The Second World War Experience Centre

14/10/2026

Millicent ‘Millie’ Penny (née Perkins) enlisted in the WAAF in 1942 and trained as a wireless operator at No.1 Radio School, Blackpool. In 1944 she volunteered for overseas service and was stationed at Columbo, Ceylon, serving as a Teleprinter Op W/Op. She was later posted to signals at RAF Koggala, followed by post-war service in the Traffic Office, Singapore, where she met her future husband. Her material comprises of a short memoir, photographs, and a nightdress (below) made from parachute silk.

13/10/2026

Our latest newsletter! Every month, read personal experiences of the war from our vast archive of previously unpublished first-hand accounts.
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17/09/2026

Major Richard Carr-Gomm OBE saw action in Normandy in 1944 with 4th Battalion, 6th Guards Tank Brigade, Coldstream Guards. He was wounded by shelling in August but returned to action in the following March, sporting a fetching scar across his cheek.

This comic sketch of Richard was drawn by a Dutch civilian on the night before the battalion’s ceremonial victory drive through Kiel on 10th May 1945.

Post-war, Richard devoted his efforts to preventing isolation and loneliness in the elderly, founding social care and community charities to support thousands of people worldwide ❤

15/09/2026

POW diary of navigator William Brittain of 418 Squadron whose Mosquito VI RS604 was lost due to flak over the Netherlands on 22nd Feb 1945 while on a massed squadron raid. William was captured by the Germans and incarcerated until liberated on 29th April 1945 by advancing American forces.

This diary is in a delicate condition and a lot of the pencilled writing is almost illegible due to the cramped writing style and the effects of fading with age. However, we now have a digital scan of the diary to help preserve its contents for generations to come.

04/09/2026

Rudlof Feistauer Waffen-SS.

Rudolf joined the SS at the age of 18 and served as a radio operator in 2. SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot), operating in Russia and the Ukraine in 1941.

The brigade’s primary mission, coordinating with Einsatzgruppen detachments and police battalions, was the systematic ‘pacification’ of the rear areas which included close quarters ‘clearance’ and ex*****on duties under the pretext of security. Though Rudolf presents as a detached accidental witness, the radio unit was an active, integrated component of the brigade.

Rudolf served 4 years in the SS. At the end of April 1945 he was on the run from the Americans in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany. Having cut the SS badges off his uniform and thrown away his r***e, he disguised himself as an agricultural worker and he ended up in the village of Thuringenhausen where he met his future wife.

The Archive holds his memoirs and an audio interview recorded in 2003.

28/08/2026

Digitised today, 37 original pieces of art by Piper/Stretcher Bearer of 9th Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Ri**es) with whom he saw action on D-Day.

His art depicts scenes from Normandy, Holland, Belgium and Germany 1944-1946. This piece is titled 'Farmlands Germany 6th April 1945.

07/08/2026

Postcard from a Herr Wolfgang Hessmann, a German POW in Russia, to Herr Kurt Exner, dated November 1948. Written from a Soviet detention camp, it features dry, educated humour between friends, closing with a jest about Kurt chasing women.

This postcard was issued by the Russian Red Cross (Alliance of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR). From the address, Wolfgang’s location is Camp 5921 which was in Magnitogorsk, a city in the Chelyabinsk region renowned for its steel plant which was built by forced labour of disposed peasants in the 1930s. The recipient Kurt is in Kreuth in the American occupation zone of Bavaria in Southern Germany, at the Dr May Hospital (May Clinic).

During the war, Magnitogorsk had two known POW camps: Camp No. 527 of the NKVD for POWs of foreign armies, and a special hospital camp, Camp No. 5921, for the treatment of seriously wounded prisoners of war.

Due to the steel plant, Magnitogorsk was a heavily polluted environment where it is said that the snow would turn black, vegetables would not grow, and fish died in the river. Today it is recognised as one of the most heavily polluted cities in the world.

Approximately 1.5 million German POWs were still being held in Soviet Gulags and labour camps after the end of the war. The majority were released between 1946 and 1948, with the last being officially repatriated following diplomatic agreements in 1955-1956.

29/07/2026

Whenever I come across this, I just HAVE to take another look!👀

This is the knotted handkerchief of 17-year-old Mervyn Manson, worn on his head in a lifeboat after his ship SS Empire Zeal was sunk mid-Atlantic by an Italian submarine. All he was wearing was trousers, a wristwatch, and this hanky on his head.
Wrapped in the hanky are 2 Horlicks tablets from the lifeboat's emergency supply rations.

Luckily the ship's survivors were picked up on the 2nd day by American destroyer USS Winslow 🙂

20/07/2026

Seeing as has been trending, here is a WW2 Army football badge 🙂
⚽️⚽️⚽️
This one was awarded to Harry Taylor of 146 Field Ambulance RAMC in 1944.

09/07/2026

Meiktila: City of the Dead.
For 21-year-old signaller Rodney Percy, Meiktila was a place never to be forgotten.

Meiktila in Central Burma had recently been the scene of a battle in which the Japanese had been defeated with losses in the thousands. Rodney’s 21st birthday was spent clearing Meiktila and the lake of the dead, and in this environment of a battleground graveyard he began to feel as though the place was cursed. He talks about this and the haunted pagoda in his interview, beginning with the Japanese Good Luck flag he souvenired from a dead Japanese soldier.

Rodney's full length interview can be requested from the archive.
Email [email protected] (Ref Percy, R 2742)

A cursed town, a haunted pagoda, and nightmares.For 21-year-old s...