No Time to Wave Goodbye

by Ben Wicks

"War Stories of British children who were forced out of their homes to the homes of "Borrowed Parents"." The War between Britian and Germany was on and thousands of families were voluntarily split apart...never to be the same.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, War, World War II, Historical, Biography, Holocaust

228 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Ben Wicks was a London-born Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, journalist and author. He was a saxophone player who toured throughout Europe in a band with Leonard Bigg before emigrating to Canada in 1957. There, he initially worked as a milkman in Calgary and as a musician in the Canadian Army. His first cartoons were published in the Saturday Evening Post.

Wicks settled in Toronto in 1963, where he became a cartoonist with the Toronto Telegram. His topical cartoon 'The Outcasts' (later retitled to simply 'Wicks') was at its height syndicated to over 80 Canadian newspapers and 100 American. He moved over to the Toronto Star in 1971. He also illustrated the children's book series 'Katie and Orbie', written by his daughter Susan.

Wicks was additionally a humanitarian and TV personality, who even hosted his own show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the 1970s. He also had his own pub in Toronto's Cabbagetown district. He died of cancer at the age of 73 in 2000.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hundreds of very brief anecdotes about English children who were evacuated during WW2. I wish that many were a bit more in depth. Their experiences ranged from wonderful to abusive and horrible. Most said it had a profound impact on their lives. I never realized that evacuation planning started as far back as 1931 and that the initial evacuation started on September 1st 1939, a couple of days before war was declared.

[Dawn Froese · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many stories untold. Thank you for telling these. Worth reading. Tissue might be required.

[Habiba Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a book that tells what happened to 3.5 million of British children during WWII through their own words. They have been evacuated from cities to countryside leaving behind their parents, families and a whole life. This was a government scheme to avoid huge numbers of causalities during the war.

When I first brought this book home, I felt I have no strength to read it. And for almost a week, every time I looked to its cover, I began to shed tears. The way the little child on the cover putting his finger in his mouth exactly resembles my daughter's (she puts the same finger). So I couldn't stand the very thought of little helpless children just like her facing separation from their mothers and homes to live as complete strangers in totally new homes. However To my surprise the book wasn't that tragic. Indeed it is sad but there are a lot of happy moments along with the prevailing sufferings, anxiety and fear from the unknown. The book is full of so touching stories that affect one's heart deeply.

The stories of sufferings those children faced as a result of leaving their parents behind made me reflect more and more upon the importance of motherhood and family for well upbringing.

NOTHING cruel as war, NOWHERE like home.



كتاب يحكي عن أكفال تركوا أمهاتهم وآبائهم ليذهبوا بعيدا في بيوت غريبة ومع أناس لم يروهم من قبل، ليعيشوا معهم كامل فترة الحرب العالمية الثانية
عندما استعرت هذا الكتاب من صديقتي ظللت لمدة أسبوع تقريبا أحاول البدء بقرائته وكلما هممت بفتحه تدمع عيني ولا أجد في نفسي القوة الكافية لبدء القراءة فصورة الطفل الذي يضع سبابته في فمه على الغلاف تذكرني دائما بابنتي فهي تضع نفس الإصبع في فمها بنفس الطريقة ومجرد التفكير بأن أطفال في عمر ابنتي وأكبر قد حدث لهم ما حدث يثير في نفسي الحزن والكآبة لكن عندما استجمعت قوايا وبدأت بقرائته وجدته، ولدهشتي أنه ليس مأساويا بالدرجة التي تخيلت، هناك لحظات سعيدة رغم كل الألم والمعاناة التي واجهها هؤلاء الأطفال

الكتاب جعلني أفكرأكثر في أهمية الأمومة والأسرة وكيف يعاني الطفل عند افتقادهما

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though not the best written and at times even hard to know the meaning of what some people had written (some words in Britain are different than in the states)in letters written by "evacuees", this was an eye opener of what some of the thousands and thousands and thousands of children, women, and disabled went through during World War II when Britain's Prime Minister sent these people from London where the bombing took place to the safer places such as Scotland, Wales, Isle of Wight and the country sides. Some stories will make you laugh; my favorite was the boys who thought putting the bucket under the cow and moving the cow's tail up and down would give them milk, while other stories were heartbreaking and disturbing; some children were abused, whether by rape, beatings or being ignoried by their "foster" parents). I honestly don't know if I could had sent my children off with strangers, not knowing if the "foster" parents would well care for my children, but then again, would it be safer if they were to stay in London with the bombings going on? It is amazing to think how they made it possible to move all London's children out of the city to safer places, how does one tackle such a task?

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad and disturbing. Not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. Read the whole things, in bits and pieces, because it was hard to digest. It is all letters from people who were removed from London to the countryside during WWII for their 'safety'. Many were treated very poorly like servants and dogs, forced to sleep in awkward locations - barns and unfortunately abused in the most unconscionable ways. Some loved the countryside they had never experienced in the dirty city - others - not so much. Children were foisted upon people n the country without so much a say on either ones part. Hope we learn from our history...

[Alistair Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

My parents lived through World War II. My father was a Spitfire pilot. Of course this has always held my imagination and I have read a lot around the RAF and his part in it. My mother was younger, so that she was among those children who were evacuated, in her case from Glasgow to Kirkubright. A few years ago I spotted this book that relates to her experience and bought it for her. It is only now that I have got around to reading it myself.

It does give a good insight into the (varied) experiences of evacuees - and the people who took them in. It consists largely of extracts from letters written by those people to the author and collated by him. He was himself an evacuee. He has done a good job of it, pulling people's reminiscences into coherent themes. It does give some impression of the massive impact of moving children en masse in this way, and is perhaps particularly poignant at the moment, in different times of upheaval.

As I have confessed, it is easy to be impressed by the glamour of the lives of those in the forces - but this book reminds us that they were not the only ones who contributed; indeed, they were not the only ones to suffer, either.

[Anne Vandenbrink · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1939, London wanted to save the children from imminent war. The book is filled with personal experiences of over three million children who went to school as normal, but ended the day in the home of complete strangers. They started with practice drills. Children would come to their classes with packed clothes and food, then marched to the train stations. Around 1940 it became real. Children were taken in by foster families in the outlying areas deemed safe from being bombed. Some went to nice, loving homes. Some didn't. Some found their way back home by themselves. Some were rescued by their parents who couldn't tolerate the separation. Some went for years before being reunited with their families.

[Harry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an informative book about the evacuation of British children from major cities to the British countryside before and during WWII. Ben Wicks is at his best when he is writing about the history of the war or his own personal story. Unfortunately 80% of the book consists of letters from the evacuees themselves, making the book practically unreadable. I was surprised how well Britain was prepared with evacuation plans in the lead up to WWII. If only they could have been better prepared with anti-aircraft guns and an offense to take the fight to the Germans.

[Audry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of stories of the children who were evacuated from London, some happy and some dreadfully sad. Some made me want to do some serious damage to the foster parents.

Makes me think about our foster system here in the states. At least they are vetted, but I know some are good actors and plain bad people. Makes me wish I had some power to make a big difference for the children.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the information in the book was quite interesting I found the writing style very choppy. It was almost entirely very short memories from endless evacuees, and many were so short (a line or two).

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never really thought about them sending the children away in WWII.

[Brian Carrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good account of the evacuation of children throughout England during ww2, some had it good , some had it very bad

[Kashif Nasir · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good book

[Charlotte Wadsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful depiction of life as an evacuee, with historical facts to lend context to the variety of personal accounts.

[Joel Kimmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories of evacuee children during WW2, some happy, some terrible, some in between.

[eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

very accessible, very well set out, had some GREAT quotes- very useful

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My late mother was an evacuee and I think reading this book would have brought back many memories for her. I enjoyed reading it and hearing similar stories to hers.

[Jessica White · Rating 2 out of 5]

**REVIEW TAKEN DIRECTLY OFF OF MY BLOG A READERS DIARY**

No Time to Wave Goodbye is a heartbreaking story of the children that were evacuated during the WWII air raids on England. Ben Wicks wanted to provide a different side of the story. The author himself was part of the kinder transport system and was placed in a few foster families over the course of 3 years. Wicks reached out to the other children that had buried these memories deep in their minds. We get to see how the war affected the children and not just the war heroes of the historians, but actual people that had to suffer through this tragedy. No Time to Wave Goodbye is a quick and easy read. It's written very similarly to the published journals I am forever posting about. If you're a history buff and need a new book, this is definitely the one for you!

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's interesting, but I'm just not sure it is laid out as fluidly or delves as deep as it could have. The author writes chronologically about his experiences as an evacuee and beyond in Britain during WWII, and interspersed are excerpts from many other ex-evacuees' letters recalling their experiences. Most of these excerpts are only a couple of sentences and overall it just whets the appetite for the subject rather than satisfying the interest. Since these reminiscences are decades after the fact, most of the information is vague and where the letters have been cut up into thematic sections, you never really get any closure.

Worth a read if the topic piques your interest, but not really something you could use for detailed historical research.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the years leading up to World War 2 the British government, fearful that many children living in London would be killed by bombs, planned to evacuate them to the country and get them away from the main areas of battle. Hundreds of children, some as small as the age of two years, were taken from their homes and placed with complete strangers. Many of the families who billeted them had no choice about whether to take them.
Some were well treated, but others were not. These are their stories in their own words.
Touching and heart breaking. A reminder of some of the “other” horrors of war which don’t always take place in the trenches.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up after learning that my dad was almost evacuated, but his mum said no...now I wonder why. Dad doesn't talk about it other than yes, bombs fell. Sounds like a brutally emotional time, and it's hard to understand now how people could let their children go to strangers, sometimes not even knowing where they would go. The level of fear must have been incredible...and to hear what good and bad experiences kids had in their own words was a wonderful opportunity to make sense of that period in history.

[Claire Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving account of what the children's lives were like during the war, and how far some were sent gripping and in and in parts tear jerking.

The book is well researched and for those children now adults in their eighties and nineties it must of bought back some memories that for some wished they would never have to endure again. It also acts as a point of reference on the effects of war on children and their psychology.

[Just · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child of a parent who grew up in England during the war (although not an evacuee) it was an interesting read to hear in people's own words their experiences of being evacuated. I was expecting the book to be a collection of short stories but was not that as it was more excerpts under specific headings of what happened. I really enjoyed it even with it not being what I expected.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took a while for me to want to read. Having had grandparents who were children removed from their homes during ww2 i knew i needed to read stories like theres and others! Very powerful read! I cannot imagine what they went through or doing that to my own children! Their parents thought they were helping them! I wish for innerpeace for these children and all children of war!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a touching collection of stories from people who were Second World War child evacuees from Britain. They recall their childhood experiences, both good and bad, with the families who took care of them.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having just read Mary Soames memoir about her war days, this book presents a different out look on WWII. Wicks comments at the end of the book about the change in society gave me a new outlook on Churchill's defeat at the polls after the war.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it very informative, very interesting, and even heart-breaking at times...but it is definitely not a kid's book!

[Irene van der Spoel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very impressive! I don't read non-fiction books often and especially not those without a clear storyline, but this one was definitely worthwhile!

[Catherine]

Source for Secrets of a Charmed Life.