Goodnight Children, Everywhere: Voices of Evacuees

For the many children torn from their families, taken miles from home and placed with strangers, the evacuation at the outbreak of the Second World War was a life-changing experience. In Goodnight Children, Everywhere, men and women who were children at the time recall their poignant memories of being labelled, lined up and taken away. Their parents, urged by the government not to see the children off on the buses and trains, had no assurance that they would ever see their sons and daughters again. No lives were lost and no one was injured. Not so considered was the psychological wellbeing of these suddenly dislocated children. Some children were advantaged by the dramatic change in their lives; others, separated from all they knew and loved, suffered unendurable heartbreak. This is their story.