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Interview with Angela Squicciarini
Angela Squicciarini (b. 1925) gives an account of her life in wartime when she attended school. Mentions relatives, one of whom spent many years in Russia; describes how the living conditions improved over the years and provide details about olive…
Interview with Angelo Bencina
Angelo Bencina recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: a cave being modified as a shelter; the descent of bright red and white target indicators at night; a bomb which nearly missed him and didn’t explode; Window radio counter-measures being…
Interview with Angelo Cassia
Angelo Cassia (b. 1926) gives an account of the bombing of Turin in the summer of 1943. Mentions the use of a shelter in the basement until it became clear that it wouldn’t withstand a blast wave, therefore trapping the occupants inside. Describes…
Interview with Anna Maria Guglielmi
Anna Maria Guglielmi (b. 1940) recalls one of the first memories of her childhood when the siren sounded and she found herself in crowded shelter. Describes wartime anecdotes: drinking wine from a demijohn found in the attic, an encounter with two…
Interview with Anna Maria Sarno
Anna Maria Sarno (b. 1945) retells wartime hardships in the surroundings of Avellino. Mentions how her family took shelter in a railway tunnel and describes disrupted transport.
Interview with Anna Maria Serafini
Anna Maria Serafini recalls her teenage life in Bologna as the fiancée of Luigi Pasetti, a civilian pilot later enlisted as torpedo bomber pilot. Describes how she got married and mentions Italian First World War pilot, Ferruccio Ranza, who acted as…
Interview with Annamaria De Manzano Vici
Annamaria De Manzano Vici recalls her wartime childhood in Trieste and describes the struggle of her all female family, coping with fear, hunger, and difficulties in finding food supplies. She remembers the run to the public shelter and the terror…
Interview with Annunciata Buffadossi
Annunciata Buffadossi recollects her wartime life in Milan. Annunciata stresses poor-quality housing in a low-class neighbourhood close to potential targets; emphasises how much she feared Germans and Fascists; and speaks with affection of her old…
Interview with Antonio Bozzetti
Antonio Bozzetti (b. 1924) remembers the efforts to dodge fascist paramilitary service. Describes how he avoided being enlisted because he had a reserved occupation in a factory working for the Germans. Points out he witnessed all Milan bombings and…
Interview with Arthur Hydes
Arthur Hydes grew up in Ingham and his family were closely involved with the life of the RAF camp during the war, watching the airfield being built and operations from there. He talks about the village before, during and after the war, including…
Interview with Barbara Bulleyment
Barbara Bulleyment worked at a department store in Boston until she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and was initially stationed at 16 Maintenance Unit Stafford and then 209 Maintenance Unit at Broughton. She recounts her life as an equipment…
Interview with Benito Colonna
Benito Colonna reminisces about the bombings of Rimini and other wartime experiences. Benito was with his mother when he witnessed the 1 November 1943 bombing: he saw aircraft approaching and bombing the town, concentrating the attack on the railway…
Interview with Bernard Sterry and Cecilia Pearson
Bernard Sterry and Cecilia Pearson, both born in Hull, talk about their lives as evacuees during the war. Bernard, who was 10 years old when war broke out, was evacuated from Hull to North Lincolnshire until September 1944, when he came back home at…
Interview with Bernie Harris. Two
Bernie Harris joined the Air Training Corps and volunteered for the Royal Air Force, joining in April 1943 and training to become an air gunner. He mentions his father serving in the Royal Flying Corps. As a young boy, Bernie witnessed the London…
Interview with Beryl Pickwell
Beryl Pickwell lived in Lincoln during the war. The youngest in a family with three brothers and two sisters, she remembers the day war was declared. Her father and two brothers worked in war factories, Clarke’s Crank and Ruston and Hornsby. She…
Interview with Betty Bascombe
Betty grew up in Cardiff and worked in the Royal Ordinance factory. Her first husband, Ron joined the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. She talks about receiving the telegram, stating that Ron was missing and later finding out that he had been…
Interview with Betty Hedges
Betty Hedges grew up in South London in the final years before the war and she recalls a happy childhood. She describes a close family and community life where the children played unworried in the streets and she talks about the games they played and…
Interview with Betty May Pearson
Her brother-in-law William Mollison Walton, after training to be a pilot in Canada, was based at RAF Swinderby with 97 Squadron. In 1944 his aircraft was attacked and he baled out. He spent two days on a small island where he buried his parachute,…
Interview with Betty Welton
Betty Welton was born in 1924. She left school at the age of 14 and, at the age of 17 and a half, joined the Women’s Land Army. She saw this as an opportunity to escape her home circumstances. On receiving her papers, she travelled from her home…
Interview with Brian and Jenny Bailey
Brian and Jenny Bailey were children during the war and witnessed the bombing of Cleethorpes and Grimsby. Standing on a local bridge, they could also see Hull in flames. Jenny recalled walking with her mother on the day war was declared and seeing a…
Interview with Brian Hutson
Brian Hutson was a child during the war. He remembers his father, who worked on building airfields and delivering air raid shelters. He also recalls his childhood, sleeping in a shelter and listening to aircraft, air raids, blackouts, playing with…
Interview with Brigitte Terboven
Brigitte Terboven (b. 1930) recalls the bombing of Essen and the dropping of an air mine by a British bomber which was trying to evade a German night fighter. The bomb hit the ground about 20 meters from her home which collapsed like a house of…
Interview with Burckhard Kuck
Burckhard Kuck (b. 1925) tells the story of a 63-year-old mirror, a present from his fellow inmates when he was detained in a prisoner of war camp in England. Emphasises how the object reminds him of the lack of mirrors in the camp and of the fact…
Interview with Carla Baietti
Carla Baietti recalls her life as a young labourer in Olgiate Comasco. She tells of the hardships her family suffered during the war: fascist indoctrination; food shortage; her uncle's desertion and her brother's death, while serving in Russia. Carla…