* World War II air campaign: British overseas evacuee children public attention








British Overseas Evacuee Children: Public Attention in America


Figure 1.--The arrival of British evacuee children occassioned considerable attention in the American media. They were hosted by mostly affluent families who had not problem meeting their needs. Even so groups in America wanted to do things for them. Here New York boys are prepsring a Christmas present for them. They are working with the Children's Aid Society. The group was founded in 1853. Their first major project was the famous Orphan Train effort. The press caption here read, "Christmas Gifts for Refugee English Children: Children of New York Ciuty's not so pleasant Lower West Sude work on model airplanes to be given refugee English children in the United states at Christmas. The children are members of the Children Aid Society of the Lower West Side Center." Notice the plane being constructed. Models in the 1940s were not just snapping a few plastic parts together. The model is a P-38 Lighting. The model companies were putting out their product before many P-38s were actually being deployed. The photograph was taken December 4, 1941--three days before Pearl Harbor. After America wasthrust into the War, the evacuees no longer attracted much attention. The War would dominate the news.

The English evacuee children have to be some of the best cared for regugee children in history. The program ended only a few months after it began after U-boat sinkings. That just meant no additional children were sent. The progranm continued for those children already evauated and in America. As the project was largely organized by university groups, most of the families that signed up to host the children were relatively affluent families. Not rich families but mostly upper-middle-class families. And yhe situation in America was unlike any other World War II bellegerant country. The United States after entering the War rationed food, but the food availble under the rationing system was better than in every country before the War. The evacuees occassioned a good bit of attention in the media. Articles and photograophs appeared in the news papers for more than a year. A good example is a Christmas 1940 piece. They became mini-celeberties, especially as Americans followed the events in Euroope with Luftwaffe bombs falling on London with CBS's Edward R. Murrow broadcasting nightly. Before Anerica was actively involved in the War and the debate continued with the Isolantionists, helping supply first Britain and the Soviets as well as caring for refugees was something that America was doing to confront the aggressor nations. After Pearl Harbor this all changed and the newpapers were dominated by war news from the mnny far-flung battlefields. The English ecacuee children ciontinued to be an item of much interest for a while, but gradually recdeeded from poress coverage. They would, however, stay safely with their American host family and be well cared for throuhout the War. Gradually they even began to lose theur English accents and begame increasingly Americanized.







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Created: 8:11 AM 9/19/2018
Last updated: 2:49 AM 10/5/2020