World War II Page 3
Victory over Germany came in May and the war finally ended when Japan surrendered in August 1945, after the historic dropping of the first atomic bombs. The men who had been called-up early in the war began to arrive home although the two prisoners of the Japanese, Jack Scrivener and Harry Swann, didn't see their homes until November, after sailing back via Canada. At least this gave their emaciated bodies a chance to put on weight so that their families would not be too shocked by their appearance. For the prisoners-of-war some four years had passed since they had last seen their families.
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Although Jack and Harry survived their terrible ordeal, it left its mark, both mentally and physically. Harry died some years ago, his health impaired by his experiences. Jack keeps in reasonable health but to this day has never forgiven the race that was his captor.
Jack Scrivener while a prisoner of the Japanese. His eyes convey an impression of the brutal treatment he received. |
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In St Mary's Church the Roll of Honour records the names of just three men from the parish who never returned - George Claydon, Alex Law and Ken Levett. The list seems small compared with the one for that great waster of human life, the 1914/18 war. To the returning men nothing much had changed in the village, although it seemed run-down by the war. It was hard for them even to begin to explain what they had been through to the village men who had been exempt from military service by working on the land. They even had to put up with resentment shown by some men who had stayed behind and filled jobs that were now rightly offered back to the original holders. |
At first it seemed as though everything would resume as it was before the war but the Labour landslide at the General Election of July 1945 had given promise of a change in the old order of life. Even the 'safe' Conservative seat of Cambridgeshire had fallen, albeit by a very small margin, and a new Labour MP, Alderman Albert Stubbs - champion of the farm-workers now represented the county.
The men who had been fighting for their country had had their fill of authority and being ordered about and the seeds of change were growing strongly. The employers may have hoped that the old master/servant relationships would take up where they left off at the outbreak of war, but over the next decade they had to revise their thinking.
The men who had been fighting for their country had had their fill of authority and being ordered about and the seeds of change were growing strongly. The employers may have hoped that the old master/servant relationships would take up where they left off at the outbreak of war, but over the next decade they had to revise their thinking.