Even before war was declared in September 1939, the imminent threat of air raids had already transformed the lives of hundreds and thousands of British children by scooping them from their city homes and transporting them into the countryside.
Children were affected by all that the war brought - evacuation both to the country and overseas, gas masks, black-outs, food shortages, the Blitz: one in ten of those killed in bombing raids was a child.
Yet despite many children suffering grievously from being torn from their families, others look back on it today as the most exciting time in their lives.
Those wartime years have been brought vividly to life at a major new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, 'The Children's War'.
Angela Robson joins Joyce Jones, a grandmother of three, at the museum to find out more about her wartime experiences.
The Children's War By Juliet Gardiner Published by Portrait
