Sark woman saved from air raid by German soldier

A woman from Sark said her life was saved by a German soldier during the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War Two.

Mavis Lemon, now 95, said she remembered having to get permission to travel to Guernsey so a dentist could look at her toothache and staying overnight.

She said after she had boarded the boat back to Sark the next day "all hell let loose" with an air raid and a German soldier took her off the boat and into an air raid shelter.

Mrs Lemon said when she came out people were searching all over for her: "They were terribly worried because nobody knew where I was."

She said St Peter Port harbour was being bombed by "our lot".

"There was shrapnel flying all over the place and everybody on the boat left."

Mrs Lemon said she had been put in the captain's cabin and no-one had realised that she was still there until a German soldier found her and "grabbed hold of me and ran".

She said: "I think he virtually saved my life because what would I have done. I wouldn't have known what to do."

Mavis said the incident has affected her all her life: "When it's thundering, the rumble always reminds me of the air raid on the harbour."

When Sark was occupied by German troops she was not sent to Guernsey as many children were as her mother had a heart problem and her father "was going to be useful with his horse and cart".

Mrs Lemon said: "He was told he had to work for the Germans bringing up the German stuff in his cart."

She said she "got to know" some of the German troops in Sark and described them as "friendly".

Mrs Lemon recalled receiving her Red Cross parcel and opening hers with the rest of her family.

She said her mother took the powdered milk and left her with a box of chocolates which she could decide to eat all at once or save for later.

"I opened my tin of chocolates and there was this huge maggot in the chocolate and it had made a hole in the chocolate.

"She said 'that's nothing'. She got hold of the maggot and put it under her foot and stamped on it.

"You just carried on, you had to."

Mrs Lemon shared her story as part of the Island Memories Project - a partnership between the BBC and Guernsey Museums aiming to preserve people's stories.

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