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Interview with Gwendolen Wadmore
Gwendolen Wadmore was born in London in 1922, and lived there throughout the Second World War. Her early memories are marching with the Girl Guides. She left school at 14 and began work in a tailor’s shop; at the start of the war she was employed…
Interview with Guido Toccacieli
Guido Toccaceri remembers his wartime experiences as a schoolboy in Milan: the day war broke out, food shortages, his father working at an airfield near Bergamo, train strafing, basements used as makeshift shelters, being evacuated outside Milan with…
Interview with Guido Di Blas and Ilario Bolletti
Guido Di Blas and Ilario Bolletti recount wartime memories associated with the town of Monfalcone and the surrounding area. Describes a severe night of bombing stressing the ominous sight of target indicators and loud explosions; recalls the massive…
Interview with Gualtiero Silvio Cosolo
Gualtiero Silvio Cosolo recalls attending the Ceriani vocational school in Monfalcone, at this time the air raid siren went off every day and the children would run to the nearest shelter. Describes the 7 March 1944 bombing and the gruesome sight of…
Interview with Gladys Hatt
Gladys Hatt was a teenager and working in Manchester when it was bombed. She recalls her life was a sequence of work, shelter, work and there was no teenage life for her. She worked as a machinist sewing uniforms, which was a big change from her…
Interview with Giuseppe Pirovano
Giuseppe Pirovano remembers wartime memories as schoolboy at Affori, a Milan neighbourhood. Describes daily life in fascist youth organisations, with regimented schooling and political rallies. Mentions childrens plays and pastimes, such as…
Interview with Giulio Fiorini
L’intervistato è Giulio Fiorini, nato a Pistoia il 26 novembre 1906, impiegato alle Officine San Giorgio. L’intervista è effettuata da Claudio Rosati presso la sua abitazione a Pistoia, l’11 ottobre 1983. Dopo aver vissuto il bombardamento a…
Interview with Giuliana Birelli
Giuliana Birelli remembers growing up in a family of farmers in Tuscany, at a juncture in which German soldiers raided houses searching for food and harassing women. She tells various episodes: partisans actions, time spent in a makeshift shelter her…
Interview with Giovanni Delfino
Giovanni Delfino was at first evacuated to the Cremona area, where he could see the glow of the distant bombings. He then came back to Milan only to witness a bomb nearly missing his house and killing factory workers. He describes the gruesome sight…
Interview with Gillie Street
Gillie Street was born in Aglionby, Carlisle, and spent her early childhood in Tyneside before moving back to Cumberland, aged eleven. Gillie recalls attending grammar school in Brampton and her first flying experience on a Barnstormer. Upon leaving…
Interview with Gilberto Martina
Gilberto Martina reminisces his childhood in Chiusaforte and in the Canal del Ferro area: disrupted schooling, fear of Germans, subsistence farming, saboteurs, and one of his mates being killed by a bomb found in a pile of litter. Stressed how the…
Interview with Giglio Mazzi
Giglio Mazzi (b. 1927) recalls his early life in Reggio Emilia, born in a family with strong anti-fascist sentiments. Describes his first job at the Reggiane works, then at the local labour inspectorate where he was attached to a debris clearance…
Interview with Gerda Gentner
Gerda Gentner (b. 1934) recalls the first bombing of Dresden on 7 October 1944. Gerda describes how she unsuccessfully tried to persuade a young boy to take shelter with her in the basement and reminisces her feeling when she knew that he had died…
Interview with Geoff Brown
Geoff grew up in Grimsby and remembers picking a butterfly bomb up and taking it home.
Geoff was born and lived in the same area of Grimsby all his life, at the date of his interview he was 93. The first part of the interview concentrated on his…
Geoff was born and lived in the same area of Grimsby all his life, at the date of his interview he was 93. The first part of the interview concentrated on his…
Interview with Gavino Pala
Gavino Pala reminisces about his childhood in Sardinia, describing schooling and paramilitary training. Recollects the 17 May 1943 Alghero bombing, explaining how part of the population had left the city the day before and slept among olive trees,…
Interview with Gabriella Bisio and Teresa Mascherpa
Gabriella Bisio and Teresa Mascherpa recollect the bombing of Pavia and give a vivid description of its immediate aftermath. They describe food shortages, resorting to eating potatoes with milk and queuing up for a portion of salt. Gabriella…
Interview with Günter Lucks
Günter Lucks (b. 1925) describes how he was forced to join the Hitler Youth in 1939, an event that caused a great deal of disturbance in a family of strong communist background. When his parents moved out because of his father’s job as aircraft…
Interview with Freda Dakin
Born in Salford, just outside of Manchester, Freda was a teenager during the Second World War. She recalls her family's culture, school life, meal requirements and how she reacted to the war being declared. She also recounts her experiences of…
Interview with Frank Page
Frank Page grew up near Teddington Locks and was working for an engineering firm when the war started. His house was bombed and he remembers recovering bodies from the ruins and says he joined the RAF to get his revenge on the Germans. His pilot…
Interview with Frank Edwards
Frank was born in London. He describes V-1 coming over and taking shelter in the London underground.
Frank talks of his evacuation to the countryside near Croxton Kerrial when he was nearly five. He was accompanied by his two brothers and initially…
Frank talks of his evacuation to the countryside near Croxton Kerrial when he was nearly five. He was accompanied by his two brothers and initially…
Interview with Francesco and Maria Gigliola Rapozzi
Francesco and Maria Gigliola Rapozzi remember wartime life in Monfalcone. They recollect the day the shipyard was engulfed in flames after a severe bombing raid and mentions the high number of casualties among civilians. They remember various…
Interview with Ferdi Righi
Ferdinando Righi recalls his early life in Monfalcone, brought up by his mother while his father served as a submariner. Describes daily life in wartime: how he used to sleep fully clothed, waiting for the air raid siren. His mother would put some…
Interview with Fay Price
Fay Price was nine at the outbreak of the Second World War living in Grimsby. A twin, they were the youngest of six siblings. Her memory of the start of the war was the ending of birthday parties. Her father was a fish merchant and was able to…
Interview with Fausta Maggioni
Fausta Maggioni recalls memories of her wartime life in Milan. She describes a sizeable shelter reinforced with wooden props, a little bag with the few valuables she had always to bring along, as well as the many duties of her father as warden, who…