Birmingham and West Midlands

Schoolboy War Experiences in Wolverhampton

One day, the sky, as usual, had plenty of trainer aircraft such as Tiger Moths, Airspeed Oxfords and Avro...

Luftwaffe Attacks on Winson Green

My father told us a bomb had fallen into the canal water but hadn't exploded, but two had just totally...

Playing Tipcat and Other Tales

I shouldn't really tell you this but if anyone left an old pram out we'd have the wheels and axles...

Fred's Journey: Part 5: The last leg back to England

After hospital Fred visited his old firm in Birmingham from 1946 to 1947, where the owners had kept his...

28 EFTS

After a short while the RAF decided they wanted one of the RAF personel to do my job in the Aircraft...

War Memories from Birmingham

I was sent for training at a pleasant farm in Wormleighton, Warwickshire with other girls and we learned to...

Aunty Sue's Letter

Mason's had their warehouses and offices bombed and they lost thousands of pounds’ worth of food,...

My Childhood at War: In Handsworth

My mother ushered my sister and I down to the air raid shelter which I know now was called an Anderson...

Story of Evacuee

On the 26th July 1940 I caught the 220 bus from Worcester Street Birmingham with others to join the Grammar...

A Long friendship Part 2

We met Frau Schellhass several more times in Germany, and when we last saw her aged 99 in an old...

My Time as a Police Runner, and as a Royal Marine

I did odd things like unexploded bombs, stopping parked cars and vehicles going into the road like with...

Unsung Heroes

I remember him,” he went on, “there's Jack Arland, marvellous entertainer and member of the...

Our House

Around midnight we suddenly heard shrill whistles and voices telling us to quickly vacate the house as an...

Evacuation

In November 1940 my sister and I were evacuated with other children from our school in Colmore Road, Kings...

Childhood Memories of WW2

He saw no point in my mother and me remaining in Birmingham with all the horrors that were to follow so we...

Suburban Recollections

Dances in the Park In the centre of Kings Heath Park stood a large marquee, and for a small sum of money,...

Douglas Dale Evacuee — A Sixty-Five Year Connection

I first billeted with Mrs. Renee Sanderson, her small son David and another evacuee from Leeds. As Leeds...

A Young Person's First Impressions: Birmingham in the Blitz

Birmingham- my home, was an obvious target for German Bombers, although after all these years it seems...

Memories of the Bombing

Then in came the Air Raid Policeand told us that everyone had to evacuate the shelter as a bomb had landed...

West Bromwich Hospital - A Night to Remember in 1940

Having arrived at the District General Hospital, West Bromwich from Ireland on 30th June 1940, I was very...

Court Martial

As the war moved on the Air raids became less and people started to become somewhat complacent me included...

Memories of Evacuation and Wartime: In South Wales and Birmingham

Finally I was taken by a lady, a Mrs. Williams, who it turned out had two sons of her own....

Bombing at Deritend, Birmingham

A few minutes after arriving and meeting my friend Jim Farrell and sister Sally and Annie also some...

The Beginning of Many Things: Bombed Out in Birmingham

Also my brother in law heard the bomb coming and took cover in the doorway of the shelter... Once we had an...

A Bomber's Moon

Suddenly there was an almighty 'whump', as a stick of bombs was released ito our winter idyll and...

To Osnabruck

Walter was called up in 1939, changing his job from chauffeur/handyman/gardener to Captain Barclay of...