West Africa

War Experiences in Nigeria and Burma

The Burmese jungle is very dense and very hilly, air strips had been made in the jungle for aeroplanes and...

Nigerian War Experience

This white man, whom I later learnt to be the D.O from Nnewi, the headquarters of Nnewi district in the...

An Incident in West Africa

Opening a door marked ‘Crew Only’ we descended to a deck from which he found an intact stairway...

Life in Africa - [R.Thresher : Part 6]

Firstly I was transferred to the 1st W.A. Infantry Brigade Workshops and travelled up to Kano, on the...

An African Adventure

After training, I travelled to Ormskirk, where we received medical training in a civilian hospital and then...

Takoradi (Ghana): Memories of the RAF

We crept down the West African coast calling at Gambia and Freetown and, finally, were put ashore at...

The Screaming Parrot

The other pilots went on looking after the parrot and when the war was over they sadly arranged for him to...

McCollum family World War 2 Memories

Mum was by then back in Newcastle, living with her best friend for the rest of the war, and that same time...

Life in the RAF - Roy Parkin

Slowly we steam between anchored ships, tankers, freighters, barges and native canoes until we anchor...

The Assault on Madagascar

The huge land locked harbour of Diego Suarez and Port of Antisirane, Madagascar, were the primary...

Tales From The Lower Deck - SS Bodegraven - Chapter 2

Nine were found to be missing, The Fourth Engineer and two men were known to have been trapped in the...

Adjusting to Africa [R.Thresher : Part 5]

We did not stay many weeks in Kaduma before travelling north-west again, towards Sokoto and close to the...

The Journey Home for Leave [R.Thresher : Part 7]

Unable to return to Belgium they were doing great work transporting troops and some civillians between the...

Jack Turner's RAF Adventures

543221 RAF Corporal Jack Turner's wartime experiences. After a tour of 18 months Jack returned to...

Convoy to Nigeria [R.Thresher : Part 4]

The middle of June 1942 saw us go round the corner to Marylebone station, boarding an overnight troop train...

My Uncle's War

Having received his wings and a commission in the Canadian Royal Air Force, he was dispatched to West...

Bomb trouble! In a Sunderland Flying Boat over Sierra Leone

Being an electrician can be a demanding job at the best of times, being an electrician on a sunderland...

Finding My Father at Sixty Five

While researching my family tree this year I discovered that my father's name is carved on a plaque on...

Dakar West Africa. The Free French Landing at Vichy, French Occupied Dakar -an Invasion by the Free French with British Support

The Free French Landing at Vichy, French Occupied Dakar -an Invasion by the Free French with British...

Wartime Wedding

I had a blue wedding dress and the traditional little halo hat. There was no time for a wedding meal....

HMS Pembroke and HMS Eland - Freetown (Sierra Leone)

HMS Pembroke and HMS Eland - Freetown. He spent 2 years in Sierra Leone serving on the HMS Pembroke and HMS...

William's War: A Hydraulics Engineer in the RAF

William was a hydraulics engineer in the RAF. He was sent to Backhurst, a small town in West Africa,...

Jos-Zaria, the four mile loop

Jos is in the Plateau State, and Zaria in the Kaduna state, Nigeria - Africa. Christmas, a time of...

The Atlantic on the way out

The caption reads ‘ The Atlantic on the way out’ Christmas, a time of happiness, peace…...