As I walked along the beach I found a large marquee<\/p>\n
A barefoot woman of about forty years approached me<\/p>\n
Would you like an olive? This island is famous for its olives The woman although having the complexion of an islander had the most vivid blue eyes<\/p>\n Are you English?<\/em><\/p>\n I cannot remember my nationality as I woke up on the beach a short while ago From the way you are dressed I would think that you are sailor or a fisherman I looked at the many tables and the people who were gathering around them<\/p>\n Is this a food festival?<\/em><\/p>\n Yes it is held once a year I looked at the woman\u2019s vivid blue eyes<\/p>\n She looked down<\/p>\n You are admiring my eyes?<\/em><\/p>\n Are you an islander?<\/em><\/p>\n Yes I am also the daughter of a German soldier Are you aware of the recent history of this island? I know the history of the war but not of this island Does it have a name?<\/em><\/p>\n Yes<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0But it no longer has a name<\/em><\/p>\n Why?<\/em><\/p>\n Terrible things happened here during the war and when peace returned it was decided to erase the name of the island from the books<\/em><\/p>\n Even on this very beach forty-five people were murdered That is why this festival is held To remember their souls This is an island famous for its olives If you look over there you can see my daughter A girl of about eighteen years smiled at her mother<\/p>\n She had identical eyes<\/p>\n Blue<\/p>\n Vivid blue eyes<\/p>\n Was you mother attacked by the German soldier?<\/em><\/p>\n You mean was my mother raped by the German soldier No And he was not a small soldier He was a commander and had been sent to this island after being injured early in the war The previous commander was recalled and died in action six months later That caused sadness because he was a fair man Did the atrocities occur later in the war?<\/em><\/p>\n In the second half of the war yes Before that although the island was occupied it was peaceful When we were invaded the Germans found no resistance only women children and the elderly All the fit men of the island were away fighting Things soon returned to normal and the elders on the island came to an unofficial agreement with the Germans as to what was acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour We all thought we would see out the war in relative peace That was until the partisans arrived in 1944 They attacked the German\u2019s and broke the peace<\/em><\/p>\n Many German\u2019s died My father knew that the island would be punished and it was not long before the hell soldiers arrived They were brutes and operated a hot earth policy A scorched earth policy Yes A scorched earth policy The island was indeed burnt Many died horribly How did you escape?<\/em><\/p>\n My father was a good man He warned the islanders of what was about to happen But most took little notice They wanted the island to be free The partial success of the partisans had inspired a false confidence My father took us to the caves with a few loyal soldiers He was a tired man who had seen enough of the war He hid with us for a while and left us lightly armed But we did not have to use the German guns What happened to your father? He lied He returned to the town and was horrified at what he saw But he kept his composure and lied to the hell soldiers He told them that the south of the island had been cleared And he was believed They were stupid enough to believe his shallow lie And then he vanished The brutes did not stay on the island for long Their blood lust was satisfied And when it was safe to do so we came down from the caves and buried our dead Over one hundred and sixty people had been cruelly murdered<\/em><\/p>\n Did you see your father again? Oh yes For many years I thought he was dead but in 1960 my mother received a letter from Germany My father was alive and still is He had been arrested and was on his way back to Germany when the ship he was on was sunk by a torpedo<\/em><\/p>\n Many were killed but he survived and reinvented himself after the war But he always wanted to come back to the island but was not sure how he would be received It took him fifteen years to write that letter He and his wife visit the island quite often When his health permits the journey<\/em><\/p>\n On the day he returned he was welcomed as the good commander<\/em><\/p>\n Whose compassion and bravery saved us from being slaughtered \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n That is why I have blue eyes and my daughter has blue eyes It is the heritage of my late mother\u2019s war \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I was lying against a stone slab which had been crudely painted some years before<\/p>\n It was advertising Esso<\/p>\n Next to me were a man and a woman<\/p>\n Both were sunbathing<\/p>\n I could see their valuables inside her string bag<\/p>\n \n \n I knew that I should not be on the beach<\/p>\n And that this was just a dream<\/p>\n \n A teenage boy came up to me<\/p>\n He gave me a slice of melon<\/p>\n There has been a shark attack off of Ascension Island today<\/em><\/p>\n A British woman has been injured I thought you would like to be made aware of this incident Thank you but I am not aware of my nationality Borders do not exist in dreams \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Although the day was becoming hot there were banks of mist over the distant sea<\/p>\n Ships were hidden although the sounds of their radio shows could be clearly heard<\/p>\n \n Behind me there was a rough path which still showed the scars of the recent rain<\/p>\n Deep puddles were inhibiting the access of the people intending to visit the beach<\/p>\n \n I was walking along another path which was much smoother but still retained shallow puddles<\/p>\n I was not wearing shoes and the water was warm to the touch<\/p>\n I closed my eyes in an attempt to end my dream<\/p>\n \n In the beach side shops the assistants wore no shoes<\/p>\n Indeed everybody was barefoot<\/p>\n I asked a passing baker why nobody wore shoes in the island<\/p>\n Once this was a noisy island full of celebration But after the war nobody chose to wear shoes And the island became silent \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Even on the roughest ground shoes were not worn<\/p>\n This did not damage the islander\u2019s feet<\/p>\n Only visitors suffered damage to their feet<\/p>\n And this was rectified by prayer<\/p>\n \n I returned to the crudely painted stone slab<\/p>\n And stretched out on the fine sand<\/p>\n I closed my eyes but did not dream<\/p>\n I was searching for my reality<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I walked along the beach I found a large marquee A barefoot woman of about forty years approached me Would you like an olive? This island is famous for its olives The woman although having the complexion of an islander had the most vivid blue eyes Are you English? I cannot remember my nationality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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