Belmont North's John Matthews wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, that's for sure.
But he did hang on to a commemorative victory spoon handed out to school children in London to mark the end of World War II and the Allied victory in 1945.
John was born in 1940.
He received the spoon at school in Wandsworth - a borough of London.
"We bought it over here when we emigrated back in the 1950s. I wonder if anyone else would have one?" he said.
My father said it was "a VE [Victory in Europe] spoon and my mother said it was a victory spoon for the end of the war."
John, now 80, remembers very little about the war.
"I remember the gas masks. I remember hiding - we were under the dining room table in a cage to protect us [from German bombs]," he said.
"I remember horse meat in the ration books. We used to eat horse meat because it was cheaper."
John's father was in the Tank Corps.
"When his tank was blown up, he got shrapnel in the back of his leg at Dunkirk," he said.
He was discharged as unfit.
John was evacuated out of London with his mum and siblings in late 1943.
"My twin brothers were born in Lancashire, up in the country," he said.
"I don't know if we were picked up by strangers at the station or if family was there.
"I'm doing my family ancestry at the moment and I can't fathom anyone living up there in Lancashire from the family, so whether we went up on the train and were picked up by strangers I don't know."
His twin brothers were born in August 1944.
"Dennis was born on the first [of August] and Eric on the fourth. Mum had four days of labour," he said.
In all, John has four brothers and a sister.
"They kept going with the boys until they got a girl," he said.
"I'm the eldest. Alan was born in 1942, Dennis and Eric in '44, Brian in '47 and Joan in '49."
His dad was an "invalid for quite a while" after being wounded.
"Mum had to look after him. Then he got better and went to work on the buses and trams," he said.
The Land of Oz
The family migrated to Australia in 1958.
The kids didn't want to leave their friends, but their parents thought it would be a better life in Australia.
"We had six weeks' holiday coming over on the boat. I'd never seen food like that before in my life," he said.
When they arrived in Australia, the family stayed at a migrant hostel "at the top of Mayfield".
"Within six months, we were out of the hostel and living at Marmong Point."
All the males in the family worked at BHP.
- topics@newcastleherald.com.au
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