Queen Camilla praises author of untold WW2 stories

Queen Camilla has praised the author of a new book aimed at educating children about the untold sacrifices made during World War Two.

Victoria Panton Bacon, from Suffolk, created a book called Their Second World War, aimed at eight to 14-year-olds, to showcase real stories of war veterans.

The Queen wrote to the author saying the book and illustrated work would "do much to help children understand those years that secured our freedom".

The book was "so important to ensure that the sacrifices of that generation are never forgotten", the Queen added.

One chapter explores the life of 100-year-old Ivor Foster, one of the few remaining survivors of the "thousand-bomber raid" by the RAF over Essen in Germany during World War Two.

While the majority of "thousand-bomber raids" took place in the summer of 1942, Panton Bacon's book tells the story of the vast attack by RAF Bomber Command on 11 March 1945, which was aimed at destroying German bomb-making factories and transport links.

Foster, from Plymouth, was an air gunner on a Lancaster - one of 1,079 RAF aircraft in the sky simultaneously on 11 March.

Several substantial raids that took place over German cities towards the end of the war.

He told Panton Bacon: "I looked over the side of our Lanc and couldn't see the ground, there were so many planes.

"Lots of bombers went off ahead of us because they had visual targets to strike, whereas we were attacking using radar.

"The whole operation took five and a half hours.

"There was so much smoke, and so many bombs bursting that our bomb aimer didn't see any targets at all.

"He just dropped the metal sheets of paper for the radar attack when he saw the bleeps on his screen, then we headed home."

Foster's recollection is one of 10 true wartime stories published.

Other chapters relate to the Holocaust, the Home Guard, the Merchant Navy, D-Day, navigation, evacuation and Enigma coding.

The Queen said: "Many thanks for your kind letter and for the copy of your book, 'Their Second World War', which will, I am sure, do much to help children understand those years that secured our freedom."

In an earlier letter from June 2025, the Queen said: "It really is so important to ensure that the sacrifices of that generation are never forgotten."

"The nature of war is such that for younger readers to have access to these stories too, some needed to be carefully edited - which I have attempted to do without, in any way, diminishing the gravity of the different situations each of the veterans were living through," Panton Bacon said.

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