War Stories Episode Guide

Episode Guide

• Airmen of World War II

  Pilots describe experiences, which sometimes combined the joy of flight with the terrors of battle.

• Allan Higgins

  People recall their roles during major conflict

• Balkan Mash

  Tina, a major in the Royal Army Medical Corps, recalls when she served in both Bosnia and Kosovo, where she not only treated British soldiers but Serbs and Kosovan Albanians who turned to her unit for help

• Barbara Thomas

  World War Two flight engineer Barbara Thomas recalls how she flew with the air transport auxiliary

• Bombing Berlin (Tommy Thomas)

  World War Two Lancaster pilot Tommy Thomas recalls how he flew in 11 of the 16 massed bomber raids during Berlin in the winter of 1943 and remembers exactly what those missions were like

• Building Bombers

  A woman recalls her work at Vickers Armstrong aircraft factory in 1939. Hilda found stitching the fabric for the wings of Wellington Bombers tough going and, among other hazards the Broughton plant was a regular target for the Luftwaffe

• A Chindit's Story

  A man who fought in the Chindit Special Force discusses his experiences in the Far East during World War Two

• D-Day: Omaha Beach

  Members of Operation Overlord recall mission obstacles, from seasickness to mine fields.

• Day Trip to France

  A personal recollection of the Normandy landings

• Death Railway

  John Escott describes being held as a prisoner of war and made to work on the infamous death railway

• Down Under

  Royal Navy veteran Ron Robertson, who joined up in 1943 and served aboard HM Submarine Thorough in the Pacific, recalls how an erroneous newspaper report of his death led him to a wonderful marriage

• The Fighting Marines

  Five men give personal accounts of their experiences and feelings as Marines in World War II.

• First Blood

  Major Tim Dumas describes his part in the 1944 attack on Evercy as part of the 4th Welsh Fusiliers

• Fly Girls

  There were several hundred women pilots who delivered aircrafts between factories and bases during World War Two. Barbara Thomas, one of only two female flight engineers flying with the air transport auxiliary, recalls her experiences

• An Honorary Welshman

  Former intelligence officer Gilbert Barker shares his memories of the liberation of Europe. Last in series

• In Living Memory

  In 1992, Steffi Robertston from Cardiff returned to Holland to meet members of the former Dutch resistance and those who protected her from the Nazis during World War Two. Although she died in 1998, this programme updates her story, following the Israeli government's decision to award their highest honour to the father of the family that looked after her. Shown as part of the 60th anniversary of VE Day

• In Memory of My Sergeant Major

  Former signalman John Ottewell talks about how he felt responsible for the death of his sergeant major after teasing him for not being on the front line, only to learn he died as soon as he got there

• In the WAAFs

  Joyce Skelton shares her memories of life in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force when she was posted to Pembroke Docks. Upon arrival she immediately encountered discrimination from the male CO who was shocked to discover he was to have females on his base : and refused to allow her to use the officers' mess

• Invading Germany

  Royal Welch Fusiliers veteran Bruce Coombes describes the final Allied invasion of Germany

• Korea : A Police Action

  David Griffiths recalls his experiences of the war in Korea, where he was posted in 1950 as an engineer assigned to lay and clear mines. His military career was cut short abruptly when an explosion hurled him 30 yards into a paddy field, twisting his spine and resulting in his being invalided out of the Army

• Land Girls

  Betty Smith from North Wales and Ennis Jones from Cardiff talk about their time as part of the Women's Land Army working on farms during World War Two and explain how a sense of cameraderie kept spirits up among the girls

• Liberation

  Veteran John Dugdale recounts his experiences of serving with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during World War Two, and his participation on the liberation of S'Hertogenbosch

• Malta Stopover

  Ivor Broom describes how stopping in Malta en route to Singapore saved him from becoming a Japanese PoW in 1941. While refuelling he was ordered by the station commander to remain on the island and help with its defences : a week after he was due to have arrived in Singapore, Japanese forces overran the colony

• The Merchant Marine

  Merchant seamen recall sailing treacherous seas in World War II to bring supplies to U.S. troops.

• Moonlight Patrol

  A man recalls his time in the 228 Flying Boat Squadron. Based at Pembroke Dock, the town of his birth, Trevor would endure 14-hour patrols defending shipping on the Western approaches

• On the Convoys

  Crew member Allan Higgins recalls the sinking of HMS Edinburgh, laden with #5million in gold, by German U-boats during World War Two

• On The Home Front

  A woman recalls how she followed her soldier husband around his various postings in World War Two when he was called up after less than a year of marriage

• Operation Blackpool

  Simon Weston pieces together the stories of Welsh soldiers who fought in the Far East during World War Two. A veteran describes his role in the mission dubbed 'Operation Blackpool'

• Operation White City

  Simon Weston pieces together the stories of Welsh soldiers who fought in the Far East during World War Two, hearing from John Hutchin, who describes his experiences of being a Chindit and the part he played in Operation White City

• Out of Africa

  Cyril Morris recalls his capture at Tobruk in 1943 and subsequent escape from an Italian PoW camp, when he spent nine months on the run and received protection from a sympathetic Italian family

• A Police Action
• PoW (Wyn Trepte)

  A man who spent World War Two as a PoW tells his story. Wyn joined up at 16 and fought on the Russian front before being captured in July 1944 fighting with the Allied advance in Normandy. He spent the rest of the conflict in prison camps before returning to Wales

• Remembering Pearl Harbor

  Eyewitnesses recall seeing Japan's first planes and hearing the explosion of the warship Arizona.

• The Santo Tomas Camp Teenager

  A veteran describes being held captive in a Japanese prisoner of war camp - while still only in his teens

• South Atlantic Heroes

  With Denzil Connick who served with 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, where a shell blew off his leg in the battle of Mount Langdon

• Trouble at Home

  Chris Ledner recalls how in November 1969 he and his regimental band were called back off leave to be the first British Army unit to become based in Northern Ireland. Initially they were made to feel welcome by both sides of the divide : but when he returned two years later, attitudes were very different

• War on the Wadi (Mike O'Rourke)

  A man who served with 45 Commando in 1963 tells his story. Mike O'Rourke was posted to Aden for a year, where his unit dealt with Arab dissidents in Yemen while talks were under way for the country's independence

• War Photographer

  The story of Red Cross war photographer Aled Jenkins who was arrested in Iran for spying during the Gulf War. After being found guilty and sentenced to death, he was fortunately released when the head of the Red Crescent organisation flew to Tehran and bribed guards to let him go

• Wings Over Waves

  The story of Philip Bristow, who flew a torpedo-carrying seaplane during World War One and was forced to ditch three times