Express. World War Two veterans join online community to share memories

A new interactive website was launched allowing them or their families to upload videos of them recounting their experiences.

There are thought to be about half a million surviving veterans and many more civilians who lived through the war.

Among those who have already posted their memories are Gloria Hirst from Battersea and a lady called Evelyn from Cheshire who both tell of their experience of being evacuated as small children.

Jean Kidd from Coventry tells of her life as a woman in a very male-dominated world, serving on an RAF base repairing warplanes.

The site - www.ww2videomemories.com - has been set up by Falklands veteran and entrepreneur Tony Banks.

Mr Banks, who appeared on Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire and is the founder of the Balhousie Care Group, one of the UK’s largest residential and nursing care groups, hopes the website will become an "invaluable tool" for researchers, teachers and anyone interested in the war.

He said he wanted to get this oral history recorded before it is too late.

He said: “The experiences of some senior military personnel were recorded and shown to great effect in documentaries such as The World At War, but these represent only a fraction of the story.

"With every week which passes, the wartime generation grows smaller, and its unique memories correspondingly disappear.

"As someone who has served in a war and now works in a sector which cares for older generations, and therefore regularly hears residents stories on the extraordinary period between 1939 and 1945, I was inspired to create a site that allowed for these memories to be easily recorded for posterity.

"Whether the memories recount the horror of conflict or the realities of life on the Home Front, I hope that people from across the world will grab their smart-phones and take the opportunity to film and document the memories of the World War Two generation, ensuring that their experiences are understood and never forgotten.”

The website is set up so that anyone with a smart phone can video record an interview with a veteran - whether a loved one, a friend or a neighbour.