The contributor was nine years old when war ended. His father had been in the army since the 1920s and they lived in a council house (Norcott). His uncle, Arthur Philips, had been in China before the war, enlisted in TA in 1939; then he went out to Belgium but never returned as he was caught there trying to get back to Dunkirk, and was shot while trying to escape. Another uncle was also caught at Dunkirk and walked to POW camp in Poland. He was not allowed to drink on the march but, at camp, he did receive Red Cross parcels. He had some magnetised razor blades and could make a compass out of them. Another brother was in the navy (Dickie), and another in ATC (Archie) and, at 17.5 years, was a gunner in Bomber Command in Egypt. On 24th March 1945, his 13th operation received news he was missing in action. Hi father had been a fire watcher in London. The contributor has personal memories of war - about rationing etc, but noted that nothing improved until well afterwards when he was seventeen or eighteen.