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Interview with Margaret Ottaway
Margaret Ottaway lived in Louth, the sixth of seven children, and tells of her childhood there. Tells of an air raid shelter they had in the house. Witnessed, as a seven year old, an enemy air raid on 19 February 1941, which caused damage and…
Interview with Margarete Meyer
Margarete Meyer (b. 1936) describes the 13 February 1945 Dresden bombing and recounts how her mother reacted to the alarm. She rushed to the shelter and took some belongings, including what she thought was her confirmation dress. Explains how her…
Interview with Maria Caterina Siccardi
Maria Caterina Siccardi (b. 1924) remembers attending the funeral of a young soldier and her fear of being bombed. She also describes the makeshift shelter her grandfather built and how she rushed to take shelter in it every time an aircraft…
Interview with Mariagrazia Sinigo Petrina
Mariagrazia Sinigo Petrina recollects her childhood in Trieste. Chronicles hardships during the war, her father enlisted in the Italian navy while she lives with her mother and grandmother. Describes how difficult was to find food and narrates some…
Interview with Marialuigia Buffadossi
Marialuigia Buffadossi remembers her wartime life in the Lombardy region. Born in a low-class neighbourhood with poor-quality housing, she first worked as shorthand clerk for a solicitor, and then was employed by a major bank. Remembers her…
Interview with Marina Zucco
Marina Zucco recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: how her father rented a flat conveniently located above a shelter, in which they remained for hours eating food they had brought from home; the day the ‘all clear’ sounded immediately before a…
Interview with Mario Galardini
L’intervistato è Mario Galardini, nato a Castel di Casio (BO) il 15 agosto 1923, consulente del lavoro. Interviene il fratello Raffaello, sono presenti Lory Galardini e Annalia Galardini. L’intervista è effettuata da Claudio Rosati presso la…
Interview with Mario Miniussi
Mario Miniussi recalls the 18 March 1944 Monfalcone night bombing. He was sleeping when the siren sounded; then he saw the bombs falling on the shipyard among explosions and fires. Remembers how he was normally at school during alarms, so he and his…
Interview with Mary Stuart
Mary Stuart, nee Atkins, was the youngest of nine children who, during the Second World War, lived on the island of Malta. She tells of her love of aviation and how she spent time on the roof of her house when Spitfires flew over. Mary recollects…
Interview with Mieczyslaw Maryszczak
Mieczyslaw Maryszczak was born in Bokyivka, Ukraine and served in the Polish Army and then the Polish Air Force. An early memory of the war is throwing bread to starving Russian prisoners being marched from Lviv to Podlesice. At seventeen he was in…
Interview with Millie Roberts
Millie Roberts has lived her life in and around Lincoln. Her early memories include watching an airship fly overhead from the school playground at Reepham, getting locked in a cowshed and knitting baby clothes from wool collected from hedgerows. …
Interview with Nino Tenca Montini
Nino Tenca Montini reminisces about his wartime experiences in Udine and in the Friuli region. Describes the family shelter as a concrete reinforced basement, sparsely furnished with wooden benches. Recalls the urge to escape the vigilance of adults…
Interview with Nora Hailey
Nora Hailey was born in Portsmouth, and then the family moved to Eastney. Before the German bombing she was evacuated to her Auntie’s in Worthing. After a few weeks nothing happened so they went back to Portsmouth. When the bombing began she and…
Interview with Norman Freeman
Norman Freeman was born in London, his wartime preference to be a pilot was thwarted by poor eyesight so he became a wireless/radar mechanic. After training he served all over Britain, and then France at the end of the war. Norman told of why he…
Interview with Paola Giorgina Pasini
Paola Giorgina Pasini provides details of her early life in a family of agricultural workers and compares favourably their condition with those living in urban areas. Recalls the ominous sight of target indicators and flares, and remembers Pippo…
Interview with Paolo Vivoda
Paolo Vivoda remembers a bombing attack which started moments before the show of the stage magician Delfo, his mother barely made to the shelter and was injured, others died. Paolo lost contact with his parents, only for them to reappear two days…
Interview with Pat Rumfitt
Pat Rumfitt was born in 1927 and experienced a privileged upbringing living in Kent as an only child before the war. She describes the resilient attitude to bombing in Bromley, walking to their flooded Anderson Shelter in her dressing gown and…
Interview with Patricia Cook
Patricia Cook was born in Lincoln, one of eight children, during the Second World War. She recalls having to sleep four to a bed and having to share their house with complete strangers. They had the Morrison shelter table in their front room. The…
Interview with Patricia Young
Patricia’s family lived in a 500 year old thatched cottage in Waddington. There was a bakery in the grounds, which had been started by her grandparents. Patricia’s father joined the Royal Flying Corp and one of her earliest memories was of him…
Interview with Patrizia Riviera
Patrizia Riviera (b. 1930) gives a brief account of wartime life in Bergamo. Mentions food shortages, fear of bombings, basements used as shelters. Mentions disrupted schooling after the fall from power of the Fascist regime.
Interview with Pauline Holloway
Pauline Holloway grew up in Harrow and turned eighteen one month before the end of the Second World War. She recollects listening to Churchill’s speeches on the radio, sheltering during air attacks in a purpose-built extension to her house, and…
Interview with Peter Swallow
Peter Swallow was born in Sheffield in 1929, one of three children. He recalls hearing Mr Chamberlain’s declaration of war broadcast as a schoolchild. His father, a plumber, volunteered as a member of the Local Defence Volunteers, eventually…
Interview with Piero Fiorot
Piero Fiorot reminisces about his pre-war life in Sacile: schooling, fascist paramilitary training and indoctrination, curfews, rationing, and doing business in a tightly controlled, closed economic system. Contrasts the relatively tranquil life…
Interview with Pietro Varesi
Pietro Varesi describes wartime life in Pavia, focussing on the Borgo neighbourhood. He mentions the Ticino bridges as primary targets for bombers; recalls bent shop shutters and debris on the streets; stresses the limited accuracy of bombing and the…
Interview with Raffaella Sorsini
L’intervistata è Raffaella Sorsini, nata a Vicchio (FI) il 25 maggio 1919, impiegata in pensione. Interviene Marianna Galardini, nata il 18 maggio 1897. L’intervista è effettuata da Claudio Rosati a Pistoia, presso la casa dell’informatrice,…