Joy Lofthouse

Joy Lofthouse flew Spitfires with the ATA during WWII. In her interview she shares details about her training, her ambitions in life and her absolute joy of flying.

Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell was interviewed when Legasee visited the RNBT’s Pembroke House in Gillingham. She provides a fascinating interview about her life as a child in the war. She was 11 years old when war broke out and living in Kent she, along with approximately 800,000 other children around the UK was evacuated to the countryside where the bomb risk was lessened. Moving in with a totally new family is almost incomprehensible today.

Muriel Joy

Muriel Joy was one of a number of Naval Veterans we interviewed at the Royal Naval Benevolent Trust’s, Pembroke House. She provides a fascinating insight into the role of the ARP - Air Raid Precautions in Strood, Kent during the Second World War.

Phylis Spall

Rodney Newnham

Rodney Newham lives in the RNBT’s Pembroke House in Gillingham. In the war he worked as a boiler maker in the Chatham dockyard. He describes in detail the work and dangers of work at the time.

Len Hurst

Len Hurst was working with Southend Airways when the Berlin Airlift started. He gives an interesting perspective on the largest humanitarian airlift of all time.

Flixton Fieldtrip

This is a short film I made that covers the day when pupils from Bungay High school met three surviving Veterans from the Berlin Airlift. The meeting was at Flixton's Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum.

Operation Freedom

This was an educational project we ran in partnership with the Eastside Trust. Together, we provided primary school children an opportunity to develop some skills in Journalism. Brian Bird was a Veteran pilot from 185 Squadron and was very happy to be re-united with his old plane. The Spitfire [from the Battle of Britain experience] provided the wow factor and ensured that the pupils were very engaged in the subject.

Ernest Edwards

Ernest Edwards gives an interesting account of his time in the NAFFI. He served on HMS Orion a ship he has great memories of.  As well as action in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean he recalls D-Day.

Tiger Moth Reunion

Former Spitfire Pilot Brian Bird heads back to the place where it all started 72 years ago. He didn't fly the aircraft this time but he did do a loop the loop! Not bad for a ninety plus year old.

Chatham Memorial

100 years to the day that three Chatham Port Division Cruisers were sunk, the people of Kent gather to remember them at an event that any Navy would be proud to have called their own. You can find out more about the day by clicking here.

Jim Radford

Britain’s youngest D-Day veteran, Jim Radford, was just 15 years old when he joined the war effort as a galley boy on a deep sea rescue tug. Here Jim tells us how his experiences at Normandy inspired his later work as a folk-singer.

Normandy service

This short film captures the final act of service by the Normandy Veterans Association. With numbers diminishing the decison was taken by the association to lay up their national standard for the final time. St Maragarets in Westminster was a fitting venue for the occassion.     

St Edmunds School

Flight Sgt Brian Bird flew Spitfires with 185 Squadron in Italy and the Balkans during the latter stages of the Second World War. His interview can be found here.      

Noreen Riols

Norren found herself working as an SOE 'honey trap'. In her interview she provides some fascinating detail about how she carried out her work...

Mavis Batey

Mavis Batey was a Bletchley Park codebreaker whose Enigma breakthrough proved crucial to the success of D-Day. In this interview, she provides a fascinating insight into her work and character.

Paddy Sproule

Paddy Sproule provides an excellent interview about her time the FANY. It was time well spent, in September 1943, Paddy helped to secure the surrender of Italy. She passed away on August 10th, 2010.

Gill Lewis

Despite coming from a Naval background, Gill was mad about cars and as soon as she was able she passed her test and joined the FANY. In a remarkable life she recalls working with the famous cryptographer Leopold Marks. 

Ann Bonsor

Ann Bonsor was a Wireless operator at SOE's 'Massingham' base in Algeria.  Her job was to communicate with agents working behind the lines in occupied Europe. She experienced agents breaking off during transmission due to capture or murder. She was later stationed in Bari, Italy.

Betty Norton

During the war, Betty Norton was sent to England by her stepmother. On her way, she was scouted by two American SOE’s, which lead to her becoming a member of the FANY. 

Elvira Burbeck

Elvira Burbeck gives an enlightening interview about her service as a FANY. She operated out of Massingham and Italy and recounts detail of her work and a number of amusing anecdotes. 

Michael Meller

At just fifteen years of age, Michael Meller worked as a laboratory technician hoping on the trials of the HF/DF (Huff-Duff) system. Huff-Duff" was a valuable part of the Allies' armoury in detecting German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. Post war, her went on to Hong Kong and was stationed there when the Korean war raged.

Margaret Pawley

Margaret Pawley was a back-room girl with the SOE in Cairo and Italy.

Luton School

A short film that captures the day that two Naval Veterans visited the Luton School in Chatham. It was a chance to share memories, ask questions and learn.

Andree Dumon

Whether it was delivering false newspapers or concealing English soldiers, when the Germans invaded Belgium, Andrée Dumon was determined to get involved. Aged 18 she was invited to work for the Belgium Resistance, where she was tasked with delivering vital information to the chief of information services.

Barbara O’Connell

After failing to be persuaded to join the WAAF, Barbara O’Connell volunteered to join the FANY. 

Pauline Payne

Pauline Payne worked at a number of SOE radio stations in Britain. Her job was to keep in touch with agents working behind the lines in occupied Europe.

Jean Argles

Jean Argles worked as a Cipher Operator in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). In this fascinating and detailed interview she reflects on her work sending and receiving coded communications to and from Special Operations Executive [SOE]  Agents operating behind enemy lines in Italy and the Balkan states.