0:00:04 > 0:00:08This is the secret history of how a small group of British children
0:00:08 > 0:00:12became entangled in extraordinary events during World War Two.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17It is an epic tale, complete with all the excitement of a Boy's Own story,
0:00:17 > 0:00:23full of courage and patriotism, made all the more dramatic because it's true.
0:00:23 > 0:00:29The children seen here in this archive film grew up in a unique community.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33They were all pupils at the British Memorial School in Ypres, Belgium,
0:00:33 > 0:00:38the sons and daughters of the Great War veterans who returned to Flanders after the war
0:00:38 > 0:00:43to build and maintain the war graves scattered throughout the countryside.
0:00:43 > 0:00:50But when the Second World War broke out, and the German Army swept through Western Europe, the boys
0:00:50 > 0:00:54and girls of the Memorial School were forced to flee for their lives.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03In the years that followed, many Memorial School pupils would take up arms against the enemy.
0:01:03 > 0:01:0870 years later, three of these old school friends reveal for the first time
0:01:08 > 0:01:13the remarkable story of how they fought back.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17One became a fighter pilot in the RAF.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20We had an enemy to fight
0:01:20 > 0:01:25and our job was to destroy it at any cost.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29To have shown fear would have been a complete failure,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31in my estimation.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Another pupil became the leader of a French Resistance cell.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40I don't know if it was because of our age but I thought that if I had
0:01:40 > 0:01:44a Luger and six rounds, you could take on the German army.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46Didn't realise that...
0:01:46 > 0:01:48it was a mere nothing.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The other pupil became an undercover agent.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58I don't frighten quickly. I don't think ever.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05I think if I am what I am, I owe it to the British Memorial School.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12These are the children who fought Hitler.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26BUGLE PLAYS LAST POST
0:02:32 > 0:02:35This is the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41Here, every night for over 80 years, buglers have sounded the Last Post.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45It is played in memory of the Allied soldiers who gave their lives
0:02:45 > 0:02:50during the First World War, and who are remembered in cemeteries and memorials throughout Flanders.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02The only exception to this historic ritual
0:03:02 > 0:03:08came during the four years of German occupation which began in 1940.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13As the Nazis entered Belgium, and the final plaintive note rang out for the last time,
0:03:13 > 0:03:19it was a call to arms for the British children for whom the sacred soil of Ypres had once been home.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28In their fight to regain their homeland, they would risk their lives and their innocence too.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31But for the sake of freedom, and the memory of those
0:03:31 > 0:03:36who had gone before them, it was a risk they were willing to take.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43During the First World War, over a quarter of a million
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Allied servicemen died defending the ancient town of Ypres.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54In the heat of battle, their shattered bodies were buried in crudely marked graves,
0:03:54 > 0:03:59or laid to rest in hastily constructed cemeteries close to casualty clearing stations.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04In places, rotting corpses and body parts remained
0:04:04 > 0:04:09on the battlefields and in the trenches long after the fighting had stopped.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13While the army cleared the battlefields of their bitter harvest,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16it fell to the newly formed Imperial War Graves Commission
0:04:16 > 0:04:22to transform the temporary resting places of the dead into permanent memorials.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27By the spring of 1919, a vast team of British ex-servicemen had been recruited
0:04:27 > 0:04:33as labourers and gardeners, to begin the work of creating and maintaining the new cemeteries.
0:04:34 > 0:04:40Some of these men brought their wives with them, while others married local girls,
0:04:40 > 0:04:48and by 1927, the year the Menin Gate was opened, nearly 500 of Ypres residents were of British descent.
0:04:48 > 0:04:54Stephen Grady's father was one of the ex-soldiers employed by the War Graves Commission.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58He'd met and married his French girlfriend during the war, and they settled in France
0:04:58 > 0:05:03in the town of Nieppe, just across the border from Ypres.
0:05:03 > 0:05:09As a boy, the cemeteries became a place of great fascination for Stephen.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14I remember that my father used to take me to the cemetery with him sometimes on Thursdays, because
0:05:14 > 0:05:18in those days in France there was no school on Thursdays
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and he used to take me on his cross bar of his bike.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28I used to be interested in the cap badges, reading the inscriptions on the headstones,
0:05:28 > 0:05:33and the regiment of... So many regiments in those days, so many regiments
0:05:33 > 0:05:38and all these cap badges were all, all different and all exciting.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44The British Memorial School was built to ensure the children
0:05:44 > 0:05:48of the war graves gardeners were given a proper British education.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Championed by the War Graves Commission, it was funded by Old Etonians.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00Nearly 350 of Eton College's finest had been killed in the fight for Ypres and what better way
0:06:00 > 0:06:06to preserve their memory than to help fund a lasting memorial, built in their honour.
0:06:06 > 0:06:13Indeed, when it opened in 1929, the school was initially known as the Eton Memorial School.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20Prior to the creation of the Memorial School, the children of the gardeners were taught at the nearest
0:06:20 > 0:06:26French or Belgian village school, where British history was not normally part of the curriculum.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Lessons were taught in Flemish or French, and for many British children,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34English became their second language.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37If parents wanted their children to have a British education,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41they had little option but to send their offspring back home.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46That's just what happened to Stephen Grady.
0:06:46 > 0:06:53Until he was 13, he was educated at a French school, then his parents sent him to England.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59I went to school in St George's school in Ramsgate for a year
0:06:59 > 0:07:06and although I could speak English when I went there, I couldn't read or write and in that one year,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08I really became
0:07:08 > 0:07:12British in that one year.
0:07:12 > 0:07:19This new-found sense of national identity remained with Stephen when he went back to school in France.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24You know, being a kid, I was different to the others, really. That's what mattered.
0:07:24 > 0:07:31I was British, I was very proud to be British, I was very patriotic and I was surrounded by French
0:07:31 > 0:07:37and I felt, I don't know, I wouldn't say superior,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41but I felt different and extremely proud of being British.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48In 1938, Stephen started at the Memorial School.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51It was a natural home for such a patriotic boy.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Indeed, it was this level of national pride that the Commission
0:07:54 > 0:07:58hoped to instil in all the children of their employees.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03After all, Ypres had become a sacred site, and upholding British values and traditions
0:08:03 > 0:08:09amongst the British colony went hand in hand with preserving the memory of the dead.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20This rare archive film, shot just weeks before the outbreak of the
0:08:20 > 0:08:25Second World War, shows the children of the British Memorial School, performing for parents and local
0:08:25 > 0:08:29dignitaries at the school's annual prize-giving ceremony.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35It was one of the many festivities enjoyed by the pupils of this very British school.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Although it existed for just ten years, the school
0:08:39 > 0:08:43helped to create and nurture an extraordinary set of pupils.
0:08:43 > 0:08:49Many of these boys and girls started life with little knowledge of Britain, yet in time they would
0:08:49 > 0:08:53come to embody a particular kind of Britishness, one of patriotism
0:08:53 > 0:09:00and self sacrifice, where dogged determination and a stiff upper lip were the order of the day.
0:09:00 > 0:09:07And when the time came, many were willing to risk their lives for king and country.
0:09:07 > 0:09:13Like Stephen Grady, gardener's son Jerry Eaton had been educated in France before joining the school.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21The change was quite enormous, changing from French teaching to English teaching.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23I found it quite difficult at first.
0:09:23 > 0:09:24I think we all did.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30In France we were treated at school as French boys
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and everything emphasised the French aspect.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35The difference really
0:09:35 > 0:09:39was that when we came to Ypres, the British side of life was accentuated.
0:09:42 > 0:09:50We had maypole dances, and we celebrated all the national days that Britain celebrated.
0:09:50 > 0:09:57We did the usual things like running, hurdling, long jump, high jump and I was particularly fast
0:09:57 > 0:10:03and I could jump well and I won the sports prize for the school.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12My prize was a book called The Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Excellent book.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Jerry became a model pupil and proud school captain.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22His transformation from French schoolboy to patriotic British subject confirmed
0:10:22 > 0:10:30when, at just 15 years of age, he asked his headmaster Mr Allen to help him join the RAF.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33He managed to approach the MOD and eventually,
0:10:33 > 0:10:39the exam papers for the entry for January, 1937 were sent out.
0:10:39 > 0:10:46I took them in Belgium, supervised by Mr Allen and... found that I'd passed
0:10:46 > 0:10:51and that's how I became a young airman in January, 1937.
0:10:57 > 0:11:04Elaine Madden started at the British Memorial School when she was five years old.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Up until then she'd lived a lonely existence.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Though loving, her Belgian mother was always
0:11:09 > 0:11:15busy in the family hotel where her father propped up the bar when he wasn't working for the Commission.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21The school, shown here again in this film, provided her with the friendship and affection she craved.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28I loved every year, every day, every minute I spent in that school.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36I had friends, and the teachers were absolutely fabulous
0:11:36 > 0:11:39and if anything was wrong with you, they'd help you.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43They would say, "Is something wrong? Don't you feel well?"
0:11:43 > 0:11:45They were all very helpful, they were all very nice.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48And I've never been as happy as when I was in school.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53But that happiness wasn't to last.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58When Elaine was ten years old, her mother died after suffering a miscarriage.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Abandoned by her father, she was sent to live
0:12:01 > 0:12:05with her Belgian grandparents in the nearby town of Poperinghe.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07She was devastated when they took her away
0:12:07 > 0:12:14from the friends and teachers she loved, and sent her to a boarding convent run by Catholic nuns.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19You had to get up every morning at six o'clock and go to Mass and then they had
0:12:19 > 0:12:20an awful-looking uniform.
0:12:20 > 0:12:26We had dresses right down to your ankles and black stockings,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28and I hated it.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I hated having to learn my lessons in French because everything
0:12:32 > 0:12:36I'd done up to, up to then for five years had been in English.
0:12:36 > 0:12:44I couldn't write French properly and I didn't know anything about what their lessons were all about.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48I'd been punished a lot in that school.
0:12:48 > 0:12:55I was put in a corner with a thing on my head that looked like a dummy
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and I couldn't do anything right and I didn't want to do anything right.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02So eventually I got an idea in my head and I thought well, I know what I'll do,
0:13:02 > 0:13:10and I got a pair of scissors and I cut my dress to knee length, and I cut my black woollen stockings
0:13:10 > 0:13:16to ankle socks and there I came and it was tremendous outcry from the nuns and they were
0:13:16 > 0:13:22shouting and screaming at me, and I was not allowed to go back to that school any more.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Elaine's act of rebellion had the desired outcome.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30She left the convent and returned to her beloved Memorial School.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36Back amongst her friends, she flourished and before long became a school prefect,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40her confidence and independent streak set to shape the rest of her life.
0:13:43 > 0:13:49The outbreak of war in September 1939 had little effect on the majority of the children
0:13:49 > 0:13:54of the Memorial School, although the handful who lived across the French border, like Stephen Grady,
0:13:54 > 0:13:59were no longer able to travel into neutral Belgium, and were forced to leave.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05The Commission urged the gardeners to send their dependants back to England,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09although the men themselves were expected to remain in their posts.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12But most families stayed together in Ypres.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16It was, after all, the town they'd called home for over 20 years,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20and they were unwilling to be separated at this uncertain time.
0:14:21 > 0:14:27In March, 1940, the children were photographed for a magazine article on the British colony.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35As they posed in the school playground, they could have no idea what fate had in store for them.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41But just weeks after these photos were published, the Memorial School closed its doors for the last time
0:14:41 > 0:14:44and they were fleeing for their lives.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55On 10th May, 1940, Hitler launched the Blitzkrieg,
0:14:55 > 0:15:01the lightning invasion of France and the Low Countries that heralded a new kind of mobile war,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06quite unlike anything seen in Flanders during World War One.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Parachutists and Panzer divisions swept into Belgium and Holland with
0:15:10 > 0:15:14a speed and ferocity that caught the Allies completely off guard.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20Within hours, the Germans had captured key defensive positions, and as tanks and infantry began
0:15:20 > 0:15:25their drive to the Channel ports, Stuka dive-bombers rained terror from the skies.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32Within weeks, the men of the British Army were in retreat, blowing bridges as they left.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35They joined the thousands of desperate refugees
0:15:35 > 0:15:41fleeing the seemingly unstoppable German Army in a race to the coast.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46As France and Belgium burned, the War Graves Commission finally decided the time
0:15:46 > 0:15:51had come to evacuate the gardeners and their families back to England.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00On Saturday 18th May, over 200 men, women and children gathered in the schoolyard
0:16:00 > 0:16:06to board the unlikely fleet of vans, cars and bicycles that would take them to the coast.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08A week later, after an arduous journey,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11during which the families were bombed and separated,
0:16:11 > 0:16:17they made it to Calais, where they boarded some of the last boats to leave for England.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20It was a miraculous escape.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26By 26th May, Calais was in German hands.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31The British Army continued a desperate rearguard action
0:16:31 > 0:16:37as it retreated towards Dunkirk, but the sheer strength of German firepower was impossible to resist.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42With its back to the sea, the British army faced annihilation.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49Despite the impending danger, not all the war graves gardeners
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and their families had left with the official evacuation party.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Stephen Grady's mother was blind with cataracts
0:16:57 > 0:17:01and his father chose to go into hiding rather than leave her behind.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04But 14-year-old Stephen was determined to try and escape.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Two days before the fall of Calais, he set off on his bike
0:17:10 > 0:17:13with his French neighbour, Lombard, hoping to get to England.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22We cycled all the way to Calais, slept in a farm on the way up,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27all the way to Calais. Absolute pandemonium there, a few bombs dropping here and there.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32Tried to get to Dunkirk. I met some British troops there who didn't want to have anything to do with me.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34I had no passport.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36All I could do was speak English.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40There was no question of my being shipped back to England
0:17:40 > 0:17:44when there were 300,000 soldiers waiting to be shipped back.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50The evacuation of Dunkirk began on 26th May.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53By then, the town was in flames.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Tens of thousands of beleaguered soldiers made their way to the
0:17:56 > 0:18:02beaches as boats of all shapes and sizes headed across the Channel in a desperate attempt to rescue them.
0:18:02 > 0:18:08And all the while, Stuka dive-bombers carried out their deadly work with impunity.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17It was into this hellhole that 17-year-old Elaine Madden headed during the last week of May.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21In the early hours of the morning, she left her grandparents' hotel
0:18:21 > 0:18:24in Poperinghe with her young Belgian aunt, Simone.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28By then, Poperinghe had been badly damaged.
0:18:28 > 0:18:35It looked as though practically half the town had been bombed out and there were parts of bodies
0:18:35 > 0:18:41lying over, lying on the pavements, on the streets, and there was even a
0:18:41 > 0:18:46just a head, just one head lying in the gutter.
0:18:46 > 0:18:53And then we saw a lot of refugee people on the road so we just followed them.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57Elaine and Simone walked for days, sleeping rough and sheltering from
0:18:57 > 0:19:02the dive bombers that mercilessly targeted helpless refugees.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08By now the Germans were everywhere.
0:19:08 > 0:19:14The girls spotted some crossing an adjacent field, and ran as fast as they could to get away.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17With their chances of escape diminishing by the hour, the girls
0:19:17 > 0:19:21came across a convoy of British lorries heading for the coast.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26When Elaine showed her British papers, one of the older soldiers took pity on them
0:19:26 > 0:19:27and helped them on board.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29They didn't have a moment to lose.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34And he said, "I've got a daughter your age.
0:19:34 > 0:19:40"We can't leave you here, but you know we can't take civilians aboard,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42"but I can't leave you here.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45"I mean, you are British.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47"I have to take you."
0:19:47 > 0:19:49And when we got on the lorry he said, "Well,
0:19:49 > 0:19:56"we're not allowed to take civilians, so put these helmets on - put your hair up, and put these helmets on,"
0:19:56 > 0:20:00and they gave us each a greatcoat to put on and said, "Just sit there,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04"don't move, don't show your faces, just let us get ahead."
0:20:04 > 0:20:08And we eventually got to Dunkirk.
0:20:10 > 0:20:17By the time Elaine arrived in Dunkirk, Stephen Grady and his friend Lombard had already left.
0:20:17 > 0:20:23In the chaos of the burning town, they'd been unable to find anyone willing to help them get to England,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26so had little option but to return home.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31Yet, for two inquisitive teenage boys, it wasn't all bad news.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35As they headed back, they cycled past the vehicles and equipment
0:20:35 > 0:20:38abandoned by the British Army during its retreat.
0:20:38 > 0:20:45The troops had dropped everything on the way. There was just anything you imagine laying about.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Rifles, grenades, tanks,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52armoured cars, cars, telephones.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56We started collecting rifles.
0:20:56 > 0:21:03We collected about six rifles, all of different types with some ammunition, some grenades,
0:21:03 > 0:21:11and a light machine gun, and we hid all those in a box
0:21:11 > 0:21:16and a friend lived in a farm... in one of the fields.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18But it was an absolute...
0:21:18 > 0:21:23treasure trove for a boy of that age - there was just everything about.
0:21:25 > 0:21:32Back in Dunkirk, Elaine and Simone, still masquerading as soldiers in their army greatcoats and helmets,
0:21:32 > 0:21:39had joined a long queue of exhausted soldiers waiting on a wooden pier for help to arrive.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43It was a terrifying place for the grown men of the British army,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47let alone two teenage girls, not long out of school.
0:21:47 > 0:21:53I don't know for how many hours we were on this pier and it was like sleep-walking...
0:21:53 > 0:22:00and stopping and waiting and waiting and waiting and going ahead again with all these flames around us and,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04bombers coming over and bombs falling into the sea and it was...
0:22:04 > 0:22:07it was a nightmare.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10And I think I was just numb.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Finally, their turn came, when a fishing boat moored
0:22:12 > 0:22:17alongside the pier and the two girls climbed on board.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Well, I went down first, it was kind of a rope ladder
0:22:20 > 0:22:25and when I got to the bottom, I heard somebody say, "Ah, ladies' legs."
0:22:25 > 0:22:31So I kind of looked around and I said, "Yes, but I'm English,"
0:22:31 > 0:22:35so as not to be kicked off the boat and then Simone came down.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Of course, "Another pair of ladies legs." "She's my aunt!"
0:22:39 > 0:22:44In the first week of June, over 338,000 British and French troops
0:22:44 > 0:22:47were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51In England, the press was full of praise for the courage of the little ships that had
0:22:51 > 0:22:58saved the British Army from disaster and quick to pick up on Elaine and Simone's extraordinary story.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03But for the girls, it was a relief just to be back safely on dry land.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10When we got on the ground I thought, "Thank God I'm safe at last," you know...
0:23:10 > 0:23:16that this atrocious nightmare had suddenly stopped.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21It was calm, it was light and people were talking English and...
0:23:21 > 0:23:25there were no bodies lying around and
0:23:25 > 0:23:29it was as though I'd suddenly landed in heaven. I'm safe.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35However, as Elaine was enjoying her first taste of freedom,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39Adolf Hitler and his entourage had swept into Ypres.
0:23:39 > 0:23:45This rare archive film captured the moment he walked triumphantly through the Menin Gate,
0:23:45 > 0:23:50finally in possession of the town the Germans had failed to conquer during the First World War.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53The Last Post was played no more.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01In the months ahead, the children of the Memorial School
0:24:01 > 0:24:05would have to risk everything to regain the little bit of Europe they used to call home.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08But the time had come for them to fight back.
0:24:13 > 0:24:20By this time, ex-school captain turned RAF volunteer Jerry Eaton had completed his three years' training,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24and was now a fully qualified aircraft technician.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27But as the Battle of Britain raged in the skies above southern England,
0:24:27 > 0:24:35Jerry's patriotism and competitive streak demanded he take a more active role in the unfolding events.
0:24:35 > 0:24:43In 1940, I was stationed at Montrose in Scotland, and during one of my holidays back to Ilford,
0:24:43 > 0:24:50I actually saw that on a particular afternoon, the German bombers attacking the city
0:24:50 > 0:24:58and it was quite incredible watching bombers being shot down, seeing the fighters, Hurricanes and Spitfires,
0:24:58 > 0:25:04diving in between and the odd parachutes opening as people ejected.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08That night, of course, the whole of the dock area was on fire.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12It seemed as if the whole of London was burning.
0:25:12 > 0:25:18And I think, having seen that, seen the fighting and the bombing, that I might perhaps try to get onto a
0:25:18 > 0:25:22pilot's course myself and do some of the fighting which was taking place.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29After pleading with his commanding officers, Jerry's wish was granted,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31and he was sent to America to train as a pilot.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41While Jerry was learning to fly planes, on the other side of the Channel, 15-year-old Stephen Grady
0:25:41 > 0:25:45and his friend Lombard were beginning a prison sentence
0:25:45 > 0:25:50meted out after the pair were caught stealing parts from the wreckage of a German plane,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54and writing anti-German graffiti on its fuselage.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Like many of those suspected of minor offences,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03they were interrogated before being imprisoned.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Stephen was terrified that the Germans would search their homes,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08as not only was his father in hiding,
0:26:08 > 0:26:13but the arms cache they'd found on their return from Dunkirk was hidden on Lombard's farm,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17and if the arms were discovered, the consequences could have been disastrous.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23It was a terrible place, this prison, terrible place. A lot of people were shot there.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30If your sentence was anything to do with arms...
0:26:31 > 0:26:35death sentence, no problem, you were shot.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40You couldn't do anything, you couldn't sing, you couldn't whistle,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43you couldn't shout, you couldn't talk loud.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46There was a window too high, you couldn't look out of it anyway.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48It was just terrible.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Stephen was held captive in the same tiny cell for the next three months.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02Missing his family, he drew these simple pictures of home to help keep up his spirits.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14It was only after the Mayor of Nieppe made a desperate plea for clemency
0:27:14 > 0:27:17that Stephen and Lombard were finally released,
0:27:17 > 0:27:22but not without a warning from their captors.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24There was a German officer there
0:27:24 > 0:27:26who called us in,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29and he said, "I'll give you a very severe warning.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Leave the Germans alone, because next time, if you do anything,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36"it'll be very, very serious."
0:27:38 > 0:27:41I didn't listen to that, I don't think, not for long.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46This wasn't the only major influence the Mayor had on Stephen's life during the war.
0:27:46 > 0:27:52As well as providing Stephen's father with false identity papers, he also gave Stephen the job
0:27:52 > 0:27:56of gardener in the three British cemeteries in the commune of Nieppe,
0:27:56 > 0:28:01the small income helping to keep his family afloat during the occupation.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06But, more dramatically, he also recruited Stephen into the Resistance.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12And Stephen wasn't the only Memorial School pupil to be recruited
0:28:12 > 0:28:15into the undercover world of clandestine operations.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Elaine Madden was working in an office in London when she
0:28:21 > 0:28:26received her call-up papers for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British army.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33Convinced that she could do something better and more useful, particularly given the fact that she
0:28:33 > 0:28:37could speak three languages, Elaine complained to a friend in the military.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40And, as word of her enthusiasm got around,
0:28:40 > 0:28:46she was called for an interview with T-Section, the Belgian arm of the Special Operations Executive.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Well, I suppose you're wondering why I sent for you.
0:28:52 > 0:28:53Yes.
0:28:53 > 0:29:01The SOE was set up in 1940 to carry out sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines.
0:29:01 > 0:29:08It was extremely dangerous work, and operatives faced torture and execution if caught by the Germans.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13Not that Elaine knew at this stage exactly what she was letting herself in for.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16She was sent on a series of training courses and assessments
0:29:16 > 0:29:21designed to test both her physical and mental endurance to the limit.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25Assault courses, weapons training, and silent killing techniques were followed by
0:29:25 > 0:29:31lessons in code-breaking, wireless operation and resistance to interrogation.
0:29:34 > 0:29:40In one humiliating exercise, Elaine was woken in the early hours of the morning by one of her trainers,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42dressed as a German officer.
0:29:43 > 0:29:49Said I was a prisoner and I had to come down into the interrogation room, and it was a big room.
0:29:49 > 0:29:55It was dark everywhere except for some kind of big headlight over the
0:29:55 > 0:30:00table and there was three German officers sitting there,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02sitting behind the table.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07I was in pyjamas and I was just taken
0:30:07 > 0:30:11out of my bed as I was and then they started interrogating me.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16They made me stand up on a chair and I was standing up on this chair
0:30:16 > 0:30:18with a kind of a big floodlight into my eyes
0:30:18 > 0:30:23and then they made me take off my pyjama jacket
0:30:23 > 0:30:27and went on interrogating, so I just had pyjama trousers on
0:30:27 > 0:30:32and bare from the waist up on this damned chair, thinking,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36"What the hell are they playing at?" And then they turned the lights on
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and all the other students were sitting around and when the light
0:30:39 > 0:30:44went on they all started clapping, because there I was bare-breasted,
0:30:44 > 0:30:49standing up on this chair. I could have killed them.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55Despite the humiliation, Elaine had completed her preliminary training,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58but there would be still one final test to come.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10Jerry Eaton was by now a fully qualified pilot.
0:31:10 > 0:31:16Posted to Four Squadron, he began flying tactical reconnaissance missions in the new Mustang One.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23Once the fastest boy in school, the ex-school captain was now one of the fastest in the sky.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30'The Mustang is a heavily-armed single-seater fighter and very fast.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33'How fast? Well, Spitfires couldn't catch it, we're told.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37'Anyway, it's the fastest army co-operation aircraft in the world.'
0:31:39 > 0:31:44Our main role was to do photographic surveys of the coastline from
0:31:44 > 0:31:48the top of the Dutch islands right through to Brittany.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51This was done at very, very low level,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54as low as you could make it with a camera pointing straight out level.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59You had to get fairly close to the coast and, of course,
0:31:59 > 0:32:05there was sometimes quite a fair bit of flak and then you faced a tremendous risk of being hit.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11One never thinks an accident or being shot down can happen to oneself,
0:32:11 > 0:32:16it's always the other chap who's going to buy it, to put it plainly,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20and that is the firm belief that keeps most people going.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25Even so, Jerry was not immune to the very real danger he faced
0:32:25 > 0:32:27every time he climbed in the cockpit.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32During one mission, over the Hook of Holland, he was lucky to escape with his life.
0:32:34 > 0:32:40It was light ground fire, mostly tracer, and I saw this bright light coming
0:32:40 > 0:32:46straight towards my cockpit and this had caused me to duck, because I felt sure I was going to be hit by this.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Had it hit me, it would have hit the airplane head on.
0:32:51 > 0:32:52But it obviously missed,
0:32:52 > 0:32:54thank goodness.
0:32:56 > 0:33:02Several weeks after completing her preliminary training, Elaine Madden was called back to T-Section.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07It was only then that she found out for the first time just what was expected of her.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10- Come and sit down, won't you. - Thank you.
0:33:10 > 0:33:18And they said, "OK, now, you've done well in all your courses, now we go to Ringway."
0:33:18 > 0:33:20And I said, "Ringway?"
0:33:20 > 0:33:23And they said, "Yes, for the parachute jumping."
0:33:23 > 0:33:24I said, "Parachute jumping?"
0:33:24 > 0:33:29I must have gone white in the face and he looked at me and he said, "Yes, of course.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32"How do you think we get you to Belgium?"
0:33:32 > 0:33:36And I thought, "Belgium, now?"
0:33:36 > 0:33:40And he said, "Well, of course, what do you think you are doing here?"
0:33:40 > 0:33:45I don't know... I don't know.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51I didn't know. I had no idea I was going to go to Belgium.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54He got into such a filthy rage.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56"How the hell did you get in here?!
0:33:56 > 0:34:00"Now that you've passed all your training, we can't kick you out!
0:34:00 > 0:34:05"What are we going to do?! And you're too bloody scared to jump from an aeroplane!"
0:34:05 > 0:34:10And he got me so annoyed that I was stamping my feet and I said, "I will jump, I will jump, I will jump!"
0:34:10 > 0:34:17And then he eventually said, "If you don't jump, my God, there'll be hell waiting for you."
0:34:17 > 0:34:19So, off I went to Ringway.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26With her usual indomitable spirit, Elaine passed the test.
0:34:26 > 0:34:33She was now a fully trained SOE agent, ready for service in the field.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39In Nieppe, Stephen Grady's job as a war graves gardener
0:34:39 > 0:34:44was providing excellent cover for his clandestine resistance work.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48In the early part of the war, this consisted mainly of the smuggling of
0:34:48 > 0:34:56downed airmen back to Britain, the distribution of anti-German propaganda and minor sabotage.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00Despite being only 16, he was soon promoted to head of his section.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05I was the youngest in the group, but I was always available.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07I spoke English, I did most of the
0:35:07 > 0:35:11conveying of airmen
0:35:11 > 0:35:16and I had a job I could leave at any time, paid by the Mayor, the Mayor was
0:35:16 > 0:35:23in the Resistance, so all the other people in my group had a job to do, so they weren't always available.
0:35:24 > 0:35:30And as I said earlier, being British, I felt different, I felt that I couldn't let the side down in front
0:35:30 > 0:35:35of the French, so I was the head of the section and I felt I had to
0:35:35 > 0:35:37give the example.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43It was my job to lead and to do better than the others.
0:35:44 > 0:35:50Back in London, Elaine Madden was issued with a cyanide pill, false identity papers
0:35:50 > 0:35:55and briefed on the details of her first mission as an SOE agent.
0:35:55 > 0:36:01She was to be dropped into Belgium with a highly experienced SOE operative called Andre Wendelin
0:36:01 > 0:36:05and his radio operator, Jacques van der Spiegel.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11- Hello, how are you.- Fine, thank you.
0:36:11 > 0:36:12You know each other, of course.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18- Yes, but...- It seemed to us a woman would be less liable to suspicion in Rouen on than a man, don't you agree?
0:36:18 > 0:36:21- Yes, I suppose so. - I've already explained the mission...
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Elaine's main objective was to keep Andre and Jacques safe
0:36:25 > 0:36:30as they collected vital information on German troop movements and the location of rocket sites.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33It would be treacherous work.
0:36:33 > 0:36:39Wendelin was wanted by the Gestapo and, although Elaine didn't know it, four of T Section's agents
0:36:39 > 0:36:43had been captured and beheaded just weeks before.
0:36:43 > 0:36:49But her first challenge was to parachute safely into occupied territory.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53And I decided I would jump number one, because I knew that,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55in that way I'd go.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58If the other two went, I might not jump, so I jumped first.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01The dispatcher opened
0:37:01 > 0:37:04the hatch that we had to jump through
0:37:04 > 0:37:10and then suddenly, this American dispatcher, he said,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13"Honey, I'm gonna kiss you goodbye, because I'm probably the last
0:37:13 > 0:37:17American man who will ever kiss you," or something like that.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21And he kissed me and then kind of took my parachute straps and just
0:37:21 > 0:37:27dropped me in the hole, I didn't even have to the slightest movement and so I didn't jump, I was dropped.
0:37:31 > 0:37:36After landing safely in Belgium, the team made their way independently to Brussels.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40Elaine was to act as a courier, carrying the radio transmitter
0:37:40 > 0:37:46for Jacques and liaising with the Resistance, to find safe houses from where he could send his messages.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48They were soon up and running.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52Wendelin bribed a German guard at a V2 rocket site
0:37:52 > 0:37:55and Jacques began passing the vital intelligence back to Britain.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59All the while, Elaine had to remain extremely vigilant.
0:37:59 > 0:38:05The Germans had developed mobile radio detector vans to track down wireless signals
0:38:05 > 0:38:10and it was Elaine's responsibility to ensure Jacques wasn't caught in the act.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12Any mistakes could prove fatal.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28While Elaine and her team were gathering and passing on vital information,
0:38:28 > 0:38:34other operatives within the SOE were helping to arm and organise French Resistance groups.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Among them was one Captain Michael Trotobas.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44In 1943, Trotobas took Stephen and the others to collect a large
0:38:44 > 0:38:48consignment of weapons that had been parachuted in from Britain.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52He decided that we were worth
0:38:52 > 0:38:57being supplied with some of the materials that was being dropped.
0:38:58 > 0:39:05So, we went on one occasion to a place called Hosalle, near Arras...
0:39:06 > 0:39:14..and in this big mangelwurzel silo were seven containers of arms -
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Sten guns, Gammon grenades, Mills Bombs and
0:39:17 > 0:39:25then A28 explosive, the cortex all the stuff to detonate with, so we covered it with turnips
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and we managed to get all the stuff back to Nieppe
0:39:28 > 0:39:31in a farm, stacked it there.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34The following day, we came back, the bus came back
0:39:34 > 0:39:38and he opened all the containers
0:39:38 > 0:39:41and he gave me a Luger.
0:39:44 > 0:39:51Little did Stephen know just what effect the possession of that gun would have on the rest of his life.
0:39:51 > 0:39:58But for now, Trotobas set about the task of training Stephen in the art of sabotage and bomb-making.
0:39:58 > 0:40:04Over the course of the next few months, his group would disrupt the railways, the waterways
0:40:04 > 0:40:10and by simply dropping nails on the road, would bring a whole German ammunition convoy to its knees.
0:40:12 > 0:40:18I enjoyed putting nails on the road. I enjoyed seeing the Germans go down with all their tyres flat.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23I enjoyed hearing the Germans screaming their heads off, because they couldn't proceed any further.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25I enjoyed blowing up the railway line.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28I enjoyed blowing up the sluice gates
0:40:28 > 0:40:32and what I wouldn't have enjoyed is being caught in the act of doing it.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34But I wasn't!
0:40:35 > 0:40:39As Stephen was destroying German infrastructure on the ground,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Flight Lieutenant Jerry Eaton was attacking it from the air.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49By 1943, Jerry's main role was still in reconnaissance work, but by then
0:40:49 > 0:40:54the Mustang One had gained something of a reputation as a train-buster.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59'The action pictures that follow were taken by the camera gun of pilot officer Grant, a Canadian,
0:40:59 > 0:41:03'who beat up no less than 12 locomotives in one sortie.'
0:41:12 > 0:41:16Towards the end of Jerry's attachment to Four Squadron,
0:41:16 > 0:41:21his camera gun captured a brief glimpse of an attack on a train.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The grainy image of a locomotive, travelling diagonally from right
0:41:25 > 0:41:28to left, just discernable when the film is slowed down.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32There's a tremendous amount of excitement about
0:41:32 > 0:41:36going out on sortie and destroying some part of the enemy structure.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43But I think it was a sense of duty, more than anything else.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47We had an enemy to fight
0:41:47 > 0:41:50and our job was to destroy it any cost.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56But in the Mustang, these kinds of missions came all too infrequently for Jerry.
0:41:56 > 0:42:03Still determined to do more for the war effort, he put in a request to fly the new rocket-firing Typhoon.
0:42:05 > 0:42:11Several days later, I was down at Tangmere, joining 257 squadron.
0:42:11 > 0:42:18I didn't realise, of course, at the time, that the reason why I had been moved so quickly was because the
0:42:18 > 0:42:24losses in Typhoons were fairly high and they were anxious to get any pilot who cared to fly them.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29Losses were also high in the SOE, but Elaine Madden was living
0:42:29 > 0:42:34something of a charmed life, as she carried out her duties undercover.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39More than once, it was only her calm exterior and quick wittedness that saved her life.
0:42:39 > 0:42:45On one occasion, Elaine was working out of town, when she got an urgent message from Andre,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48asking her to bring the wireless equipment to Brussels without delay.
0:42:48 > 0:42:54As the local railway line had been destroyed by the Resistance, the only alternative was to go by road
0:42:54 > 0:43:00and the only offer of a lift came from a German officer, who was staying at Elaine's hotel.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03In the circumstances, she couldn't refuse.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09Mademoiselle, I insist that you allow me to help you.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11Very well, monsieur. Thank you.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13Right, this way.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18And then he carried my suitcase, which was rather heavy, cos it had
0:43:18 > 0:43:22a radio transmitter in it and he kind of looked at me.
0:43:22 > 0:43:23"Oh, it's heavy."
0:43:23 > 0:43:27He spoke French reasonably well, and I said,
0:43:27 > 0:43:34"Yes, it's meat, ham, butter," and he said, "Oh, black market?"
0:43:34 > 0:43:36I said, "No, no, for the family."
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Nearly everybody was smuggling food stuff.
0:43:41 > 0:43:47With the radio transmitter in the back of the car, Elaine and the German officer set off for Brussels.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51The journey passed without incident, until they arrived in the city.
0:43:51 > 0:43:56Suddenly realising it would be far too dangerous to go to Andre's apartment,
0:43:56 > 0:44:01Elaine had to think on her feet and gave the officer a false address.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Thank God I'd remembered the name of the street which was close to
0:44:04 > 0:44:09the apartment and he dropped me off at the address I'd given him,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11got the driver to take out my suitcase and put
0:44:11 > 0:44:15it next to the door and I stood next to the door and kind of...
0:44:15 > 0:44:21And he kept doing this and he seemed to be waiting for me to go into the house.
0:44:21 > 0:44:29Well, I didn't know whose house it was, I didn't have slightest idea and so I kind of tried, you know,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33pretended I was opening the door and kind of going...
0:44:33 > 0:44:38Big smile and "Bye, bye", and then, thank God, he drove off.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42When I told Andre I'd been driven back
0:44:42 > 0:44:47with a German officer and a chauffeur, he laughed his head off - thought it was very funny.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55Across the French border, Stephen Grady was about to have his own encounter with the enemy.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58In April, 1944, he was given instructions
0:44:58 > 0:45:04to kill a German officer who had threatened to expose the resistance group in a neighbouring village.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Armed with the Luger Trotobas had given him,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Stephen cycled to the bar where the officer was known to drink.
0:45:12 > 0:45:19Well, I had my Luger in my pocket, with the magazine full and the safety catch off.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21I walked in there,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24I asked for a beer, she showed me a small glass of beer
0:45:24 > 0:45:29and I said, "Is Mr Hanz here?" She said, "What do you want him for?"
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I said, "I'm looking for a job on the coast."
0:45:31 > 0:45:37So she went in the kitchen, out she came with this chap, who was in his shirt sleeves.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41He just said, "What do you want?"
0:45:41 > 0:45:45I just pulled my pistol out and shot him through the stomach, right through the middle.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50So I rushed out,
0:45:50 > 0:45:51the chain kept falling off my bike.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56I was an absolute fool to take a risk like that.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59After that, there was a big fuss.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04Germans turned up the following day with dogs, apparently. Big inquiry.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09I was told to go into hiding, in case somebody'd recognised me,
0:46:09 > 0:46:13because if I'd been arrested, they were afraid that I'd talk
0:46:13 > 0:46:15and give other people's names away.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21Anyway, I spent three weeks in a little wood, in a chicken house.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Cold, not knowing what was happening.
0:46:24 > 0:46:30There with my Luger, with a couple of rounds left, waiting to take on a German patrol.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38The funny thing was, I don't know whether it was because of our age,
0:46:38 > 0:46:43but I thought that if I had a Luger and six rounds you could take on the German army.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Didn't realise that it was a mere nothing.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Although he smiles about it, Stephen was troubled by the killing,
0:46:54 > 0:46:58particularly as the German officer hadn't been able to defend himself.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03I didn't like shooting a man like that,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06point blank.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09I don't think it was cricket, if you know what I mean.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13I felt bad about it.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16But that's it, I was asked to do it, I went and did it.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23Less than a month after he emerged from hiding, the Allies invaded Europe.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36As troops and equipment landed on the beaches of Normandy,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40resistance groups across France prepared to join in the fight.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45Meanwhile, in the skies above Normandy,
0:47:45 > 0:47:50Flight Lieutenant Jerry Eaton was in the cockpit of his Typhoon, flying into battle.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52The sky was full of aeroplanes.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57You just couldn't... You had to keep your eyes open in case of collisions.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01There's no doubt we had total air superiority at that time.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Operating in what was know as "the cab rank system",
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Jerry's squadron flew in support of the ground troops.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12And when pockets of German resistance were encountered,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16the Typhoons were called in to clear the way. The effects were devastating.
0:48:16 > 0:48:22But, unlike Stephen Grady, Jerry was able to distance himself from the results of his actions.
0:48:23 > 0:48:28I've always described fighting from the air, from our point of view, as being a rather clean war.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33With the army, whether you were just an infantryman or a tank man,
0:48:33 > 0:48:37you saw the result of your attacks - you saw bodies, you saw blood
0:48:37 > 0:48:40and all that sort of thing - but we never did.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45We hit the target, there may have been dozens killed, but you never saw them,
0:48:45 > 0:48:52so, on the whole, compared to being a soldier on the ground, the war was much cleaner for us.
0:48:54 > 0:48:59As the Allies fought their way through Normandy, Stephen Grady's resistance group continued with
0:48:59 > 0:49:07their sabotage operations behind enemy lines, but they were desperate to take up arms against the Germans.
0:49:07 > 0:49:13By 27th August, 1944, they could wait no longer and went in search of German stragglers.
0:49:15 > 0:49:22They were helped by an American airman called Conrad Kersch, seen here on the right, with Stephen.
0:49:22 > 0:49:28He'd been sheltered by the group since he bailed out of his Flying Fortress a few months earlier.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32After capturing a handful of German prisoners, Stephen, Kersch
0:49:32 > 0:49:36and the others took up position on a bridge just outside of Nieppe.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41And then, during the night, on the second night,
0:49:41 > 0:49:46suddenly I was with Kersch and another chap and we heard
0:49:46 > 0:49:49"clomp, clomp, clomp" on the wooden bridge - Germans coming.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53We didn't know how many there were, but Kersch spoke fluent German,
0:49:53 > 0:49:58he said, "You're surrounded, drop your arms, give yourselves up."
0:49:58 > 0:50:00And they did. Couldn't believe it.
0:50:00 > 0:50:0375 Germans, we took, and young ones at that.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06So, we had a hell of a lot of arms.
0:50:06 > 0:50:0875 prisoners in one go.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11When they saw there was about five or six of us, they went bloody mad.
0:50:14 > 0:50:19By early September, the group had captured 130 German prisoners.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Their weapons confiscated, they were lined up in a
0:50:22 > 0:50:26children's playground in Nieppe, where this photograph was taken.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32But this early success did come at a price.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35We started off the fighting.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39There was about 20 of us, say, when we started off.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Of course, we started taking all these German prisoners,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45rifles everywhere, people come, "Give me a rifle, I'll join you."
0:50:45 > 0:50:49In no time at all, we'd grown up to 60.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52But there was no military structure, no nothing, everybody shot wherever.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55There was no discipline, it was a rabble.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00We did some damage, but we were really a rabble.
0:51:00 > 0:51:07Within hours, this expanded group was attacked by a unit of over 200 SS troops
0:51:07 > 0:51:11and 40 resistance fighters and civilian volunteers were killed.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Stephen was lucky to survive.
0:51:23 > 0:51:31By 6 September, the first British soldiers had arrived in Nieppe and the Germans were soon driven back.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34In this photograph, taken on the day the British arrived,
0:51:34 > 0:51:37members of the Resistance pose with their liberators.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43And at the back, wearing a hat, is Stephen's father, finally
0:51:43 > 0:51:47able to come out of hiding, after four years of German occupation.
0:51:52 > 0:51:58Across the border, the Allies had swept into Brussels and crowds lined the streets to welcome them.
0:52:01 > 0:52:07As they celebrated, SOE agent Elaine Madden asked for her uniform to be sent from London.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11No longer working undercover, she could, at last, wear her wings with pride.
0:52:13 > 0:52:20The people who saw me in uniform with my wings on, they kind of looked at me and said, "Are you English?"
0:52:20 > 0:52:22I said, "Yes."
0:52:22 > 0:52:25"You're a parachutist?" I said, "Yes."
0:52:27 > 0:52:28But I was the only,
0:52:28 > 0:52:33you know, British girl, girl in uniform,
0:52:33 > 0:52:38apart from the German girls, that they'd seen, and it was an uproar.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43I couldn't even walk, they would carry me on their shoulders and kind of show off say,
0:52:43 > 0:52:45"Regardez, la parachutiste!"
0:52:45 > 0:52:47Look at the parachutist!
0:52:50 > 0:52:54These are some of the most happy, the happiest days in my life,
0:52:54 > 0:53:00because everybody seemed to be so proud of me and to kiss me and to love me and there was such
0:53:00 > 0:53:06a lot of hugging and drinking and eating and invitations of people that I'd never seen in my life.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08It was a fabulous feeling.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22BUGLER PLAYS "THE LAST POST"
0:53:22 > 0:53:26It is due to the courage and sacrifice of those who fought
0:53:26 > 0:53:33in the Second World War that The Last Post has been played at the Menin Gate every night since 1945.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Throughout the Flanders countryside,
0:53:35 > 0:53:41the cemeteries built and maintained by the Imperial, now Commonwealth, War Graves Commission,
0:53:41 > 0:53:46remain as magnificent today as they did when they were first created.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Each year, 250,000 visitors make the journey
0:53:49 > 0:53:54to the war graves and memorials, whether in search of the resting place of lost relatives
0:53:54 > 0:54:00or simply to pay their respects to the unknown soldiers who gave their lives for their country.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05And for the children of the Memorial School, there is an added poignancy.
0:54:05 > 0:54:11Not only are these the cemeteries where their fathers toiled 80 years ago,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14they are also the places where some of those who fought alongside them
0:54:14 > 0:54:18during the Second World War are buried.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23After the war, the British Memorial School never reopened.
0:54:23 > 0:54:30But the spirit of patriotism it instilled in its former pupils had a lasting legacy.
0:54:30 > 0:54:36Ex-school captain Jerry Eaton served in the Royal Air Force for 35 years.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his services during the war,
0:54:39 > 0:54:45he retired in 1972, having risen to the rank of Wing Commander.
0:54:45 > 0:54:52For the son of a gardener, for whom English was once a second language, it was a remarkable achievement.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59I think during the whole of the period I was on operational flying
0:54:59 > 0:55:06we felt we were part of a big effort and we felt very much alive, we felt we were doing something good,
0:55:06 > 0:55:10there was never any thought of death or the possibility of it.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15We were just happy, in a way, to be fighting a good cause
0:55:15 > 0:55:19and doing as much damage to the other side as we could.
0:55:21 > 0:55:27Following in his father's footsteps, Stephen Grady worked for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
0:55:27 > 0:55:32for almost 40 years, eventually becoming one of its leading figures,
0:55:32 > 0:55:37responsible for cemeteries in ten countries across the whole of the Mediterranean region.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42But, although he had a long and successful career,
0:55:42 > 0:55:48the four years he spent as part of the French resistance group remain amongst his most vivid memories.
0:55:51 > 0:55:58The excitement that I had in those days at my age was something that you can't forget, really.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00The danger and the excitement.
0:56:00 > 0:56:06Those four years of occupation, seemed to be half my life, really.
0:56:06 > 0:56:13The intensity of the feeling at the time takes precedence over the humdrum of the succeeding years.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19If you're 16 or 17 and you're given rifles and plastic explosive
0:56:19 > 0:56:25and things like that, it is an adventure, would be to any boy of that age, I would think.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30Among the many accolades he received for his wartime services,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34Stephen was awarded the Croix de Guerre, was mentioned in dispatches
0:56:34 > 0:56:39and was given a personal message of thanks from US President Eisenhower.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51After leaving the SOE, ex-school prefect Elaine Madden
0:56:51 > 0:56:55was sent into Germany to help liberate the concentration camps.
0:56:55 > 0:57:00Like Stephen Grady, she was also awarded the Croix de Guerre
0:57:00 > 0:57:04and was mentioned in dispatches in recognition of her wartime achievements.
0:57:05 > 0:57:11During the war, she was one of only two women to be parachuted into Belgium.
0:57:11 > 0:57:18Of the 183 agents sent into the field by T-Section, a third were killed carrying out their duties.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22But Elaine took it all in her stride.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26The courage, confidence and spirit of adventure that she'd gained
0:57:26 > 0:57:33during her time at the British Memorial School, enabling her, in her own way, to help win the war.
0:57:36 > 0:57:42I felt proud of having been in the war, having helped out, and I wasn't frightened.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47Maybe that's why I didn't get arrested or didn't get stopped,
0:57:47 > 0:57:52I didn't maybe didn't look frightened enough for the Germans to suspect me.
0:57:54 > 0:57:59If I am what I am, I owe it to the British Memorial school.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:43 > 0:58:46E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk