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Interview with Rinaldo Sarani
Rinaldo Sarani reminisces about the bombings of Pavia describing widespread damage at Borgo Ticino and people being extricated out of rubble. Stressed the importance of bridges: ponte della ferrovia, ponte vecchio, ponte dell’impero, ponte della…
Interview with Rita Chapman
Rita Chapman lived in London during the Blitz. She witnessed the sight of the burning docks from her garden. Her family sheltered in their Anderson shelter but twice got buried and had to be dug out. The rescue crews asked them to keep singing until…
Interview with Rita Patrignani
Rita Patrignani (b. 1921) mentions wartime food shortages and stresses how she picked up what she found on the ground at the market . Describes the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. Contrasts her impulse to dash to the nearest shelter…
Interview with Rob Carter
Rob Carter was born in the village of Scampton and reminisces about his life on the land before the war. He recounts the foundation of RAF Dunholme Lodge, which his house overlooked. During the war, he served in the Auxiliary Fire Service. He was…
Interview with Robin Wright
Robin was born in Norwich on 16th June 1937. His father was in the Royal Air Force in Manchester, and then in Thetford Forest where the Merlin engines were stored. He finished his service at RAF Marham. Robin spoke about his school days. He…
Interview with Ron Harrison
As a child, Ron Harrison witnessed the bombing of Hull. He describes what it was like to be a child exploring the bombed out areas of the city with his young friends. His father was a fireman and while he was attending fires in the dock area their…
Interview with Ronald Roffey
Ronald was born in Charlton, south-east London. He went to Charlton Junior School and was nine when war was declared. He remembered being fitted for a gas mask at his school. His aunt who lived in Torquay found a private billet for him and his mother…
Interview with Rosanna Capretta
Rosanna Capretta (b. 1935) reminisces about the frightening sound of the sirens and describes how she and her family tried to cope by hugging each other in a corridor. Recalls food shortages, rationing cards, and black market. Describes disrupted…
Interview with Rosanna Giungi
Rosanna Giungi (b. 1933) describes how Pippo disrupted daily life in wartime, affecting especially those close to the Modena-Brennero and Modena-Verona railway lines. Reminisces the sight of Germany-bound trains packed with people desperately asking…
Interview with Rosemary Dorricott
Rosemary Dorricott is the widow of Leonard William Dorricott DFM. During the war years she was a young child in Skegness. She was six years old when war broke out. She recalls the air raids on the town and the rationing and blackouts that became a…
Interview with Rosemary Lapham
Rosemary Lapham is the daughter of Roy Chadwick CBE, the designer of the Manchester and Lancaster aircraft. She tells her father’s story. Her father was born in 1893 and when he left school at the age of fourteen he became a draughtsman at…
Interview with Rosetta Gobetti
Rosetta Gobetti (b. 1930) describes the bombing of a marsh near Isola della Scala, describing it as probably target mis-identification. Recalls a more severe bombing which destroyed many houses and killed twenty-eight people. Gives a short…
Interview with Roy Maddock-Lyon
Roy Maddock-Lyon was born in Cheshire and when his school was evacuated at the start of the war he began an engineering apprenticeship. He was a part of the Queen’s Messengers, a relief organisation that travelled to bombed cities to take emergency…
Interview with Roy Saunders
Roy Saunders was a schoolboy in London when the war started. He witnessed the bombing of London and was amazed when he saw the smoke from the docks area when he emerged from a shelter. His school friend and family died in the bombing. Roy was…
Interview with Ruta Popika
Ruta Popika was born near the river Nemunas, in what was Lithuania before the war. She remembers her family being forced to move eastwards and westwards from Lithuania according to the changing tides of war. Remembers the occupation of the Baltic…
Interview with Sandro Boiocchi
Sandro Boiocchi remembers wartime memories at Travacò, in the Pavia area and mentions various episodes: food shortages; the black market; fascist and German roundups; Pippo flying at night; bombing of bridges; giving shelter to evacuees.He tells how…
Interview with Santina Colombo
Santina Colombo describes her early life in a family of farmers, her father a fervent socialist. She mentions the start of the war announced on the radio and gives a detailed account of civilian life in wartime Milan: scarce food, growing vegetables…
Interview with Sara Ventriglia
Sara Ventriglia, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, recalls her early life in wartime Milan. She describes the alarm being sounded, she and her family getting quickly dressed to reach a nearby shelter. She recollects moments…
Interview with Sheena Staves
During the war Sheena lived in Cottingham, a village close to Hull. She lived with her mother and father (who was a fire watcher). He fought in the Far East during the first world war. She had two elder brothers, one in the Navy and one in the Royal…
Interview with Sheila Rankine
Sheila Rankine wanted to become a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force but was conscripted to be a munitions factory worker. She worked at Rose's in Gainsborough making the hydro-static fuses for bombs including the Upkeep bouncing bomb. She met…
Interview with Sheila Wilmet
Sheila Wilmet grew up in Liverpool and was fifteen when war was declared. She describes the devastation of bombing in 1941, spending nights in an Anderson shelter, and navigating unexploded bombs during her commute. She volunteered after viewing a…
Interview with Sidney and Una Ellis
Sidney and Una both experienced the effect of the war in Sheffield as a child. When Dunkirk survivors arrived at the nearby Reception Centre Sidney collected many souvenirs such as cap badges and his aunt also took two soldiers in to her home while…
Interview with Silvana Morganti
Silvana Morganti (b. 1924) recalls the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome, in which she describes the sight of dead people, a destroyed shelter, and children waiting for their dead mothers to return. Silvana also explains that she…
Interview with Silvana Zerbini
Silvana Zerbini (b. 1924) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome and the concern for her husband’s fate. She recalls the attempt to move her grandparents to a safer place out of the capital and remembers American troops…