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'I was a World War II evacuee - social services today wouldn't believe the conditions'
May 8, 2025
The incredible stories of children sent to safety as bombs rocked Britain during World War II have been told as we remember the end of World War Two in Europe
One posh lad discovered outside toilets for the first time, another survived on cheese sandwiches and one little girl didn’t have a bath for three years. These three children were among the 3.5 million kids evacuated from the bombs falling on towns and cities across the UK.
Operation Pied Piper in 1939 saw the first of the children packed off to strangers in a bid to keep them alive. The Mirror has spoken to some of these child evacuees who are all now in their 80s and 90s but with memories of being evacuated as sharp as ever. For all of the evacuee children, VE Day signalled not only the welcome news of peace but a chance for them to return to their families.
It couldn’t have come sooner for Doreen Carmichael, then aged 11, who recalls levels of hygiene would probably involve social services these days. Despite the hygiene issues, she is full of respect for Mrs Sarah Bruce who took her and let her live up in the attic with her sister and four children from another family.
Doreen, now 96, was evacuated from their home in Edinburgh to a town called Cupar, 45 miles away. “Mrs Bruce was a prominent figure in the town and didn’t have children of her own, she was very pernickety, she would send somebody out for flowers for the table when we ate.
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