Everyman
The Young Ambassadors
1989 • E19 Sep 3, 1989
Summer 1940: Britain faces the Nazis alone. Amid fears of blanket bombing and probable invasion, plans are afoot for a mass evacuation of British schoolchildren to safety in the Dominions and the USA.
Fifty years on, the good intentions stand against a political background of muddle and cynicism. Was Churchill right to scorn the plan as defeatist? Was it safe to send evacuees across a North Atlantic full of German U-boats? Were the children used as pawns to increase American sympathy for the British war effort?
How changed would they be when they returned?
In this Everyman special, the parents who sent children, foster families who offered their homes, and the 'young ambassadors' themselves tell their stories.
Fifty years on, the good intentions stand against a political background of muddle and cynicism. Was Churchill right to scorn the plan as defeatist? Was it safe to send evacuees across a North Atlantic full of German U-boats? Were the children used as pawns to increase American sympathy for the British war effort?
How changed would they be when they returned?
In this Everyman special, the parents who sent children, foster families who offered their homes, and the 'young ambassadors' themselves tell their stories.