Students relive days of WW2

2:10pm today Saturday 3rd May 2008

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WITH soldiers, Land Army girls and evacuee children milling about it was like World War 2 all over again at Ramsbury Primary School.

This was, however, no time slip to the austere years of 1939-45 but a living history lesson for children at the school.

Ramsbury became the temporary home to thousands of allied servicemen in the war as they prepared to fly from the village's airfield into action in Europe.

Many of the temporary residents were American serviceman who developed close links with the village.

Many of those who survived the war made return visits to Ramsbury.

Sadly even the youngest of those GI's (general infantrymen) are now too old to visit any more.

But the spirit of the days when Wiltshire became their home for a while was recaptured by children, parents and staff at Ramsbury school last Wednesday.

Everyone in the school from head teacher Joanna Price down to the youngest inception year pupil came to school in some form of wartime guise.

All the children, said Ms Price, went as evacuees in the same sort of clothes that children evacuated from London during the Blitz years wore when they arrived in Ramsbury.

"The teachers made very glamorous land girls," said Ms Price.

The soldiers, as in WW2, came from the British Army and the US Air Force.

Lt Col Jon Symon who is based on Salisbury Plain and Technical Sgt Jason Harre from the USAF base at Fairford dropped in the day before the children's reconstrction to lend a genuine military air to the event.

Just as his predecessors did in World War 2, Sgt Harre took along American Hershey chocolates.

Three military re-enactors who were taking part in the Route To Victory event at the weekend, Keith and Tracy Brigstock and Jonathan Catton also went along to the school in their uniforms.

It was a family learning day and about 70 parents joined in with many of them dressed up in period outfits.

Ms Price said: "As well as the land girls we had a couple of dodgy characters trying to sell nylons and chocolates."