Meet the Veterans

Meet the Veterans

19 Episodes

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Meet the Veterans
  • D-Day Veteran Interviews: Lord Saye and Sele

    Episode 1

    In this poignant interview, Lord Saye and Sele shares his unique story from the Second World War, which began on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

  • D-Day Veteran Interviews: Bill Fitzgerald

    Episode 2

    Recently Dan met D-Day Veteran and Chelsea Pensioner Bill Fitzgerald at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. After enlisting with the British Army as an eighteen year old in 1944 Bill reveals the extraordinary preparations he and his fellow recruits went through for D-Day with the famous 7th Armoured Divi...

  • Mary Ellis: Touching the Sky

    Episode 3

    During the years of World War Two, a short lived, but remarkable, organisation existed. The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a civilian service that was tasked with the delivery of aircraft from factories to the squadrons of the RAF and Royal Navy, and the delivery of supplies. Featuring pilots ...

  • The Luftwaffe Ace and the Spitfire

    Episode 4

    He is a German Luftwaffe ace with 81 confirmed victories on the Eastern front. Now a 95-year-old veteran, his talent and courage remain legendary throughout the world. It is the most iconic British fighter ever built. The hum of its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the wonderful elliptical wing, and th...

  • Jan Stangreciuk: Veteran. Hero. Guinea Pig

    Episode 5

    Of all the clubs in the world, perhaps the most extraordinary is the Guinea Pig Club, a group of Second World War veterans that suffered terrible injuries and were then treated by pioneering surgeon Archibald McIndoe. Today there are only a handful left. Dan visits Jan Stangreciuk, one of the few...

  • Jack Kenneth Lyon: The Last Great Escaper

    Episode 6

    March 1944: 76 Allied airmen escaped through a tunnel from their prisoner of war camp deep in occupied Poland. Their aim was not only to get back to Britain and rejoin the war, but also to cause as much inconvenience for the German war machine as possible. Within a few days, all but 3 had been re...

  • The Last Dambuster

    Episode 7

    Of all the air raids carried out during World War Two, none are as enduringly famous as the attack by Lancaster Bombers against the dams of Germany’s industrial heartland. Commemorated in literature and film throughout the decades, the mission – which was codenamed Operation ‘Chastise’ – has come...

  • Max Eisen: Surviving Auschwitz

    Episode 8

    Max Eisen was only 15 when he and his family were taken from their Hungarian home to the infamous Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Second World War. All of his relatives were killed; only Max survived to see VE Day and eventual liberation. 74 years on from being liberated, he talks about t...

  • Doctor Under Fire: The Extraordinary 75 Year Career of Dr William Frankland

    Episode 9

    Over the course of his 106 years, Doctor William Frankland has experienced more than most. He served with the Royal Medical Corps during World War Two, spending more than three years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese following the fall of Singapore. After the war, his medical career focused on...

  • D-Day Veteran Interviews: Frederick Bates

    Episode 10

    History Hit subscriber Nathan Portlock Allan interviews Fred Bates who was a Private landing on Gold Beach on D-Day. In this poignant interview, Bates recalls what it was like for the young men who stormed the beaches and remembers those who were left behind.

  • Out of the Inferno: Surviving Dresden

    Episode 11

    On the 73rd anniversary of the firebombing of Dresden, Dan Snow accompanies British veteran Victor Gregg, a POW in Dresden during the raid, as he returns to the city for a historic meeting with Irene Uhlendorf, who was just 4 years old on the night of the bombing. Together they are able to talk a...

  • D-Day Veteran Interviews: George Skipper

    Episode 12

    Recently Dan met D-Day Veteran and Chelsea Pensioner George Skipper at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. After being called in to the British Army in 1940 as an eighteen year old, by June 1944 he was already a veteran of the North African campaign. During the D-Day landings, George and his regiment lan...

  • D-Day Veteran Interviews: WarGen

    Episode 13

    A series of four D-Day veteran interviews from WarGen - an online repository of oral history from the people who lived through World War Two. Short versions of these interviews with Arthur Davis, Ken Stone, Harry Appleton and Jack Bracewell also feature in our documentary D-Day: As It Happened.

  • Remembering the Few with Wing Commander Tom Neil

    Episode 14

    Last summer, we were lucky enough to interview Wing Commander Tom Neil, one of the last of 'the Few' who fought in the Battle of Britain. During the Battle he shot down at least 13 enemy aircraft; he saw over half his squadron shot down within 5 minutes; he is also credited with the longest fligh...

  • The Unheard Tapes of Bomber Command

    Episode 15

    Over 55,500 men died flying with Bomber Command during World War Two; more than the number who serve in the Royal Air Force today. Flying at night over occupied Europe and battling German night fighters, anti-aircraft fire and mid-air collisions, they showed astonishing courage and resilience in ...

  • Ruth Becker

    Episode 16

    Dan interviews Ruth Becker, a Jewish refugee in France during the Second World War. This episode is part of a series of films revealing the experiences of children during the Holocaust.

  • Liberation 75: The Channel Islands

    Episode 17

    German forces seized control of the Channel Islands on 30 June 1940. By-passed by the Allies as they pushed east they remained under Nazi rule for almost 5 years, until the end of World War Two. This is the story of the British men and women who lived under the German occupation.

  • Romeo Vecht

    Episode 18

    Dan interviews Romeo Vecht, a Jewish refugee captured and imprisoned in Spa, Belgium during the Second World War. This episode is part of a series of films revealing the experiences of children during the Holocaust.

  • My Life and World War Two

    Episode 19

    Happy Birthday Victor Gregg - he has turned 100 this week. Victor volunteered to join the army before the Second World War and he fought all the way through - from clashes with the Italians in North Africa in 1940 to being captured 75 years ago this autumn at Arnhem. He was a Prisoner of War in D...