Hampshire

Blitz on Southampton

While we sat watching the film an air raid had started, the Germans were bombing Southampton docks... But...

A Wartime Child of the New Forest

We were very close to Beaulieu Aerodrome and my parents and Aunty and Uncle entertained many of the RAF...

Buzz Bomb Nightmare

Memories of a V-1 or commonly known ‘Doodle bug’ landing in the village of Park Gate on the...

Two Jewish Sisters Separated [J.Berq & R.Bernfeld]

The girls from Pitmans wnated to send us to Bedford, my sister did not want to go. When my sister came home...

Boyhood memories of evacuation

When the Blitz on London started I was relocated to St David's in South Wales... By then the bombing...

World War 2 Family Project

Betty told us that she worked in an office nearby and that once when she was going to work she spotted...

War Memories of a Bournemouth Girl [Anon.]

We can remember on a Sunday morning we heard German bombers coming over and I could see them from my...

My Portchester Shelter

These were furnished with wooden boxes, rugs, sleeping bags that we made out of old sacks, a gas burner for...

Wartime Schoolboy

Wooden bunks were provided for sleeping,and at the height of the German air raids, it was normal to go down...

A "Wren" in wartime

I was 18 and a shorthand typist in a solicitor's office in London when war broke out... In our work we...

Bognor 1939-40

Obviously after a family council it was decided that the womenfolk stay down in Bognor rather than go back...

Joan Christopher's Story

In 1940, they wanted Women to remuster as balloon operators to replace men and release them for more active...

Memories of a Southampton-born Lady [E.George : Part 3]

My brother was on a motor torpedo boat all from Southampton all through the war in around 1941 then he was...

Lily, Bob, and a Cat called Pyro.

Bob flew in flying boats with a cat called Pyro and teamed up with fellow photographer Keith Medley for the...

23rd May 1943

In Bournemouth Kay set out for Sybil's. As Kay reached the Metropole Hotel, the first explosion, a...

Memories of Dunkirk

My memory of Dunkirk is of coming home from school and finding our large canteen kitchen full of...

My War: In the Catering Corps

Following this I was posted to Newcastle and then moved on to Nottingham where the Army Pay corps had taken...

One Night With the National Fire Service

I was in the NFS stationed at Clarence Barracks, Portsmouth. As our billet was a flat facing Southsea...

Recalling Fallen Comrades [M.Shnider]

Their objective was to hit the railway stations or gas depots, but other invitiing targets were the hotels...

Memories of an RAF Wireless Operator

I went into the RAF as a wireless operator and fortunately the only real danger I experienced was when I...

Childhood Memories: On a Smallholding in Hampshire

I was nine years old when war was declared and lived in the country on a four acre smallholding managed by...

Silly Things We Did.

Although we didn't get much bombing my Dad Albert told us a lot about it because on some nights he did...

Wartime in the New Forest as a child.

As my Dad was still in the Far East fighting the Japanese, mum said she didn't think we should go... We...

Only I can speak for my conscience

The value of evidence in support of applications for registration as conscientious objectors was commented...

Wartime Childhood in Hampshire

My mother had been a nurse during World War I and took up her nursing again, while my father, who had been...

Springbourne Ladies Remember (Vera & Vicki)

Sisters Vera and Vicki lived at Woking in Surrey, not far from Aldershot. On a visit to London the sisters...