Birmingham and West Midlands

Wartime Childhood in Wolverhampton

I also rember going with my younger brother to the health clinic to fetch our ration of orange juice my...

Meeting with Margaret Lockwood

And as we got inside the door - a big revolving glass and brass door - the manager ran up crying 'Oh...

Tales of a Birmingham School-Girl

A beautiful moonlit night, the search lights were criss-crossing each other, the German planes high in the...

A Few Memories

Then one night we were asked to leave and go to the school air-raid shelters at the end of the road and...

My Grandad

My Grandad...

Dad Goes to War, 1939: Childhood Memories of Stourbridge

In late August 1939 my school friend and I were looking forward to our weeks holiday with my Mom and Dad at...

Birmingham Blitz

That was when the Boy Clerks got together and formed what we called "Police Messengers". Equipped...

D Day Memories: In Birmingham

For a number of years Birmingham City Centre had been filled with thousands of American troops, the centre...

“The Best Kept Secret”

Early in 1944, I was in the ATS, attached to the RAOC, stationed in a huge depot in the Midlands... They...

Memoir of World War 2

The ARP wardens arrived quickly to view the crater, and summoned the Home Guard, who were unsure if it was...

My Grandad's Story

One night a little time after our shelter was in place the air raid sirens sounded and my parents woke me...

Being Evacuated

On arriving at Ellistown school, Doris remained close to her sister and they were chosen as a pair to go...

The shelter under St Luke's Church

I remember going down to the shelter under St Luke's Church on the Bristol Road, we used to look...

Gathering Clouds

They had spent their wedding night at our house in my parents'bed.I remember we all slept downstairs.On...

Happy Christmases

After an air-raid we would go out into the street collecting shrapnel from the bomb casings, great shards...

Wartime Fish & Chips

Nellie Leedon told her story to Helen Kemp at the Summerlands Nursing Home in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent. My...

Parties and partings

Sure enough,victory did come - not all at once but in pieces.Triumph in Paris with flowers and pretty...

It's a Dog's life

By 1939, strange new buildings were being put up in the playground of our school.We soon found out that...

In the Shelter: Childhood Memories in Birmingham

My school was not evacuated but I was sent down to Gloucester to stay with my Aunt Katie, that is until my...

Jean's War

My stepmother threw water over the blanket covering the window and door... The door slowly opened and a...

In London on VE Day

I had planned to meet my friend in London; so we met as planned and had our sandwiches in St.James's...

An Unexploded Bomb

Opposite our house was a builder's yard and during the raid a bomb had dropped into a pile of sand...

Food Shortages

But I do remember making a Christmas cake one year - only I had to use normal sugar instead of icing sugar...

Memories of World War 2

On 1st September 1939, I was evacuated from Birmingham to Warwick... The planes were always trying to bomb...

Wartime Memories

I was in London half of the time and then Birmingham. There were doodle bombs in London....

Foden's War

Still no joy, and then finally I was called up and went into the Royal Navy ending up as an air mechanic...