Appeal launched for memories of wartime Warwick

Did you have a family member from Warwick who died in the Second World War and is commemorated on the war memorial in Church Street?

Today, the 75th anniversary of VE-Day, Unlocking Warwick, the town council’s volunteer group, is launching an appeal for photographs and information about the 112 men from the town who lost their lives in WWII.

Two years ago, marking the centenary of the end of WWI, the volunteers created a special website – www.warwickwarmemorial.org.uk – with the personal details of all the names from The Great War displayed on the memorial with features about Warwick in WWI.

Now the website has been redesigned and relaunched to cover both World Wars.

Project leader Christine Shaw said: “With the lockdown continuing, now is a good time to dig out those old photograph albums.

"If you have pictures of parents, grandparents or other relatives who died in WWII and are remembered on the war memorial, we hope you can scan the pictures and email them to us, with any personal information about them and their service during the war.

"If you are unable to do that, perhaps we can borrow the pictures and return them, respecting social distancing of course.

"Our research has already found quite a lot of information from online sources, and some moving individual stories.

"You can see them under ‘The Fallen’ in the WWII section of the website. The aim is to have a picture of every one of those men from Warwick who gave their lives in the 1939-45 conflict.

“We already know that seventeen of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment who were killed during WWII came from Warwick, along with three members of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, and we have started to gather some moving personal stories behind the names on the brass plaques.

“We are also hoping to gather some personal memories of what life was like in Warwick during WW2.

"Local people who are in the eighties and nineties might well have some fascinating recollections – for example about the anti-aircraft guns placed around the town, the air raid shelters, the gas masks carried by all the schoolchildren, rationing, and the arrival of hundreds of evacuees from Birmingham and Coventry.

“If you have an elderly relative who can remember wartime in Warwick, perhaps you can make some notes about what they remember and email them to us.

"Or send us a phone number, then one of the volunteers can have a chat over the phone, and we’ll put some of the personal memories on the website”.

Some of the stories collected by Unlocking Warwick, will also be shared by The Courier and the Kenilworth Weekly News over the next week.