Inspired by conversations with many veterans following the publication of her grandfather's wartime memoir, Victoria Panton-Bacon has gathered a moving collection of stories. These are stories of bravery, sadness, horror, doubt, and longing, from ordinary people who lived under the long shadows cast by World War II and whose young lives were changed irrevocably. These were the young of a different age when work for most began at fourteen, and the world conspired to thrust them into the jaws of conflict. For them, war, the ultimate leveler, threw them into remarkable times, whether they were a merchant seaman, army officer, pilot, young Jewish girl, code breaker, or Home Guard recruit. This remarkable collection of experiences also includes the heart-stopping account of Noble Frankland, director of the Imperial War Museum (1960-1982). From one extraordinary story to the next, this is an important and immersive book.