Devon

Exeter Blitz 1942: Tale of the Sleepy Bus Conductress

My mother, Mary, worked for the first half of the war as a bus conductress in Exeter....

My Nan's Lucky Escape

When my Great Grandmother heard of this she then decided that she did not wish to send the children abroad...

A Summer's Day Nightmare, 4/9/1942

I was so happily playing on Torre Abbey Sands, close to my Dad... At the top a man suddenly picked me up...

Joan Harris's Story

At the beginning of the war Joan, aged 24, lived in Kent where it was quite dangerous due to bombs...

“If We're going to get Killed, I’d Rather We were all Killed Together.”

When war broke out I lived in Worcester Park with Dad, Mum, brothers John, 19, and Ken, 10. Early August...

When I Was Your Age....

They also wore trousers and turbans and utility clothes replaced pretty frocks and hats... Also, although...

Wartime in Plymouth

My school was bombed which destroyed all the exam results so Mum had to go to the Council to find out I...

A near miss for the Tower

It was the summer of 1941 and my parents, Marion and Leslie Beech, had decided to take a week's holiday...

Red Kites and Skuas

The connection between red kites and skuas is not immediately obvious, but then, this true short story is...

Eileen Parsons Remembers Part 2...Billeting

However it was not always a bed of roses because Balloon Command at that time was very busy due to the...

John Winter's Wartime Experiences

As the Bristol bombings began, thousands of bombs were being dropped all around the house which was...

Torpoint and Gorsen Street

They flew low over the Dockyard wall, passing immediately over our office. This time the attack came from...

1939 and the Last War

In 1941 I met and married my husband who had come down from the Manchester area to join the Navy- nowhite...

Childhood Experience of the War in London and as an Evacuee

At the age of 9 when war was declared I lived in Knightsbridge Barracks, London with my mother and sister,....

Life on a Devon Farm

My Father panicked a bit I think, because within the week our furniture was store, most of our toys...

Evacuation: London to Teignmouth and wakefield

It was unfortunate that the Germans actually dropped some bombs on Teignmouth that night and we all spent...

My War Memories

1 At my prep school in Devon in 1940, shortly after the surrender of France, when I was ten I remember...

Story - Ted Ruttter

My brothers and sisters and friends found it hard growing up in the war years... I lost some close friends...

Wedding in 1944

Having been at school in Salisbury I telegrammed the vicar of the local church that we attended. After the...

Don Macnamara's Story

We moved to Exmouth in 1942, the coastal towns suffered what were known as ‘Tip and Run’ raids...

Life in ENSA

I then joined the only all girl show on ENSA and we went on tour for 6 months to Northern Ireland,...

Memoirs of a Sapper — Part 6 - All over bar the shouting!

Memoirs of a Sapper — Part 6 - All over bar the shouting. The account of his career is called...

Life in the Land Army

Many years later I ended up in the Land Army there and married a Welsh boy who was in the Air Force....

Home Guard Experiences: 16 Devon Plymouth

If I were to compare the people in charge with the characters from Dads Army I would say that our C.O. was...

A Child’s Sense of Belonging Destroyed!

Our parents were not religious and Auntie and Unc were Plymouth Bretheren. Although the Plymouth Brethren...

An Unforgettable Night in Devonport Part 2

Our crew of four, Ted Crust, Ted Osborne, Ted Connet and me, Charles Harwood, did our best to quench the...