On May 8th 2020 we celebrated 75 years since VE Day by sharing some local and family history stories relating to World War Two. Here are some of them.
Sarah (Library Assistant)
My Grandad was an engineer in the RAF, sometimes doubling up as a photographer on reconnaissance planes, which he found petrifying. He spent most of the war in Sharjah (now in the UAE) and in 1944 he came back to Harrogate on two weeks leave where he married my Grandma who was a civilian clerk with the RAF. My Grandad stayed in the RAF after the war. They moved around a lot but eventually settled in Hipperholme, where by dad grew up.
Natalie M (Librarian)
My Grandad served in the army as a driver so he moved supplies and troops mainly around Europe. Whilst there he made friends with a Dutch chap called Theo who he continued to write to into the 1950s. We found some of the letters that my grandad received from Theo in a box of family photos and documents’.
Will – My grandad was Flying Officer Ted Moss. He was in the Rhodesia Squadron of the RAF Bomber command. In the picture you can see he marked VE day in his diary. 2 days before he was on a bombing mission. He lost many of his squadron members in bombing raids
Elli (Library Assistant)
My grandparents spent the whole of the blitz in London. My grandad was an air raid warden. One day my gran promised to take dad and his brothers to Lyons tea rooms because they had been so good during all the air raids. They got caught with a chatty neighbour and failed to leave on time. Just as well because there was another air raid and the tea rooms were flattened.
James (Local history researcher from Lightcliffe)
My father was a radio operator with a tank regiment and took part in the D day landings. His tank took a direct hit but despite being wounded and suffering severe burns he eventually made it back to a hospital in Britain. I was born on 15th May 1945 and it didn’t take long after learning about the facts of life to deduce that I was conceived whilst my father was convalescing.
Roberta (Library Team Leader)
My great uncle was Antonio Pacitti. He was born in Cassino, Italy but his father’s anti fascist activities meant the family had to flee to Glasgow, Antonio served in the Highland Light infantry. He nearly drowned on an embarkation exercise and was traumatised when the soldier who saved his life drowned trying to save others.
He and other members of the platoon, convinced there was a cover up made a pact to desert. He was found by the military police and served a short spell in jail. Antonio went on to become a well respected artist.
During the war Antonio’s birth place of Cassino was destroyed when Allied forces advancing through Italy were stopped by the German defence of Cassino for over five months. http://antoniopacitti.co.uk/
David (Family History researcher)
I had an uncle Jack, my father’s younger brother, who served in the Irish Guards and was a commando. Typically of those men who saw front line action, he never spoke of what he did or saw. However, one event he did relate was his evacuation from Crete when the German paratroopers took the island. He was taken to Turkey to some unknown small town with is comrades. On short leave until redeployed, they ‘hit the town’ and got slightly inebriated, ‘borrowed’ an open-topped car to get back to camp.
They were arrested the following morning as they had ‘borrowed’ the town mayor’s limo.
Uncle Jack was, apparently, awarded the MM and mentioned in dispatches. None of this was known by the family and only came to light at his funeral.
Natalie (Reader Development)
My Grandparents met during the war at a dance at Marsden Mechanics Hall, nr Huddersfield.  They were married in 1944, before my Grandad was posted to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) as an Engineer with the Navy.  By strange twist of fate, my first Library job was at Marsden Library. The Library is located in Marsden Mechanics Hall where they first met all those years ago.
Gill (Library Assistant)
My dad lived in Manchester, may Grandad was a policeman. My nan and my aunt stayed in Manchester with him but my dad got sent away. He ran away back to Manchester and arrived in the middle of an air raid.
Diana recalls her father’s VE day story.
On VE day my parents first thought was to collect my brother who had been evacuated to Keswick. We collected him and his bike and set off on the 150 mile journey home to Howden but broke down half way there. We had to open the café in the morning so off I set on the bike. It was much further than I thought and I remember passing York around midnight. I wasn’t lonely because there were street parties everywhere and everyone was celebrating so I just kept pedalling and arrived home at about 4am!
And finally did you know that Nora Caveney from Walsden was the first female soldier to be killed in combat during WW2. She served in the 148th (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment and was just 18 years old when she was killed.
https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/people/war-hero-nora-will-never-be-forgotten-1194091
