France

We Must Not Forget.

After two years working as a butcher in my home of Newcastle under Lyme, I signed up for the Army... I left...

"A Good Cup of Tea"

It was sent to him by his very good comrade and wartime friend Captain John Webster of the 8th Royal Scots...

Mrs Bartlett: David Bartlett

My husband David Bartlett joined the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers when he was nearly 18 on 16th May 1931...

The Diary of a Nobody 1923 - Excerpts from this 'family book'

I was 15 in August, 1939, and was visiting my French correspondent in Bordeaux when, on the 3rd September,...

Stornaway Soldier Hits Rommel with Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Under the leadership of General Fortune we fought a brave rearguard action under the French flag in an...

War Baby

All the husbands were either away fighting, or POWs - my father's elder brother had already been killed...

Spared By The Skin Of My Teeth...

It was by a sheer chance that my unit failed to be on the doomed ship, the Lancastria off St Nazaire,...

My Mother's Wars

He returned to England and was taken to a makeshift psychiatric hospital in Southport, several hundred...

Evacuation from Juan le Pins

We struggled on and made our way to the beaches, at Juan le Pins, near Dunkirk, during 1941. We never went...

Private L.F.Brooking's War - Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

Our dad, Leslie Francis Brooking, known as "Nobby", served in the Civil Defence in 1939 until June...

Memories of WW2

I was made a young Lieutenant with 3rd Royal Tank Regiment part of the 11th armour division and we landed...

Escape from France at Dunkerque.

His Unit , equiped with their Bofors 40 mm Light Anti-Aircraft Guns , were sent to France as part of the...

Putting The Record Straight

The 2/6 Battalion consisted of Officers, NCO's and other ranks that had seen service in the First World...

"BIRD OF SALVATION": Dunkirk 1940

My dad, "JACK" known to his friends, or "JONEY" to his comrades, served with the 127 Field...

Horrie (Horrace David Herbert) Osbourne - Leigh Cockle Boats.

Horrie Osbourne - Leigh Cockle Boats. Horrie Osbourne, was my "Uncle" by marriage to my...

Dunkirk: Left Behind

I am not too sure whether they actually killed these men or whether they just took their boat - I think...

Three Hundred and Sixteen Thousand and One: With the RAMC in France 1940

He did serve in the RAMC in France and was at Dunkirk. He told me the story of how he and another...

Air Ambulance in Normandy

We made our way to the village of Ranville and set up a forward medical station. For a long time we were...

My memories: In the 7th Armoured Division

My name is Noel Barwick and I was known as nobby, I was a tank wireless operator in the Middlesex Yeomanry...

The Smallships

My mother's brother, Eric Gammon, who was known as Bill, was a crew member on the Medway Queen which...

"Courage an Example to All"

The remaining tanks and the carriers withdrew under cover of smoke, leaving Sergt Baldwin and his crew and...

My War Years

I had just completed nine months of training as an 18 year old naval recruit, when as a member of a...

Dunkirk: A Poem

We waited wearily, waist high in the sea The miracle unfolding before us gave us hope We'd expected...

Conversation With a Soldier From World War Two

My name is William Evans and before the outbreak of war I lived with my wife Eva and two sons John and...

Hell on the beaches: Brae Dunes 1940

He never thought for one minute that he would be rescued but he managed to get aboard a paddle steamer, the...

The Mythical Second B.E.F. 1940

Our officer went ahead to get information and when he returned he lead us through small country lanes until...