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John Dee Shapland - General, British Army
John Dee Shapland was born in 1897 in Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
In 1914 he trained at the Royal Military Academy, se...
2nd Lt Richard 'Bud' Heyne USAAF
In August 2020 the Centre received material relating to 2nd Lt Richard Heyne USAAF, letters include 82 wartime letters f...
Leonard Wright - Staff Sgt. Glider Pilot
Len Wright was born in Whitehaven in Cumberland in 1918. Educated at Whitehaven School he played rugby and cricket and j...
Frank Owston RN
Frank Owston was born in the village of Rillington, North Yorkshire in 1924 and was a forestry worker before his enlistm...
David M Annett RA officer 27 Field Regiment
Capt David Annett RA
Mr David Annett, wartime RA officer, was recorded for the Centre in 2000 and also donated material...
Arthur Adcock W.O. RAF
Arthur Adcock was born in December 1924 in Newcastle upon Tyne. His family were originally from the Leeds area, and they...
Donald Birks RN ERA
Engine Room Artificer Donald Birks RN was drafted on board HMS Dulverton, a Type II Hunt class destroyer, in late Octobe...
Ron Higgins Ely Cpl RAC
Ronald Higgins Ely was born in 1916 in Rothwell, Leeds and before the war he worked locally as a tailor. In August 1939 ...
Harold Woodcock L/Bdr TA
Harold Woodcock was born in 1921 and joined the 58th Anti-Tank Regiment, Territorial Army in May 1939 while he was livin...
Ken Randall - SGT Royal Artillery
In 2001 the Centre received wartime material relating to former Sgt Ken Randall who served with the 5th Survey Regiment,...
Ted Stonard - Royal Artillery
The Centre is honoured to have care of E W (Ted) Stonard’s memoir regarding life in the Royal Artillery during the retr...
Peter Peel - Cpl - British Army
Cpl Peter Peel
Peter Peel - Cpl - British Army
Having been conscripted in November 1939 Peter Peel joined the 2nd Bat...
Geoff Steer - Cpl 1/4th KOYLI
Geoff Steer - Cpl 1/4th KOYLI
I was born in St Helens, Elsecar in 1923. My father worked at Elsecar Colliery as a miner...
Frederick E Webb - RAF Sqn Ldr
SQUADRON LEADER FREDERICK E WEBB – RAF PILOT, AND HIS WIFE (LACW) PHYLLIS WEBB – WAAF DRIVER
Frederick (Fredd...
Leslie Alexander Barrett - Gunner RAA
Leslie Barrett was born in London in 1908 and left England at the age of 15 to work on a dairy farm in New South Wales. ...
Maurice Naylor CBE - Gunner
Maurice Naylor served in 53 Brigade of the 135th Field Regiment, 18th Division. He was captured by the Japanese followi...
George Goodyear - RN Coder
Mr George Goodyear of Ilkley, West Yorkshire was recorded for the Centre in December 2014 speaking of his wartime experi...
Noor Inayat Khan - SOE
On 13 September 1944, a beautiful Indian princess lay on the floor in a concentration camp in Dachau. She had been bruta...
Douglas G Davies - RAF Sergeant
On the night of March 5th 1944, a four-engine Stirling Bomber returned to RAF Tempsford after an operational sortie over...
G O 'Boy' Webster SGT RAFVR
In common with thousands of other air crew during the Second World War, RAF pilot Sgt Webster must have had very mixed ...
George Parsons - Pioneer Corps
George Parsons was born in Birmingham in 1919, Small Heath.
I had quite a job getting into the Fusiliers because I was ...
Fred Seiker
Fred Seiker was born in Holland in 1915. He served in the Dutch Merchant Navy after attending the Rotterdam College of M...
Hélène Vagliano - French Resistance
Hélène Vagliano was the daughter of a Greek shipowner. She was educated in England then went to live in Cannes. The fami...
Odd Westeng - Norwegian Resistance
Odd Westeng
Odd Westeng was a member of the Norwegian Resistance. His role was to guide various people, usu...
Ken Ward - Pioneer Corps
Ken was born in November 1922 into a liberal Jewish family. His father ran a private music school in Frankfurt and playe...
Clive 'Teddy' Teddern - Pioneer Corps
Teddy was born in 1923 in Hamburg and was raised in a liberal Jewish household. His father was a doctor in general pract...
Alfred Crisp - Letters from Home
The sight we most enjoyed was to see a letter bringing news from home, which arrived in one of these illustrated envelop...
Margaret Halliwell - ATS
Margaret was born in April 1925 in Burley, Leeds and she joined the ATS in 1943. After initial training at Pontefract, ...
Major General Orde Wingate 1903 - 1944
Transcript of a Lecture given by Trevor Royle in Edinburgh on 17 September 2002 - © Trevor Royle
Wingate's early career...
Desmond Earley - Lt. Essex Regiment
Like many others of my age I served six and a half years in the army during the Second World War from the age of 21, sta...
David Kaye - Prisoner in Concentration Camps
In September 1939, the German Army occupied Lodz (Poland). My family and myself had to wear the Star of David. We were s...
Anna Golesworthy ( nee Valk)
Anna was born in 1922 to Jan and Marie Valk, and was the eldest of three children. Although her nationality was Dutch he...
Janina Bauman - Ghetto Resident
Janina Bauman was interviewed at the Second World War Experience Centre in 1999. Her story is featured here in recogniti...
Dennis Vernals
Dennis was born in July 1925 in Sheffield. His father, Leonard Henry Vernals, had served in the Great War as a gunner in...
Shiela Tolley - Child in Cumbria
Sheila was born in Keswick in the Lake District in 1929.
Although her mother cried when she heard that war had been dec...
Jack's Story
Jack S. was born in March 1925 in South Yorkshire. He lived in a two bedroomed terraced house with his parents, his eigh...
Vincent Harrison - Child in the war
Vincent Harrison describes his childhood in a mining village in the North East of England. "Langley Park and its inhabit...
Barbara Davies - Aircraft Factory Worker
Although keen to become a nurse, as the eldest daughter of a widow, Barbara was expected to supplement the family income...
Celia's Story - POW in Burma
I have written this because I feel it should be told, I owe it to my grandparents, my uncle, and my brother who all died...
Jeanne Bullard
jeanne Bullard
Jeanne was born in 1920 in Kent. Her talent for art led her to Clapham Art School for eighteen months ...
Godfrey Talbot - War Correspondent
From the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 to the fall of Rome in June 1944, War Correspondent Godfrey Talbot was amo...
Denis Swinney - Army Captain
Denis was born in 1913 in Morpeth, Northumberland and went to Sedbergh school. He joined the Territorials in 1937 and wa...
Denis Peto-Shepherd - Sqn Ldr RAF
Born in October 1920, Denis attended Downsend Preparatory School in Leatherhead, Surrey and the Oratory Public School in...
Ron Fairburn - F/O RAF
Ron was born 1923 in Leeds. His father was a maintenance engineer at Leeds Steelworks and Ron's first job when he left s...
Thomas North - Corporal - RAF.
Thomas North was born in 1924 and joined the RAF for training in Blackpool and Scotland before his posting to Burma....
Ernie Reynolds WO RAF
Ernie Reynolds was born in 1925. He left school at 14 to start work at Furnace Shipyard, Middlesbrough.
At 10 AGS Waln...
Sir Denis Forman Kt OBE
....From the Officer Cadet Training Unit at Dunbar, a posting was arranged to the 11th Argylls. In 1940 a promotion to C...
Robert Frettlöhr
Robert Frettlöhr was interviewed for the Second World War Experience Centre in 1999 and has been a Friend of the Centre ...
Thelma Kellgren (Nee Reynolds)
Thelma Kellgren, 'Day Off'
Thelma Kellgren's childhood was spent in Amesbury, a small New England town in the United ...
Hamor Gardner Sr R/O - Merchant Seaman
The war could not have been fought without the steady flow of supplies transported to every theatre of war on merchant s...
John Dee Shapland - General, British Army
John Dee Shapland was born in 1897 in Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
In 1914 he trained at the Royal Military Academy, se...
2nd Lt Richard 'Bud' Heyne USAAF
In August 2020 the Centre received material relating to 2nd Lt Richard Heyne USAAF, letters include 82 wartime letters f...
Leonard Wright - Staff Sgt. Glider Pilot
Len Wright was born in Whitehaven in Cumberland in 1918. Educated at Whitehaven School he played rugby and cricket and j...
Frank Owston RN
Frank Owston was born in the village of Rillington, North Yorkshire in 1924 and was a forestry worker before his enlistm...
David M Annett RA officer 27 Field Regiment
Capt David Annett RA
Mr David Annett, wartime RA officer, was recorded for the Centre in 2000 and also donated material...
Arthur Adcock W.O. RAF
Arthur Adcock was born in December 1924 in Newcastle upon Tyne. His family were originally from the Leeds area, and they...
Donald Birks RN ERA
Engine Room Artificer Donald Birks RN was drafted on board HMS Dulverton, a Type II Hunt class destroyer, in late Octobe...
Ron Higgins Ely Cpl RAC
Ronald Higgins Ely was born in 1916 in Rothwell, Leeds and before the war he worked locally as a tailor. In August 1939 ...
Harold Woodcock L/Bdr TA
Harold Woodcock was born in 1921 and joined the 58th Anti-Tank Regiment, Territorial Army in May 1939 while he was livin...
Ken Randall - SGT Royal Artillery
In 2001 the Centre received wartime material relating to former Sgt Ken Randall who served with the 5th Survey Regiment,...
Ted Stonard - Royal Artillery
The Centre is honoured to have care of E W (Ted) Stonard’s memoir regarding life in the Royal Artillery during the retr...
Peter Peel - Cpl - British Army
Cpl Peter Peel
Peter Peel - Cpl - British Army
Having been conscripted in November 1939 Peter Peel joined the 2nd Bat...
Geoff Steer - Cpl 1/4th KOYLI
Geoff Steer - Cpl 1/4th KOYLI
I was born in St Helens, Elsecar in 1923. My father worked at Elsecar Colliery as a miner...
Frederick E Webb - RAF Sqn Ldr
SQUADRON LEADER FREDERICK E WEBB – RAF PILOT, AND HIS WIFE (LACW) PHYLLIS WEBB – WAAF DRIVER
Frederick (Fredd...
Leslie Alexander Barrett - Gunner RAA
Leslie Barrett was born in London in 1908 and left England at the age of 15 to work on a dairy farm in New South Wales. ...
Maurice Naylor CBE - Gunner
Maurice Naylor served in 53 Brigade of the 135th Field Regiment, 18th Division. He was captured by the Japanese followi...
George Goodyear - RN Coder
Mr George Goodyear of Ilkley, West Yorkshire was recorded for the Centre in December 2014 speaking of his wartime experi...
Noor Inayat Khan - SOE
On 13 September 1944, a beautiful Indian princess lay on the floor in a concentration camp in Dachau. She had been bruta...
Douglas G Davies - RAF Sergeant
On the night of March 5th 1944, a four-engine Stirling Bomber returned to RAF Tempsford after an operational sortie over...
G O 'Boy' Webster SGT RAFVR
In common with thousands of other air crew during the Second World War, RAF pilot Sgt Webster must have had very mixed ...
George Parsons - Pioneer Corps
George Parsons was born in Birmingham in 1919, Small Heath.
I had quite a job getting into the Fusiliers because I was ...
Fred Seiker
Fred Seiker was born in Holland in 1915. He served in the Dutch Merchant Navy after attending the Rotterdam College of M...
Hélène Vagliano - French Resistance
Hélène Vagliano was the daughter of a Greek shipowner. She was educated in England then went to live in Cannes. The fami...
Odd Westeng - Norwegian Resistance
Odd Westeng
Odd Westeng was a member of the Norwegian Resistance. His role was to guide various people, usu...
Ken Ward - Pioneer Corps
Ken was born in November 1922 into a liberal Jewish family. His father ran a private music school in Frankfurt and playe...
Clive 'Teddy' Teddern - Pioneer Corps
Teddy was born in 1923 in Hamburg and was raised in a liberal Jewish household. His father was a doctor in general pract...
Alfred Crisp - Letters from Home
The sight we most enjoyed was to see a letter bringing news from home, which arrived in one of these illustrated envelop...
Margaret Halliwell - ATS
Margaret was born in April 1925 in Burley, Leeds and she joined the ATS in 1943. After initial training at Pontefract, ...
Major General Orde Wingate 1903 - 1944
Transcript of a Lecture given by Trevor Royle in Edinburgh on 17 September 2002 - © Trevor Royle
Wingate's early career...
Desmond Earley - Lt. Essex Regiment
Like many others of my age I served six and a half years in the army during the Second World War from the age of 21, sta...
David Kaye - Prisoner in Concentration Camps
In September 1939, the German Army occupied Lodz (Poland). My family and myself had to wear the Star of David. We were s...
Anna Golesworthy ( nee Valk)
Anna was born in 1922 to Jan and Marie Valk, and was the eldest of three children. Although her nationality was Dutch he...
Janina Bauman - Ghetto Resident
Janina Bauman was interviewed at the Second World War Experience Centre in 1999. Her story is featured here in recogniti...
Dennis Vernals
Dennis was born in July 1925 in Sheffield. His father, Leonard Henry Vernals, had served in the Great War as a gunner in...
Shiela Tolley - Child in Cumbria
Sheila was born in Keswick in the Lake District in 1929.
Although her mother cried when she heard that war had been dec...
Jack's Story
Jack S. was born in March 1925 in South Yorkshire. He lived in a two bedroomed terraced house with his parents, his eigh...
Vincent Harrison - Child in the war
Vincent Harrison describes his childhood in a mining village in the North East of England. "Langley Park and its inhabit...
Barbara Davies - Aircraft Factory Worker
Although keen to become a nurse, as the eldest daughter of a widow, Barbara was expected to supplement the family income...
Celia's Story - POW in Burma
I have written this because I feel it should be told, I owe it to my grandparents, my uncle, and my brother who all died...
Jeanne Bullard
jeanne Bullard
Jeanne was born in 1920 in Kent. Her talent for art led her to Clapham Art School for eighteen months ...
Godfrey Talbot - War Correspondent
From the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 to the fall of Rome in June 1944, War Correspondent Godfrey Talbot was amo...
Denis Swinney - Army Captain
Denis was born in 1913 in Morpeth, Northumberland and went to Sedbergh school. He joined the Territorials in 1937 and wa...
Denis Peto-Shepherd - Sqn Ldr RAF
Born in October 1920, Denis attended Downsend Preparatory School in Leatherhead, Surrey and the Oratory Public School in...
Ron Fairburn - F/O RAF
Ron was born 1923 in Leeds. His father was a maintenance engineer at Leeds Steelworks and Ron's first job when he left s...
Thomas North - Corporal - RAF.
Thomas North was born in 1924 and joined the RAF for training in Blackpool and Scotland before his posting to Burma....
Ernie Reynolds WO RAF
Ernie Reynolds was born in 1925. He left school at 14 to start work at Furnace Shipyard, Middlesbrough.
At 10 AGS Waln...
Sir Denis Forman Kt OBE
....From the Officer Cadet Training Unit at Dunbar, a posting was arranged to the 11th Argylls. In 1940 a promotion to C...
Robert Frettlöhr
Robert Frettlöhr was interviewed for the Second World War Experience Centre in 1999 and has been a Friend of the Centre ...
Thelma Kellgren (Nee Reynolds)
Thelma Kellgren, 'Day Off'
Thelma Kellgren's childhood was spent in Amesbury, a small New England town in the United ...
Hamor Gardner Sr R/O - Merchant Seaman
The war could not have been fought without the steady flow of supplies transported to every theatre of war on merchant s...
John Dee Shapland - General, British Army
John Dee Shapland was born in 1897 in Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
In 1914 he trained at the Royal Military Academy, se...
2nd Lt Richard 'Bud' Heyne USAAF
In August 2020 the Centre received material relating to 2nd Lt Richard Heyne USAAF, letters include 82 wartime letters f...
Leonard Wright - Staff Sgt. Glider Pilot
Len Wright was born in Whitehaven in Cumberland in 1918. Educated at Whitehaven School he played rugby and cricket and j...
Frank Owston RN
Frank Owston was born in the village of Rillington, North Yorkshire in 1924 and was a forestry worker before his enlistm...
David M Annett RA officer 27 Field Regiment
Capt David Annett RA
Mr David Annett, wartime RA officer, was recorded for the Centre in 2000 and also donated material...
Arthur Adcock W.O. RAF
Arthur Adcock was born in December 1924 in Newcastle upon Tyne. His family were originally from the Leeds area, and they...
Donald Birks RN ERA
Engine Room Artificer Donald Birks RN was drafted on board HMS Dulverton, a Type II Hunt class destroyer, in late Octobe...
Ron Higgins Ely Cpl RAC
Ronald Higgins Ely was born in 1916 in Rothwell, Leeds and before the war he worked locally as a tailor. In August 1939 ...
Harold Woodcock L/Bdr TA
Harold Woodcock was born in 1921 and joined the 58th Anti-Tank Regiment, Territorial Army in May 1939 while he was livin...
Ken Randall - SGT Royal Artillery
In 2001 the Centre received wartime material relating to former Sgt Ken Randall who served with the 5th Survey Regiment,...
Ted Stonard - Royal Artillery
The Centre is honoured to have care of E W (Ted) Stonard’s memoir regarding life in the Royal Artillery during the retr...
Peter Peel - Cpl - British Army
Cpl Peter Peel
Peter Peel - Cpl - British Army
Having been conscripted in November 1939 Peter Peel joined the 2nd Bat...
Geoff Steer - Cpl 1/4th KOYLI
Geoff Steer - Cpl 1/4th KOYLI
I was born in St Helens, Elsecar in 1923. My father worked at Elsecar Colliery as a miner...
Frederick E Webb - RAF Sqn Ldr
SQUADRON LEADER FREDERICK E WEBB – RAF PILOT, AND HIS WIFE (LACW) PHYLLIS WEBB – WAAF DRIVER
Frederick (Fredd...
Leslie Alexander Barrett - Gunner RAA
Leslie Barrett was born in London in 1908 and left England at the age of 15 to work on a dairy farm in New South Wales. ...
Maurice Naylor CBE - Gunner
Maurice Naylor served in 53 Brigade of the 135th Field Regiment, 18th Division. He was captured by the Japanese followi...
George Goodyear - RN Coder
Mr George Goodyear of Ilkley, West Yorkshire was recorded for the Centre in December 2014 speaking of his wartime experi...
Noor Inayat Khan - SOE
On 13 September 1944, a beautiful Indian princess lay on the floor in a concentration camp in Dachau. She had been bruta...
Douglas G Davies - RAF Sergeant
On the night of March 5th 1944, a four-engine Stirling Bomber returned to RAF Tempsford after an operational sortie over...
G O 'Boy' Webster SGT RAFVR
In common with thousands of other air crew during the Second World War, RAF pilot Sgt Webster must have had very mixed ...
George Parsons - Pioneer Corps
George Parsons was born in Birmingham in 1919, Small Heath.
I had quite a job getting into the Fusiliers because I was ...
Fred Seiker
Fred Seiker was born in Holland in 1915. He served in the Dutch Merchant Navy after attending the Rotterdam College of M...
Hélène Vagliano - French Resistance
Hélène Vagliano was the daughter of a Greek shipowner. She was educated in England then went to live in Cannes. The fami...
Odd Westeng - Norwegian Resistance
Odd Westeng
Odd Westeng was a member of the Norwegian Resistance. His role was to guide various people, usu...
Ken Ward - Pioneer Corps
Ken was born in November 1922 into a liberal Jewish family. His father ran a private music school in Frankfurt and playe...
Clive 'Teddy' Teddern - Pioneer Corps
Teddy was born in 1923 in Hamburg and was raised in a liberal Jewish household. His father was a doctor in general pract...
Alfred Crisp - Letters from Home
The sight we most enjoyed was to see a letter bringing news from home, which arrived in one of these illustrated envelop...
Margaret Halliwell - ATS
Margaret was born in April 1925 in Burley, Leeds and she joined the ATS in 1943. After initial training at Pontefract, ...
Major General Orde Wingate 1903 - 1944
Transcript of a Lecture given by Trevor Royle in Edinburgh on 17 September 2002 - © Trevor Royle
Wingate's early career...
Desmond Earley - Lt. Essex Regiment
Like many others of my age I served six and a half years in the army during the Second World War from the age of 21, sta...
David Kaye - Prisoner in Concentration Camps
In September 1939, the German Army occupied Lodz (Poland). My family and myself had to wear the Star of David. We were s...
Anna Golesworthy ( nee Valk)
Anna was born in 1922 to Jan and Marie Valk, and was the eldest of three children. Although her nationality was Dutch he...
Janina Bauman - Ghetto Resident
Janina Bauman was interviewed at the Second World War Experience Centre in 1999. Her story is featured here in recogniti...
Dennis Vernals
Dennis was born in July 1925 in Sheffield. His father, Leonard Henry Vernals, had served in the Great War as a gunner in...
Shiela Tolley - Child in Cumbria
Sheila was born in Keswick in the Lake District in 1929.
Although her mother cried when she heard that war had been dec...
Jack's Story
Jack S. was born in March 1925 in South Yorkshire. He lived in a two bedroomed terraced house with his parents, his eigh...
Vincent Harrison - Child in the war
Vincent Harrison describes his childhood in a mining village in the North East of England. "Langley Park and its inhabit...
Barbara Davies - Aircraft Factory Worker
Although keen to become a nurse, as the eldest daughter of a widow, Barbara was expected to supplement the family income...
Celia's Story - POW in Burma
I have written this because I feel it should be told, I owe it to my grandparents, my uncle, and my brother who all died...
Jeanne Bullard
jeanne Bullard
Jeanne was born in 1920 in Kent. Her talent for art led her to Clapham Art School for eighteen months ...
Godfrey Talbot - War Correspondent
From the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 to the fall of Rome in June 1944, War Correspondent Godfrey Talbot was amo...
Denis Swinney - Army Captain
Denis was born in 1913 in Morpeth, Northumberland and went to Sedbergh school. He joined the Territorials in 1937 and wa...
Denis Peto-Shepherd - Sqn Ldr RAF
Born in October 1920, Denis attended Downsend Preparatory School in Leatherhead, Surrey and the Oratory Public School in...
Ron Fairburn - F/O RAF
Ron was born 1923 in Leeds. His father was a maintenance engineer at Leeds Steelworks and Ron's first job when he left s...
Thomas North - Corporal - RAF.
Thomas North was born in 1924 and joined the RAF for training in Blackpool and Scotland before his posting to Burma....
Ernie Reynolds WO RAF
Ernie Reynolds was born in 1925. He left school at 14 to start work at Furnace Shipyard, Middlesbrough.
At 10 AGS Waln...
Sir Denis Forman Kt OBE
....From the Officer Cadet Training Unit at Dunbar, a posting was arranged to the 11th Argylls. In 1940 a promotion to C...
Robert Frettlöhr
Robert Frettlöhr was interviewed for the Second World War Experience Centre in 1999 and has been a Friend of the Centre ...
Thelma Kellgren (Nee Reynolds)
Thelma Kellgren, 'Day Off'
Thelma Kellgren's childhood was spent in Amesbury, a small New England town in the United ...
Hamor Gardner Sr R/O - Merchant Seaman
The war could not have been fought without the steady flow of supplies transported to every theatre of war on merchant s...
