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The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
Announcements
- 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time.
- The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
- 19th Nov 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than
264989 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
- Looking for help with Family History Research?
Please read our Family History FAQs
- The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
If you enjoy this site
please consider making a donation.
Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our
Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. |
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Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted
photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them.
The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted.
World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a
Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
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Want to know more about Royal Observer Corps? There are:1320 items tagged Royal Observer Corps available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Charles Edward Merrin Royal Observer Corps My Dad, Charles Merrin was on essential services at British Celanese in Spondon. They turned him down for joining the armed services because of this, so he applied to the Observer Corps, spotting planes in a dug out at night during the war.
He went for training, and came home with a great coat, the colour was grey, to keep him warm in the winter on night duty.
I helped him distinguish the planes with flash cards they were issued so he could recognize them through night binoculars. I think I was 8 or 9 yrs old at the time, and was very proud of my Dad with the volunteer work that he did during world war two.
These men/women are never mentioned when the war is talked about, but they did very important work.
Jerries tried to bomb British Celanese, which at that time was producing bombs for the RAF also silk to make parachutes for the pilots. They would fly down the Derwent Canal from the start right down through Derby and across Spondon, but Celanese was well camouflaged so it wasn't easy to spot from the air.
That is all I remember as a child.
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Ernest "Ernie" Clarke Royal Observer Corps An old photo has emerged showing my granddad, Ernest Clarke, and his brother Harry Clarke in the Royal Observer Corps in World War II. It was taken in Whitby North Yorkshire, at Whitby Abbey.
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Horace Leonard Pattle Royal Observer Corps I remember my Dad, Horace Pattle, going on duty atop the hill outside Stowmarket, Suffolk, binoculars slung over his shoulder, bike clips round his trouser legs, & I think he wore a navy-blue beret. We had all learned to recognize the silhouettes of the planes when they were caught in the searchlight beams. We learned them from the black bakelite models my Dad was provided with. My favourite was the shiny Spitfire. I remember the day the model planes arrived with a man and his dog, a liver-and-white spaniel named "Boofas" (Boofas made good use of the flower planter at the end of our driveway,and of his master's car tyre) My mother might have been a bit scared and lonely on the evenings my Dad was on duty but she didn't show it to us children. We survived the air-raids and "doodlebug" bombs and when peace was declared I came downstairs the next morning stating "Well, if this is peace, it's not very exciting!!" Ungrateful child!!
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