Postwar Years

War Diary of John Dolphin April 1945 - April 1946 on HMS QUEENBOROUGH

The ‘HEAVIES were right in there Bombarding Jap Airfields on “FORMOSA” while 8 Destroyers...

Penguin in Palestine

1947, RAF 208 Squad, Spitfire XIV reformed 1947, based at Ein Shemer, Palestine 1947/48 Station Commander...

Dedication of the Normandy Veterans Memorial Seat, Whitehaven

The story of Gunner Harold Drake, Royal Artillery, a Normandy Veteran. As well as Mr Drake, Mr Jolly and Mr...

Testing Civvy Street After 13 Years Army Service in War and Peace - Chapter 2

Three of the men in my Battalion, arrived the next day, which was 13 June 1940 at St valery in France and...

Victory in Europe - as seen from Rome and from Surrey

Our cinema now screened newsreels of the ‘V-E Day’ celebrations in London — the...

Johnny Stinger's Story

He married my Mum in 1944 at St. Mark's Church Preston, I have an older brother called Eddie after my...

British Legion Pilgrimage

50 years later April 7th 1994 I once again landed at Dimapur, this time as a civilian carrying a camera not...

Just Another Story - Chapter 7: Fifty Years On

P/O N.W.F. THACKRAY PILOT RAAF SGT. C.W. BANFIELD FLIGHT ENGINEER RAFVA SGT. R HUGHES WIRELESS OPERATOR...

DAD'S WAR

Dad could all too readily relate to the climate and terrain challenges Vietnam soldiers faced, along with...

Return to Normandy (Part 1)

However, at the time I was making these enquiries, my wife spotted a notice in the Press, advertising a...

“If You Want To Go Home, You Can!”

It explains how and why he was allowed to leave the Army in 1945, adjusting to post-war civilian married...

Remembering the German Victims of World War Two

These are the visit to the Caen Memorial Museum on Sunday 6th June 2004 by the German Chancellor Gerhard...

Evacuation to Embsay: Some Cockneys in Yorkshire

Charlotte was housed at No. 39 Main St. Embsay, a small village just a mile away from Skipton. As the...

“The Comradeship Was What Won the War for Us”

It was a fellow called Joe Bainbridge from Whitehaven that got me to join. After leaving the army in 1947,...

Victor Walkley-Wartime Memories

Japanese printed their own money.The Burmese would carry all their money by way of valuables with them, and...

My Life - Born in 1918, then a Soldier in WW2 - Part 18

The Bosch claimed that the British had run away at Dunkirk, we had all had a raw deal,firstly from our...

F/Lt J.R.Petrie-Andrews DFC DFM 155220 Part 2

Just to show the lads my new Lancaster I did a low pass past the flying control tower, in the summary of...

"How long shall we remember?"

The Service of Remembrance took part at the Normandy Veterans Commemorative Plaque in St Nicholas Church...

The Story of Lillian Ewins [L.Ewins : Part 4]

Billy was never really keen on sport other than motor cycling and drag car racing. I also kept friends with...

Memories of My Life Born in 1918 to being a Soldier in the Second World War PART 12

Captain Stoodley then drove back to 145 vehicle park... At the Chief officers desk, sat a civilian nd I...

The Coventry Blitz and 50th Anniversary

All those people of my own age-range, white haired, bespectacled, recalling briefly between hymns of how...

Ashborn as an Evacuee - and 50 Years Later

Right opposite our house was the air raid warden's office and they informed my mum that the bomb had...

The Last Phase: BOAC in Cairo

By the Eighth of October 1945 with licences in our hands we were flying the aircraft completing with a...

A HOLIDAY WITH PAY (Part 2)

Dad was among the crowds who witnessed the bodies of Mussolini, Clara Petacchi and entourage strung up on...

All Tanked Up - part 12

They may or may not have buried motorbikes in Erie Camp; from recent stories in the local press, they do...

War Veteran Returns To Crete

2nd World War veteran John King returned to Crete — the scene of his most vivid war memories this...