Channel Islands

Life Can Be An Adventure, Enjoy It

My father was sent to Farmborough aircraft factoryWe lived at Cove and going outside the front door one...

Forgotten People, Forgotten Places

When war broke out my mother was taken by the Germans and put into a forced labour camp on the island of...

Living under occupation - German wart cure

On one occasion I was in the shop and a German Officer came in, and he looked at my hand, I had...

Living with the Germans - air raid - unexploded bombs

So my father decided to go next door, opposite, to find out if they'd heard anything, seen what it was,...

Liberation - First sight of British soldiers

The next morning, we got ready, and my brother was younger and in the pram, and we walked from the Bas...

Should We Evacuate? -Jean Budden

In the interim she had had a letter from my brother who had gone with the Intermediate School saying...

Occupation after D-day - raid on the Marette guns

I went to bed on June 5th, just after midnight, I suppose, when it was all dark, I heard this throbbing,...

School life under German occupation. Schools moved around

I don't think we went back to the Capelles, but I do know we went to tearooms at the Picquerel, right...

Waiting for Liberation - The News Spreads & The Church Bells Ring

During the Occupation they weren't rung, and we could hear St Peter's Church and St Saviours, and...

Evacuation from Guernsey

My mother's parents and two of her sisters came to Hereford as evacuees and at this time air raids were...

Occupation after D-day — Malnutrition and skin diseases

Then just before and just after Christmas 1944 I started with impetigo and eczema....

Unsparing Efforts

No army medals or an army pension to look forward to - just a 'Release Certificate' which...

Memories of the War Years

My school was originally in Horley, Surrey, not far from Gatwick Airport... One night the Luftwaffe went...

Living with the Germans - Crystal Sets forbidden

I suppose the difficult thing was to hide the earphones, but the crystal set could be easily hidden and...

Adventures in Wartime

My school was originally in Horley, Surrey, not far from Gatwick Airport... One night the Luftwaffe went...

Gas masks - 1940

They stank of rubber but we had to keep it on, the teacher said, “ If Adolf comes and drops gas bombs...

Home Alone

Armed with our boarding passes and one small case each, Aunt Ethel came to fetch us all in her car and we...

Should We Evacuate? Molly Bihet

My mother wanted us children to go, and my father said, “Well, you take the girls; go down the...

Living with the germans - carrying twigs

There was a bit of coal but not a lot, so we used to go down the Fosse Andre... My pram had...

Occupation after D-day — Germans scrounging for food

You could get into the kitchen from either side and father, who was quite a short man, a proper little...

Jersey Under the Occupation

Towards the end of the Occupation, France was liberated, thus cutting off food supplies to both islanders...

Should We Evacuate? Kaye Le Cheminant

My mother was English and naturally would rather have gone to England to ‘do her bit’ for the...

Living under occupation - minefields

Of course one thing the Germans did was to mine the cliffs and all the beaches. The cliffs where I lived...

Living with the Germans - missing their children

The Germans themselves were very kind to us, because of course, they missed their own children....

School life under german occupation. School at the Grandes Maisons

The school was taken over by the Germans and we were taught in scattered private houses, at Pleinheaume,...

School life under German occupation. Buggies

We had one particular boy who was a bit lively, a bit troublesome, maybe a bit of a bully, but we used...