the 1945 song is metaphorically speaking, I guess, as they just wither and die if you pick them and put them in a vase.

The day after VE day, my dad and his mate were only concerned with gathering one thing: food.

"The next day, Wed 9-5-45, Bill and I ventured out down to the square. On the way, we saw a couple of S.S. who had fought to the last. One had a bullet hole in the dead centre of his forehead and I thought then the Russians don’t make mistakes with shooting. We saw signs of a small battle, one or two German vehicles were in ruins. There were Russian sentries with tommy guns on the road and the town hall had been taken over as headquarters. Outside the door was a Russian girl on guard with fixed bayonet and judging by the way she was grasping the rifle she knew how to use it. She had a uniform on similar to our A.T.S. but not nearly so smart.

For a couple of days we lived on the food which the fellows had in camp but that soon gave out and we went out in search of food. Bill and I saw two Serbs who had a rifle each and were assisting the Czechs in doing guards. We spoke to them in German and asked if they knew where we could lay our hands on some food. They said they didn’t know but one of them took us to a place where 30 or so of them were sleeping. There, they had plenty of food: loaves of bread, margarine, meat and some tit-bits. They told us as they were doing guards, they had plenty of opportunities to loot. They gave us cigarettes and one showed me a fountain pen. I told him I thought it was quite a good one and he said I could keep it. I did so and brought it home to my wife. We left there loaded with food and promised to return the next day.

We discovered a large garden behind the factory and some lovely lettuces growing. They were very tasty for tea.

Bill and I also found a warehouse in the main street and on entering we saw many civilians filling up sacks with sugar, flour and anything which was edible. We dived in and soon had well over a hundredweight of sugar which Bill took away. I started to fill a sack with flour when up came two Czech guards. They herded everyone out and I took what flour I had but was not allowed to pass outside with it. I was very annoyed and I remember I shouted what German I could think of at the time to the two guards. They told me I would be getting food later on so I wouldn’t need the flour. I let the sack fall to the floor which sent up a puff of dust and took my leave of them. We had the sugar anyway.

We visited the Serbs daily and in this manner we had sufficient food. The Czechs opened a dining place and there we obtained a soup twice daily. We went to another café and had a mid-day meal of vegetables for which we had to pay. I had a few marks left and so was able to pay. "

from the WW2 diaries of Bert Martin, Gunner, 67th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, PoW 1942-45

9th May 2015 9th May 15