Local History

Every Remembrance Sunday we honour and remember those who died in war serving their country.

But what about you? Could you do that ? Would you have the courage?

How would you cope with the knowledge that you might never come home or see your family again?

Troops on the move

Listen: Sergeant Major Steve Powell

A serving soldier from Leicestershire speaks to BBC Leicester about what it's like to survive and what Remembrance Sunday means to him.

Sergeant Major Steve Powell is from Market Harborough. He's just come back from fighting in Afghanistan, but nine of his colleagues died there.

Listen to Steve's story as he speaks to BBC Leicester's Bridget Blair...

Listen: Memories of Chris Dunsmore

This years Rememberance Day is especially poignant for Geoff Dunsmore.

His son Chris lived in Leicestershire, had a full time job and a fiancee. But he was also an RAF auxillary.

He was killed this year in Iraq.

Geoff spoke to BBC Leicester's Bridget Blair about his personal story...

For Eric Simons who lives in Kibworth, fighting in Europe during the Second World War brought him the love of his life.

Bridget Blair spoke to Eric about his experience at the D-Day landings...

Eric remembers that he and his fellow soldiers had not expected to live at first but as the war went on they grew more confident and he enjoyed the responsibility that the army gave him:

"It was very nice being free and making your own decisions. If the Germans were pushing hard I could pull back and didn't need anyone else's permission."

His dominant memory of his time in Normandy is meeting a Belgian girl named Maria:

"The amusing part about it was I couldn't speak a word of her language, Flemish, she couldn't speak a word of my language, English, and yet six months later we got married!"

"I can't complain about the war at all. I have a trophy of the war that's brought me a lot of happiness."

Albert Scrimshaw

One man from Melton Mowbray who died more than 90 years ago in Belgium was the inspiration behind a very special concert.

Singer Songwriter Lester Simpson has told the story of his great uncle's life in songs, pictures and stories.

BBC Leicester's Bridget Blair caught up with Lester to ask him about his Great Uncle Albert and his music...

Albert Scrimshaw died on 01 October 1917 in the Battle of Passendale, leaving behind a widow who outlived him by 60 years.

Lester commented that on visiting Belgium he was struck by the tragedy in ever soldier's story he accounted:

"When you go to the cemeteries there is this fabulous linear tragedy, all the lines of gravestones."

Craig Appleby

You won't find Craig Appleby's name on a monument to the fallen, his death is too recent. He died on 11 October this year, age 36.

He wasn't a serving soldier, airman or sailor either, although he was originally in the army.

Craig was a bomb disposal expert working to clear landmines; he'd worked all the over the world saving others but died in the Lebanon.

His father David has been talking to Bridget Blair...

David spoke of how dedicated and brave his son had been to his work, a trait that echoed through the generations of his family:

"His hero was my father. He went through the Second World War… the one thing my son took with him everywhere he went, 24-7, in all the years he was in the army was a picture of his grandfather."

Despite all of Craig's dangerous work, David was clear that he remained down to earth:

"If you'd sat next to him in a pub and had a drink with him, you would not know that the hands that passed you a pint have probably saved a thousand lives; but for the accident in October, would probably have saved another thousand lives."

Newarke Houses Museum

Back In Time...

BBC Leicester's Bridget Blair stepped back in time when she visited Leicester's Newarke Houses Museum...

The museum is exhibiting a collection of stories and artifacts from the Tigers Regiment of the First and Second World Wars and campaigns.

Philip French, Curator of Leicester History at the museum, was keen to emphasis the scale of the human loss in The Great War, even just on a local level:

"In this county alone there were 9000 people who were killed, so it was a huge war."

The collection includes a selection of very individual displays mark the people behind the soldier uniforms: 

"We've tried to put across the personal side of it, both in terms of the service and the sacrifice and the bravery, but also the loss and the grief and effect on the people back at home as well."