Eileen M. Kee
Interviewee: Eileen M. Kee
Interviewer: Alison M. Underwood
Date of Interview: 2 April 2002
Length of Interview: 45 minutes
Eileen Kee lived in Lytham-St. Annes, United Kingdom during World War II. She was a young woman at the time and joined the Royal Air Force where she monitored radar, watching for signs of air raids or invasions. Ms. Kee’s interview contains many stories about England and the English people during the war. These include stories about rationing, air raid shelters, Jewish refugees, and dating American GIs and British soldiers. Ms. Kee discusses what people her age did for entertainment during the war. She speaks fondly of dancing, seeing movies, going on blind dates, and even hitchhiking around the country on the weekends. Ms. Kee married an American GI in England in 1945. The other American soldiers threw rice at the couple after the ceremony and Ms. Kee tells of the women of her village sweeping up the rice, rinsing it, and using it to make rice pudding because of the food shortages. Ms. Kee also speaks of the children who were evacuated from London to her small town in order to save them from the air raids. Air raids were not as common in Lytham, but still occurred sometimes. The worst loss of life in the village occurred when an American plane accidentally crashed into a school and nearby pub. Many school children and pub customers were killed in this incident. Ms. Kee’s father was a police officer and could not eat for weeks after witnessing the horrors of this plane crash. She also talks briefly about segregation in the U.S. Army and race issues in the U.K. during the 1940s. Ms. Kee’s interview is interesting, informative, and filled with anecdotes about war-time life—the good and the bad.