Foraging For Food

        I was living in Holland during the war in city of Arnhem. In September after the Paratroopers had landed by Arnhem a week later we all the people had to leave the town. My family went to a sister of my mother in Soestdyk. There we were placed with different families. The family that I was placed with was very nice.

        One day we found out that you could go to the airfield and look for potatoes that the Germans had missed when they harvested the potatoes that had been planted there. The lady I was living with asked me if I would go with her little boy, and my little brother to pick up potatoes. I did, but I went to the airfield the back way, which I found out was a good thing as there was a commotion going on up at the front of the airfield. People told me not to go to the front because the Germans were taking away all the food that the people had gathered. I turned around and went back the way I came, passing a field with cabbage where I managed to pull one out.

        As I went through the woods to get to the road I broke down a young tree and put it on my cart. The lady, who had sent me on the errand, had heard in town what was going on, and so she started up the road to see if we were alright. At first everyone she met said they had not seen me, but as she got closer to where we were the people told her that I was not far behind, and that she would hear me singing. When she got to us, I was laughing and told her that she only needed a match to cook the meal because I had the potatoes, vegetables and the wood. She was very happy that we were alright, and using all of the goodies we had in the cart, we had a nice meal.