0:00:04 > 0:00:07Hello from the Imperial War Museum at Duxford in Cambridgeshire.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Throughout Remembrance Week, we've been at this former RAF base,
0:00:11 > 0:00:13celebrating courage, honouring heroes
0:00:13 > 0:00:17and remembering those who did and didn't return home.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Here are the highlights from a week of The People Remember.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25We'll have some special moments from our celebrity guests,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29as they tell us the role their families played during the war.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32That means a huge amount to my family. Thank you.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34Well, you've succeeded in getting
0:00:34 > 0:00:38a huge lump in my throat. LAUGHTER
0:00:38 > 0:00:40We'll hear from veterans whose war efforts
0:00:40 > 0:00:43changed the course of history.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46I hope I shall feel all right,
0:00:46 > 0:00:47and I've got to climb up on there.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49I think I can manage that.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53And on Remembrance Sunday,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56we honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57It's important... Yeah.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01..that the sacrifice is remembered of all the fallen.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Welcome to this very special edition of The People Remember.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22All week, we've been based here at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford -
0:01:22 > 0:01:26home to thousands of exhibits from all periods of warfare.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29We've been hearing incredible stories of bravery
0:01:29 > 0:01:33and courage from veterans, civilians and family members.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37So let's look back at some of the most memorable moments.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41We start with the story of one of the few remaining Spitfire girls.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44PLANE RUMBLES
0:01:46 > 0:01:49The freedom of being up there in the air, you know?
0:01:51 > 0:01:54The wide open spaces and seeing the ground from the air.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58You never took it for granted.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00You were thrilled at every time.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07During the war, Joy Lofthouse was one of just 168 female pilots
0:02:07 > 0:02:11who helped to keep our overstretched fighter squadrons going
0:02:11 > 0:02:13by ferrying planes across the country.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Other women, certainly, were envious of our job,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23because all women were doing something during the war,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and there we were, flying aeroplanes,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28and they paid us for it, too.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33We were doing, I should think, just about the most exciting job
0:02:33 > 0:02:37that there was to be done by women in the war.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43I flew a Barracuda, two Mustangs, an Oxford...
0:02:43 > 0:02:45This book tells the story of Joy's remarkable time
0:02:45 > 0:02:49as a pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52That was quite a good month.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Joy flew 18 different types of aircraft on hundreds of missions.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01She's now 92 but her flying started when she was just 18.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08I saw a news item to say that ATA had run out of qualified pilots,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and were training people with no experience at all,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and I thought that sounded better than working in a bank.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16I'd never even been in an aeroplane,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and I didn't even drive a car,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21so I learned to fly before I could drive.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23As war raged across Europe,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27the pressure to have fighter planes ready at the airfields grew rapidly,
0:03:27 > 0:03:29and pilots were in great demand.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35The delivery of new aircraft from factories to operational centres
0:03:35 > 0:03:37is the responsibility of a vast organisation known as
0:03:37 > 0:03:39the Air Transport Auxiliary,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42with men of 14 different nationalities in its ranks,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46and also helping in this important work are several women.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49You never knew from one day to the next where you were going.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52They would hand out the little bits of paper we called chitties,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54and then that was the exciting bit.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57"Where are you going? What are you flying?" You know?
0:03:57 > 0:03:59And they knew, of course,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03that we were all trying to fly as many types as possible.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10There was one plane that was at the very top of any ATA girl's list.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Of course, I remember the first day I ever flew a Spitfire,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20because that was the culmination of our training,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25and of course, it was quite the fastest thing you'd ever flown,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28but my big worry, the first time I flew it,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30was whether I'd lose the airfield.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33You're so busy looking at the cockpit,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35and then you shut the hood,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and you're miles away by then,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40because she's going so fast.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Joy also has a fondness for a more humble aeroplane -
0:04:43 > 0:04:47one that started the flying careers of so many pilots.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51One of the first aircraft I ferried was a Tiger Moth,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54because we were barely through our training,
0:04:54 > 0:04:59and they suddenly had a whole gaggle of Tiger Moths to fly down to Wales.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01There, there was a little bit of banter, of course.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05"See you there, Joy, if you get there," sort of business.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09The ATA pilots often flew alone and with no navigation aids.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14The dangers were high. 173 aircrew died.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I suppose we lost perhaps a dozen women.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Some of the accidents were weather.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Some were aircraft...
0:05:24 > 0:05:26malfunction, you know?
0:05:26 > 0:05:28But none of my close friends were killed, no.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Joy's flat in Gloucestershire is a treasure trove of memorabilia
0:05:35 > 0:05:36from her flying days -
0:05:36 > 0:05:39the centrepiece being her uniform,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41still in pristine condition.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45And the first time you wore it, of course, you were very proud.
0:05:45 > 0:05:46We had two hats.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49This is the...seems to be the only one that survived.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51I don't know whether my head's got bigger,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53but it will just about go on for me.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58After the war, the ATA was disbanded,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00and for most of these remarkable women,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02life was never quite the same again.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07I missed flying dreadfully when we first stopped.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12I think I last flew in September 1945,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and I thought to myself,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17"What am I going to do with the rest of my life?
0:06:17 > 0:06:19"I'm never going to do anything as exciting as this again,"
0:06:19 > 0:06:21and I was probably right.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26For Joy, the years she spent as part of that unique service,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30delivering planes to the front-line, will never leave her.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31It was wonderful.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35There you were, up in the sky, and no-one could talk to you.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Nobody could say, "Come back, you're going the wrong way."
0:06:40 > 0:06:43I mean, it was such a wonderful job to be doing.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45You couldn't really better it, could you?
0:06:47 > 0:06:48And later in the programme,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52we'll catch up with Joy, as she takes to the skies once again.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59Across the week, we've shared memories with some familiar faces,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02who came to tell us about their loved ones.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05We had a special surprise for one of our guests -
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Si King from the Hairy Bikers.
0:07:09 > 0:07:10Now, your father... Yeah.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14He died when you were, what, just eight years old? Yes.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17But what he did during World War II has really had quite an influence
0:07:17 > 0:07:18on you, on how you've turned out?
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Oddly, it has. SOPHIE LAUGHS
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Yes, Dad was on the Russian convoys, among...
0:07:23 > 0:07:26among other sorties of war at sea,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30but he was incredibly well travelled, obviously,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and he used to bring really odd ingredients
0:07:33 > 0:07:35back from whichever port he was in,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37and write them down about how he'd eaten them,
0:07:37 > 0:07:38and how he'd, you know...
0:07:38 > 0:07:41And he'd bring them home to Mam and bear in mind, Mam was...
0:07:41 > 0:07:42Mam was a fantastic cook,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46but she was a cook that facilitated miners' shifts.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50You know? In a pit village, on the top of a County Durham hill.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52So he'd bring stuff like star anise, and...
0:07:52 > 0:07:55And I mean, that's in the late, you know, that's in the '40s. Nuts.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57So, by the time I popped out, cos I was quite...
0:07:57 > 0:07:59I was the youngest of three,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01we had this amazing cuisine,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and all our neighbours kind of complaining that
0:08:04 > 0:08:06what was coming out of my mam's kitchen was...
0:08:06 > 0:08:07It stunk.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10So, there was all this kind of...
0:08:10 > 0:08:12So, yeah, no, Dad had an enormous influence.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15And he was a biker of sorts, too, wasn't he? Well, he was, yeah,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17because he was injured, sadly,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20during the Russian convoys, and he was put on dispatch to
0:08:20 > 0:08:24run between these land-based areas for the Royal Navy.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28So, motor cyclist - loved food, by default.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32So that's the legacy that he's left me. I'm pretty fond of him.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34I didn't know him that well, but, you know, every now and then,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37I'll go, "Thanks very much, Dad. You did us well, there."
0:08:37 > 0:08:41Si, your dad was part of the Russian convoys, the Arctic convoys.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45That was an incredibly gruelling and dangerous operation to be part of.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47It was beyond comprehension.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50You were under extreme pressure, because you had the wolfpacks,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53the German wolfpacks, and submarines that you couldn't see... Yeah.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57..so there was just this atmosphere of anxiety,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59constantly, plus the cold.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Plus, not particularly that warm clothing.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07And, you know, that takes a pretty special type of person, I think.
0:09:07 > 0:09:08And it was, you know...
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to honour...
0:09:11 > 0:09:14to honour all of those men, really, because I think about them a lot.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17We'll be hearing plenty more about your father later on,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20but first let's hear more about those Arctic convoys.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23The convoys were a vital lifeline for our allies in Russia,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26but the seamen involved had to contend with
0:09:26 > 0:09:29weather conditions beyond our imagination,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and the ever-present risk of attack.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Facing powerful waves and freezing temperatures, the Arctic convoys to
0:09:38 > 0:09:43Russia were described by Churchill as "the worst journey in the world".
0:09:46 > 0:09:49The men who braved the deadly crossing experienced
0:09:49 > 0:09:52some of the war's most horrific conditions.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57This treacherous Arctic route claimed the lives of 3,000 men.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00It was cold, hard and frightening,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03but it had to be done, and we did it,
0:10:03 > 0:10:07and I still pray, each day, for those who didn't make it.
0:10:09 > 0:10:1393-year-old Austin Byrne was one of thousands of sailors who
0:10:13 > 0:10:18endured the icy seas to take vital war supplies to Russia.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22He was just 19 when he joined the Royal Navy to serve as a gunner,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26protecting the merchant ship the SS Induna.
0:10:26 > 0:10:27You were really chuffed, you know?
0:10:27 > 0:10:30"I'm going to sea. I'm going to see the world." You know?
0:10:30 > 0:10:33They were talking about going down to Africa to the sunshine,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36and then we found we were going to the Arctic to the cold.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The weather was, oh, out of this world, horrendous.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44You did four hours on watch, four hours off watch,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46and in that four hours off watch,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49you had to eat and sleep.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53The ice was about four foot six thick.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56But those harsh conditions were the least of their worries.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Every convoy was in danger of ambush by German planes
0:11:00 > 0:11:02and packs of U-boats.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05They were sinking merchant ships, like, you know,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08knocking them off like toffees, sort of style.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10You always worried.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Just a few days into Austin's journey to Russia,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17his convoy was struck by a ferocious storm.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21That storm was the worst storm I was in in the five years at sea.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26The fierce weather split up the convoy, making Austin's ship
0:11:26 > 0:11:29an easier target for German planes and U-boats.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32After four days, his ship was hit by a torpedo.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34TORPEDO EXPLODES
0:11:34 > 0:11:36She shudders,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and you know she's been hit,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and the stern goes on fire,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45so I got out of the gun pit and went down onto the deck,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and the captain said, "Abandon ship."
0:11:48 > 0:11:51He said, "Go to your lifeboat station now, boy,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53"and good luck to you."
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Many of the crew were killed in the strike.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Austin and a few others made it to a lifeboat.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02The sea was all burning, where the tanks were busting,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04and then all of a sudden, we were rowing,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06and bang, another torpedo hit her,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09and she just went...
0:12:10 > 0:12:11..boom.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Then the sea was calm,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and we all said, "Look, see if anybody comes up."
0:12:18 > 0:12:22But nobody came up, and then it was a matter of - "Row."
0:12:22 > 0:12:25We were in the lifeboat four days, three nights,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27and you daren't go to sleep.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32You dozed, and if he thought I was going off,
0:12:32 > 0:12:33"Waken up, Titch."
0:12:33 > 0:12:35And if I thought he was going off, I used to say,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37"Don't go to sleep, Robbie."
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Cos if you'd have gone to sleep, the cold would have got you.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43They had limited food and water,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47and Austin had to resort to desperate measures to stay alive.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49So I peed in a little cup.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52It tasted bloody horrible.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55It looked like whisky, but it didn't taste like whisky.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58After four days adrift in the Arctic waters,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01a ship appeared between the ice.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Oh, that was the thrill of a lifetime,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and it came alongside, and they pointed,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07"Hmm, you. Hmm, hmm..."
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I was stood there, waving, you know, and shouting.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Of the 66 men on the SS Induna,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15just 20 survived.
0:13:15 > 0:13:1816 of them lost limbs to frostbite.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Austin was one of the lucky ones.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25I made it through because I had very, very good clothing on,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28and I kept my feet moving and everything moving.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30It was good luck and prayers,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32and determination to live.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Every year, on the anniversary of the sinking of his ship,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Austin heads out to his garden,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41to remember those who never made it to shore.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Eternal rest, given unto their souls, oh, Lord,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49and let perpetual light shine upon them.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51It brings back all the men that I knew,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55and but for some wonderful sailors, I'd be dead,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and it's the least you can do is pray for them
0:13:57 > 0:13:59and remember them each day.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Freedom is an expensive thing.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Si, "good luck, prayers and a determination to live".
0:14:22 > 0:14:24That's what he said you needed. I mean,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26incredible to think your father went through something like that.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30It's made me quite emotional, that clip.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33No, I'm very proud of my dad. Very proud of him.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I'm very proud of what he did and all the men.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38They were an incredible breed.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42And one of the real issues there was the cold was
0:14:42 > 0:14:44almost as big a danger, if not a bigger danger... Yeah.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46..than attack from the enemy.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49I think that that was an overwhelming thing that Dad
0:14:49 > 0:14:52used to talk about, was the cold.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56You know, chipping frozen saltwater off the bulwark of the ship,
0:14:56 > 0:14:57because if you didn't,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00it would become too top-heavy and topple over.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03I can't imagine that cold. No.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06We have a bit of a surprise for you, actually.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10In 2012, the Arctic Star was introduced -
0:15:10 > 0:15:13a medal for those who had taken part in the Arctic convoys.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16The first medals were awarded in 2013,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21and Air Commodore Chris Bray is here, and he will explain why.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Very nice to meet you, sir. Nice to meet you, Si.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Well, Si, erm...
0:15:30 > 0:15:33I'm here on behalf of the Ministry of Defence,
0:15:33 > 0:15:38and the nation, to present you with the Arctic Star,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41for your father's service on the Arctic convoys.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Thank you very, very much, indeed.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48That means a huge amount to my family. Thank you.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Well, you've succeeded in getting a huge lump in my throat.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54I told you...
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Wow. Thank you very, very much, indeed. My pleasure.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59That is an absolute... It was a long campaign, wasn't it?
0:15:59 > 0:16:01The Battle of the Barents Sea was
0:16:01 > 0:16:04a particular part of the Arctic convoy war,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06if you like, the mini war,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10and your father, Graham, was serving on HMS Sheffield...
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Yes, he was, yes. ..during that battle,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and it was a very important battle,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19because Russia was fighting the Germans at Stalingrad,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and it was very important that the particular convoy got through...
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Yes. ..and that was the convoy that your father was on.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Sadly, your father's not... No.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Hasn't survived to be awarded the medal,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31but I'm very grateful that, you know,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34we can get you here today to award you the medal.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Only a few people now have that medal.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Well, I'm incredibly touched, and I know
0:16:40 > 0:16:44my brother, my sister, and...
0:16:44 > 0:16:45all of my family will be...
0:16:45 > 0:16:49I can't. I'm lost for words, really. I'm incredibly touched.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Thank you so much, and this is a legacy I'll leave my sons...
0:16:52 > 0:16:53Absolutely.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55..as my father did for me. Thank you.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01There have been so many moments during the week which remind us all
0:17:01 > 0:17:05of the courage and bravery of men and women on the battlefield,
0:17:05 > 0:17:06and on the home front.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10We still have many more memories to share with you.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Coming up - we hear Churchill's speech,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15which inspired so many veterans.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20This was their finest hour.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22PLANE RUMBLES
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Former Spitfire girl Joy Lofthouse takes to the skies...
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I don't think I'm going to do anything fancy.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31SHE LAUGHS
0:17:32 > 0:17:35..and a performance from The Three Belles.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50During the 13-year conflict in Afghanistan,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54the insurgents' weapon of choice was the IED -
0:17:54 > 0:17:56the improvised explosive device.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59This Husky vehicle was hit by one, and as you can see,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03was badly damaged, but thankfully, no-one in it was injured.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05But of course, many, many were,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and for wounded servicemen and women,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10their injuries can be life-changing.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12Here's Rick Clement's story.
0:18:13 > 0:18:14Six years ago,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Rick Clement was a newly-promoted infantry sergeant
0:18:17 > 0:18:20in the Duke of Lancaster Regiment.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22I really felt that I'd achieved something,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24to reach the senior rank,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and to have the responsibility of people's lives
0:18:27 > 0:18:29when you were deploying operations,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32is as big as a, kind of, privilege that you can be given.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35JET ROARS
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Rick's first test of this responsibility was in Afghanistan,
0:18:39 > 0:18:40and during his training,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43the dangers ahead weighed on his mind.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46There was a lot concentrated on amputations
0:18:46 > 0:18:49and severe wounds, and how to treat them,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51so straight away, through that,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54you kind of got a very good idea that the chances are,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57you might be doing that for real.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59I suppose, you can't think that it'll happen to you,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02or you wouldn't want to go anywhere.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07In April 2010, Rick's platoon was sent to southern Afghanistan.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11Seven weeks in, he was leading his team on a routine patrol.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Always conscious of hidden Taliban bombs,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17he had to decide their best route.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21We only needed to go about 10 to 15 metres along this path,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23and it was still pretty close to our base,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26so I felt it would be all right to go that way, really,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30and that was... It was my decision on the day.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The two men ahead had checked the path for bombs,
0:19:33 > 0:19:34but Rick put one foot wrong,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and triggered a hidden explosive device.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40BOMB EXPLODES
0:19:40 > 0:19:41The only way I can describe it,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46how it was to me at the time, was it was like a "puff",
0:19:46 > 0:19:47and obviously, it wasn't -
0:19:47 > 0:19:49it was a massive explosion -
0:19:49 > 0:19:52but that's how it kind of sounded to me,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54and then everything went just dark.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Rick's injuries were life-threatening,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and he was flown to the UK for treatment.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03He'd lost both his legs and was in a coma.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05After three weeks, he woke up
0:20:05 > 0:20:08to face the full extent of his injuries.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11He was told he might be wheelchair-bound for life.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16I just felt, like, how was I going to deal with it all? How...
0:20:16 > 0:20:20You know, was the rest of my life going to be...
0:20:20 > 0:20:21erm, rubbish,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25where I've got to be looked after by somebody 24 hours a day?
0:20:27 > 0:20:29To me, that isn't much of a life.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31You know, erm...
0:20:31 > 0:20:32It was just...
0:20:34 > 0:20:37..trying to, trying to...
0:20:38 > 0:20:43..give yourself a reason, I guess, to carry on, I suppose,
0:20:43 > 0:20:44and want to carry on.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48The darkest time of my life by a long, long stretch.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52While Rick was at his lowest ebb,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55one of his best friends was killed in Afghanistan.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58This made him rethink his own situation.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01I was just devastated. It broke my heart.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03And it made me realise that I needed to appreciate
0:21:03 > 0:21:07the fact that I am still there with my family.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10The painful months of rehabilitation
0:21:10 > 0:21:13started to take their toll on Rick's marriage.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Over the next year, we grew further and further apart
0:21:15 > 0:21:17and it just became clear, really,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20that we weren't right for each other. Erm...
0:21:20 > 0:21:22And we had to kind of make the decision
0:21:22 > 0:21:24where we were going to go our separate ways.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Rick had to adjust to life on his own - and in a wheelchair.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Even simple tasks, like laundry, were a struggle.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Back in the early days, I was dropping things quite a lot,
0:21:40 > 0:21:41just because of my grip, really.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44And I wasn't able to reach the floor.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47And it's very frustrating when you need to get someone to pick them up.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50One of the things that I did start to use,
0:21:50 > 0:21:52litter pickers use on the streets
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and it's just, obviously, got the grabber at the end.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Now, I don't really need it for picking things up off the floor.
0:21:58 > 0:21:59You can see, even with a washing bag,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02I'm pretty much reaching down to the floor now
0:22:02 > 0:22:05and the strength in this arm allows me to do that.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08And it's not really much more of a difficult task
0:22:08 > 0:22:11than for anybody else now.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Domestic god!
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Despite adapting incredibly well,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Rick would love to walk again.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28Today, he's at a rehabilitation centre in Preston
0:22:28 > 0:22:32to practise on a robotic leg, which could change his life.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37To walk again is an immense thing, if it can happen.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Doing things like looking someone in the eye
0:22:39 > 0:22:41and stood at a bar or whatever it might be,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44would be something, you know, really life-changing.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49OK? Yeah. Do you want to have a walk?
0:22:58 > 0:23:01It's taken Rick over six months of gruelling training
0:23:01 > 0:23:03to get to this level of walking.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07As you can see, I'm starting to sweat quite a bit.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Erm, it is hard work but, erm...
0:23:10 > 0:23:12it feels pretty good, to be honest.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Now to the extraordinary story of a piece of music
0:23:22 > 0:23:26which was composed on a scrap of paper in the trenches of World War I.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Historian Richard Van Emden has been investigating.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Soldiers in the trenches
0:23:36 > 0:23:39had to cope with death, disease and destruction
0:23:39 > 0:23:41almost every single day.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46But there were moments of respite amid the carnage
0:23:46 > 0:23:50and men sought out any comfort to distract them from the battlefield.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54At the front-line, many soldiers craved a reminder from home.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Such a simple thing as music gave men the escape they needed
0:23:58 > 0:24:00from the horrors of war.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04I've come to the museum at the Royal Academy of Music,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07to discover more about the importance of music
0:24:07 > 0:24:10for soldiers in World War I.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Joanna Tapp is the exhibition curator.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17So what role did music play at the front-line?
0:24:17 > 0:24:19It served all sorts of purposes,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21from instilling pride and patriotism
0:24:21 > 0:24:24with sort of military bands and religious music,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27to the more nostalgic reminders of home
0:24:27 > 0:24:30and the sorts of music that soldiers would want to listen to
0:24:30 > 0:24:31when they got some downtime
0:24:31 > 0:24:34and were sitting around with their friends making music,
0:24:34 > 0:24:35listening to records.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39So we have here a gramophone.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Did they have these in the trenches? They did, indeed.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43And it's called a trench gramophone because,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45for the first time, during the First World War,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48gramophones were made to be entirely portable
0:24:48 > 0:24:50and you could pick it up and carry it from camp to camp
0:24:50 > 0:24:53or from dugout to dugout.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56I mean, it's a fantastic contraption and really gives that feeling of,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58if you had that playing in a dugout, of a little bit of home.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01That's right. That's one of the things that music can do.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02It can transport you to somewhere else.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07But one man in the trenches wasn't just listening to music,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09he was scoring it.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Composer Harry Farrar
0:25:11 > 0:25:14served in the Royal Field Artillery in northern France.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17He survived the war and died aged 70.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19After his death,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23Harry's family discovered a diary he'd written on the front-line.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29I'm meeting Harry's son John and grandson Nick to hear Harry's story.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31So, John, did your father see much action?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Well, he must have done.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Because on 24 April he was at Villers-Bretonneux
0:25:37 > 0:25:41and he's written, "Jerry came over. Fiercely exciting day.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44"Saw Jerry advancing and fired point-blank.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47"Machine-gun bullets flying all around us."
0:25:47 > 0:25:50I think it was probably quite a pivotal point in the war,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54because they pushed the Germans back. You're spot on.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58Your father was part of a very, very significant battle.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02The Germans were trying to push to take the strategic town of Amiens
0:26:02 > 0:26:03and they were held up there
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and that was the critical point of this battle. OK.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10So during the fighting, did he lose any of his comrades?
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Yes, there's an entry in here where he actually says
0:26:12 > 0:26:15he loses three from one shell.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19"Corporal Watts, Sanderson, Lancaster killed with one shell.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21"Everyone felt pretty rotten."
0:26:21 > 0:26:23"Everyone felt pretty rotten." It's so understated, isn't it?
0:26:23 > 0:26:25I know. Yes, it is.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27And I think that was the issue then,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30because you were losing so many friends. There was death all around.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33You couldn't dwell on it. No, no. No, you couldn't.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37The diary didn't just reveal the horrors that Harry went through.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Hidden within it,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42the Farrars came across a special piece of paper.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45In the diary, we found this little piece of music,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47which he's written while he was out in France.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49So one could imagine him trying to take his mind off
0:26:49 > 0:26:51what he's seen, what he's done.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52I would imagine so.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54He finds a bit of sheet music and starts composing.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Well, there's one entry here where he says he
0:26:56 > 0:26:58"found a piano, a grand,
0:26:58 > 0:27:00"and enjoyed myself up to the mark," he says.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04So it could very well have been he played whatever he liked to play
0:27:04 > 0:27:06and may have written this little piece of music at the same time.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Well, he must've had an incredible mind-set
0:27:08 > 0:27:11to be able to block out all those horrors
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and to concentrate on the better things in life.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Quite extraordinary, really. But he was a very talented musician.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20No doubt about that.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22And went on to make a good living out of it.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28After the war, Harry had a successful career at De Wolfe music,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33composing over 700 pieces for film and television, including this one.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
0:27:35 > 0:27:39But the piece of music Harry wrote almost 100 years ago
0:27:39 > 0:27:41is being given a new lease of life.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44And we've arranged a surprise for the Farrar family.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47The score that your father wrote,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49that we found in the rear of his diary,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52has been put to an orchestral arrangement by De Wolfe
0:27:52 > 0:27:56and you're going to hear it right now for the first time.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Oh, this is going to be amazing.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00I'm sure we're going to enjoy it very, very much
0:28:00 > 0:28:01and remember it a long, long time.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07MELANCHOLIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Oh, that was awesome. Very, very emotional.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Ah, thank you so much. Thank you very, very much.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55You can see what effect that has had on me.
0:28:55 > 0:28:56It's quite incredible.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00It emphasises the power of music and what it can do to people.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03And also, how fortunate we were that he survived.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Obviously, so many of his colleagues did fall
0:29:06 > 0:29:09and their legacies will, hopefully,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11live on with this piece of music, as well.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20In the summer of 1940,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23with the imminent threat of attack from Germany,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Prime Minister Winston Churchill was determined
0:29:26 > 0:29:27we wouldn't be defeated.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29He rallied the nation
0:29:29 > 0:29:33with one of the most powerful weapons in his armoury - words.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36On 18th June, Churchill delivered a speech
0:29:36 > 0:29:40to galvanise the nation for the brutal battle ahead,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44read today by veterans who took part in the war effort...
0:29:57 > 0:30:00The Battle of Britain is about to begin.
0:30:02 > 0:30:03Upon this battle
0:30:03 > 0:30:08depends the survival of Christian civilisation.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Upon it depends our own British life,
0:30:12 > 0:30:17the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21The whole fury and might of the enemy
0:30:21 > 0:30:24must very soon be turned on us.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island
0:30:28 > 0:30:29or lose the war.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free...
0:30:38 > 0:30:45And the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49But if we fail,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52the whole world, including the United States,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55including all that we have known and cared for...
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Will sink into the abyss of a new dark age...
0:30:58 > 0:31:03Made more sinister and perhaps more protracted
0:31:03 > 0:31:06by the lights of perverted science.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Let us, therefore, brace ourselves that,
0:31:10 > 0:31:16if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for 1,000 years...
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Men will still say...
0:31:19 > 0:31:22"This was their finest hour."
0:31:25 > 0:31:28On 10th July, the Battle of Britain started.
0:31:29 > 0:31:34Wave after wave of German bombers and fighter aircraft
0:31:34 > 0:31:36launched attacks on Britain's air defences.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42The RAF fighter pilots were outnumbered,
0:31:42 > 0:31:43but they held firm.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48After nearly four months of battle raging in the skies,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51the Luftwaffe retreated,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54wrecking Hitler's plans to invade Britain.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56Churchill was deeply moved
0:31:56 > 0:31:59by the bravery and sacrifice of the Air Force.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03He delivered a speech at the height of the battle,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07praising and encouraging the pilots in the epic struggle,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11which turned the course of the war and of history.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire
0:32:17 > 0:32:19and, indeed, throughout the world...
0:32:19 > 0:32:21Except in the abodes of the guilty...
0:32:21 > 0:32:26Goes out to the British airmen, who, undaunted by odds...
0:32:26 > 0:32:30Unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger...
0:32:30 > 0:32:35Are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and devotion.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Never, in the field of human conflict,
0:32:48 > 0:32:50was so much owed by so many to so few.
0:32:53 > 0:32:54And during the Battle of Britain,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58Duxford's operations room would have been a hive of activity.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00Andy is there now.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06During the summer of 1940,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Duxford was home to five RAF squadrons.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11As German fighters crossed from Europe,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14our boys would scramble into their planes to meet them.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19And the battles that ensued would be directed from places like this.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21One of the ladies who worked in an operations room
0:33:21 > 0:33:23during the Battle of Britain
0:33:23 > 0:33:25is Sheree Lygo-Hackett.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Sheree, thank you very much for joining us.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Now, when was the last time you were in an operations room?
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Well, it'll be about early 1943, it would be.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36So, 72 years? Yes.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39And what was your job? Well, I was a plotter. OK.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Can you show me what you used to do?
0:33:41 > 0:33:44Well, they would send the number of the raids through,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46which you've got all set up here.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49You had the number of the raid
0:33:49 > 0:33:52and you'd have the height
0:33:52 > 0:33:54and the number of aircraft.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56You would put a plot, either...
0:33:56 > 0:33:59According to the clock. The ops room clock.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01You changed them every five minutes.
0:34:01 > 0:34:08By doing that, the controller would be able to get the aircraft
0:34:08 > 0:34:14up in the sector where we were to intercept the enemy.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16So you were monitoring where all the aircraft were?
0:34:16 > 0:34:19You had to keep your wits about you,
0:34:19 > 0:34:20because you would have this on
0:34:20 > 0:34:23and you had to listen to the plots coming through.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26And the sooner that you got them on the board,
0:34:26 > 0:34:32the sooner the controller could act and get the kites airborne.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35And what was it like when, you know, bombers were flying overhead?
0:34:35 > 0:34:40In those days, you didn't allow yourself to be frightened.
0:34:40 > 0:34:41You got on with it.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Generally, I think people didn't know
0:34:44 > 0:34:46whether they were going to be alive the next hour.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50Not just in the ops room, but generally with the public.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55And I think that, yes, people were a bit afeared,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58but we got on with it. You had to.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00There was nothing else you could do.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02So live life while you could.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05Sheree, are you proud of the work you did during the war?
0:35:05 > 0:35:07Yes, I am.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11And I think all of us that were in the war are proud of what we did.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14We were all cogs in a big wheel
0:35:14 > 0:35:16and, if we hadn't all pulled together,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19we'd never have made it through.
0:35:19 > 0:35:20Sheree, thank you very much
0:35:20 > 0:35:22for sharing your experiences with us today.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29Across the week, we spoke to some of the thousands of visitors
0:35:29 > 0:35:31who pour through the doors of the museum here.
0:35:31 > 0:35:32And, as we found out,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36this museum holds a special place in many people's hearts.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42Duxford was where I spent probably, like many others,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45the happiest time of our young lives.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49I came here raw, young, naive
0:35:49 > 0:35:54and I realised that there was much, much more that I could achieve.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58It just changed my whole view on life. It was brilliant.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00It was quite impressive how they just managed
0:36:00 > 0:36:04to just get all of these planes into this one place.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09This plane behind me is the one I flew a number of times
0:36:09 > 0:36:11on the Berlin airlift.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15We carried flour, coal, anything needed at the time.
0:36:15 > 0:36:16It was hard work.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Today we've seen the Spitfire.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And that's been flying around.
0:36:22 > 0:36:23And it's been pretty great to see,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25because they've done it up, restored it
0:36:25 > 0:36:28and it's looking pretty good in its glory.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31I'm reminiscing my childhood in RAF Duxford.
0:36:31 > 0:36:38We came here to live in 1946 and we really had a lovely childhood here.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47Across the week, we heard from EastEnders actress June Brown,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50former Dragons' Den star Duncan Bannatyne
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and broadcasters Angela Rippon and John Sergeant.
0:36:54 > 0:36:55Here are their stories...
0:36:56 > 0:36:59Now, your dad missed the first few years of your life
0:36:59 > 0:37:02because of the war, didn't he? Oh, very much so, yes.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05My father was a Royal Marine and he had a very busy war,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08as his sort of rack of medals shows!
0:37:08 > 0:37:09I was spotting that on the sofa there.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11He was a bit busy during the war,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14because he was in Italy and Africa twice
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and the Pacific, the North Atlantic,
0:37:17 > 0:37:18he was on the Malta convoys.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21So he was all over the place and he didn't actually get back...
0:37:21 > 0:37:24I was born in 1944 and he didn't come back to England
0:37:24 > 0:37:28until the beginning of 1948, when I was three and a half.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31And when I met him for the first time...
0:37:31 > 0:37:34I have a wonderful photograph of me meeting him on board the ship
0:37:34 > 0:37:37when he came back to his home port in Plymouth
0:37:37 > 0:37:40and I've got a face on me like a plate of sour milk because,
0:37:40 > 0:37:42of course, I'd been brought up by my mother and my granny and my aunt
0:37:42 > 0:37:44and I'd never seen this man before.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47But he was very much the hero of my life
0:37:47 > 0:37:50as, I'm sure, an awful lot of young children at that time felt,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52you know, when I got to know him better.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54And I always say that my dad spent the rest of his life
0:37:54 > 0:37:57making up for the fact that he hadn't been around
0:37:57 > 0:37:59until I was three years old and he'd missed all those baby years.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Did it really affect your relationship with him? Very much so.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06I became very, very close to my dad and I always feel that he...
0:38:06 > 0:38:09My mother couldn't have any more children after me, unfortunately,
0:38:09 > 0:38:11and I think my father, being a very macho Royal Marine,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13would have loved to have had a son.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Instead, he got me. He wanted me, obviously, to be a young lady.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19But at the same time, I always feel that he helped instil in me
0:38:19 > 0:38:21all of those qualities of sort of self-reliance
0:38:21 > 0:38:23and courage and determination.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26All of the things that he would've wanted, as a man,
0:38:26 > 0:38:27to pass on to his son.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30And I think they probably stood me quite well,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33as you will appreciate, in the job that we do!
0:38:36 > 0:38:40Now, Duncan, your dad worked on the Thai-Burma Railway,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43which was notoriously known as the "Death Railway". Yeah.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45That must have been a horrendous experience.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47Yeah, it must have been terrible.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50So many people died there.
0:38:50 > 0:38:51Erm...
0:38:51 > 0:38:54You know, it was just difficult. I think surviving was what they did.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57It was the only thing they could do, either survive or die.
0:38:57 > 0:38:58Erm...
0:38:58 > 0:39:01The most extensive conversation I had with him
0:39:01 > 0:39:03was after my sister's funeral.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05And he started to tell me about how
0:39:05 > 0:39:08one of the jobs he had in a prisoner-of-war camp,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11before he became really thin,
0:39:11 > 0:39:13was to put the bodies on the fire.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16They'd have a fire once a month and they'd burn the bodies.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19It was really upsetting for him to talk about that.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21So I think the reason a lot of prisoners of war don't talk about it
0:39:21 > 0:39:23is because it's so upsetting for them to do so.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27He got moved around a lot, didn't he? He did, yes.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29For some reason he was taken to, I think it's called Formosa,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33and taken to Japan, to a prisoner-of-war camp there
0:39:33 > 0:39:36and just spent the rest of his war years there.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39I've got a couple of documents I don't think you've seen yet.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41So let's have a look at one of these.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43This is his liberation questionnaire.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46So this is what he filled in on liberation.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49And you can see there... I'm sure you can recognise his handwriting,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51it's his own writing there, I think.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Is that your dad's handwriting? I would think it is, yes.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56It's very similar to mine. And you can see here...
0:39:56 > 0:39:58So it lists the camps...
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Kuala Lumpur. There, Kuala Lumpur.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03And then Thailand. And the dates he was taken there. Yeah.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05The date that he was first captured, actually.
0:40:05 > 0:40:0726th February, '42.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09'42. Yeah.
0:40:09 > 0:40:10And then his regiment, as well,
0:40:10 > 0:40:13I think you know, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Right, there's Formosa. And then Japan. Formosa, Japan.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18Manila, Thailand...
0:40:18 > 0:40:21Wow, three different camp leaders. Yeah.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23And then we also have this. There you are.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27This is his prisoner-of-war index card, filled in by the Japanese.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30There is his name, William Bannatyne. Yeah.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Date of birth, which they got wrong to begin with.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35His battalion.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38And then, obviously, his address and everything.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41And then this is really interesting. We had this translated here.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43So his occupation...
0:40:43 > 0:40:45And he lists as a farmer.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Did he? That's what it says.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Was he ever a farmer before the war? Not to my knowledge!
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Maybe he did that for a reason? Yes, maybe he did?
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Maybe there was a rumour if you say you're a farmer
0:40:55 > 0:40:57you get out in the fields or something?
0:40:57 > 0:41:00And the address there, is that an address you recognise? Yes.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02Yes, Kilbowie Road, Clydebank.
0:41:02 > 0:41:03Absolutely, yeah. Yeah.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05I think that was the pub!
0:41:07 > 0:41:10It's amazing, though, isn't it, to see these documents from the past?
0:41:10 > 0:41:11Yeah.
0:41:11 > 0:41:12Yeah, it is.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Yeah. Unbelievable.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19One of my favourite exhibits here at Duxford is this,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22the Lancaster bomber. John Sergeant is still here.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26And I know you're fascinated by these incredibly majestic planes.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29They are. Kids nowadays talk about things being awesome,
0:41:29 > 0:41:31but that really is awesome, isn't it?
0:41:31 > 0:41:34And what's amazing is that, when I was a child looking at these things,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37you didn't associate it with death and destruction.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42You just looked at the plane and you thought, "This is just so..."
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Well, it's so cool, isn't it? It's just so beautifully designed.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48And to think this big thing would go up into the air
0:41:48 > 0:41:50carrying all these people.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53It was just in a very simple way, can a plane do that?
0:41:53 > 0:41:55And can they do it with such, sort of, fortitude
0:41:55 > 0:41:57and with all the ack-ack guns going off around them?
0:41:57 > 0:42:00And this thing is flying through the night.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02I just thought then and I think now, awesome.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05But they must have been incredibly frightening for the crew on board.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08They were. And, you know, a lot of them, of course, would be killed.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11And a lot of them couldn't communicate very well
0:42:11 > 0:42:13because there's the rear gunner.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15So there are seven in all.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17Then there's the gunner here in the middle position.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20But they're very vulnerable below here.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22So you've got the navigator.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24You've got various people there. But there's not much contact.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30Tell us about your war years. Where were you during the war?
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Well, I wasn't a brave warmonger, as they say.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36I lived in a backwater, really.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38I lived in East Anglia
0:42:38 > 0:42:41and, at the time, we were 12 miles from the sea.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45So I didn't have to go through all the bombing
0:42:45 > 0:42:47that the people in London did and in the big cities.
0:42:47 > 0:42:48Well, you say that, June,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51but you actually came under fire a few times, didn't you?
0:42:51 > 0:42:52You saw some action.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Well, in a strange sort of way, yes.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58I was waiting for a trolley bus, I think I must have been about 15,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01halfway down the hill that I lived in.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03And I looked up to see if it was coming round the corner
0:43:03 > 0:43:10and I saw a German fighter coming down the road, machine-gunning.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12Well, fortunately for me,
0:43:12 > 0:43:15there was a little cobbler shop attached to a residential house
0:43:15 > 0:43:19right by the trolley bus stop and it had a lot of steps
0:43:19 > 0:43:21and I ran up the steps
0:43:21 > 0:43:24and flattened myself against the door.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Because I didn't go in. I wasn't a customer.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28And then, when it had gone,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31I just came down and waited at the bus stop again.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41One of the most costly campaigns of recent times
0:43:41 > 0:43:43has been the conflict in Afghanistan.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45Today, on Remembrance Sunday,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49we remember the story of one soldier, Jamie Webb.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58A guided tour around an army patrol base in Helmand Province.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Lance Corporal Jamie Webb recorded this video
0:44:04 > 0:44:09to show his family back home what life was like in Afghanistan.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Jamie's cheerfulness in adversity
0:44:18 > 0:44:20shone through in the letters he sent home.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27"Dear Mum and Dad and Luke..." - smiley face.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30"Hope you are well and OK.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33"I received some airmail today with some letters.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36"It's quite a hot area.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38"That means where helicopters can't land,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41"because they have been targeted by Taliban.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43"Just counting the days until I'm home again.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47"Mum, Dad and Luke, I love you all so much.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51"Love from Custard Cream Jamie."
0:44:55 > 0:44:58To tell the story of Jamie - he was brave.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00He was more than my brother.
0:45:00 > 0:45:01He was my best friend.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04And he was more than my best friend. He was my hero.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Always a very jolly person.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11A lovely young man.
0:45:14 > 0:45:15He was.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17He was lovely.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20He was a loving son to me and Sue.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26I'm very proud of Jamie.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30Jamie joined the Army when he was 18.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33He served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38I worried about him all the time.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40And when I spoke to him on the phone,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43I'd ask him how he was or what he was doing and then, you know,
0:45:43 > 0:45:45sometimes he couldn't tell you and he'd say, you know,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47"The base has been attacked."
0:45:49 > 0:45:52And then he'd say, "Not long until I'm home now, Luke."
0:45:54 > 0:45:57On his second tour in three years,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00the British withdrawal from Afghanistan was gaining pace.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Jamie rang his family to tell them he would soon be heading home.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10He was on a high. Really happy.
0:46:10 > 0:46:11To think it's over.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13You know, the tour, like.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15But later that day, there was a knock at the door.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20Sue came upstairs and said, "There's a man at the door in a suit.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22"He wants to see you."
0:46:24 > 0:46:26And he came in and he explained about
0:46:26 > 0:46:28that Jamie had been in a major incident.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31And I said to him, "You'd better check his number,
0:46:31 > 0:46:33"because I just spoke to him this morning."
0:46:33 > 0:46:37So I said, "There's no way it could be my son. No way."
0:46:40 > 0:46:43He said that there was an insurgent attack on the base...
0:46:45 > 0:46:48..and that a truck had been driven through the wall
0:46:48 > 0:46:51with explosives in and chemicals
0:46:51 > 0:46:55and it had gone through the wall and it had blown it up.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I couldn't stand the thought of not being with him.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03I wanted to know someone was with him when he died.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05That's what it was.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07He's never been without me.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Anything... When he was poorly when he was little,
0:47:10 > 0:47:12I was always there.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16And that was the hardest thing, not saying goodbye.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19And we miss him terribly.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23A British soldier has been killed by insurgents in Afghanistan.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26Jamie's body was flown home to Cheshire.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29The people of Handforth lined the streets in his honour.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Thousands.
0:47:33 > 0:47:34There was loads.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37It was covered, all that side, all the other side of the street.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40And all the children were in a line throwing roses on the coffin.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43It was just full.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45That was so much respect for my son.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Jamie's name was recorded on the Bastion Wall,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53a memorial standing in the Army's main base in Afghanistan.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57It's since been dismantled and recreated in Staffordshire.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59His family are going to see it.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02For me to go...
0:48:03 > 0:48:06..it's hard, but good.
0:48:06 > 0:48:07I'm proud.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Such a lovely man.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Oh, there's the wall, look.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Jamie's name will be one of 453
0:48:28 > 0:48:32being rededicated on the new Bastion Wall,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35a replica of the one which stood in Afghanistan.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38It will join 300 other memorials in the Arboretum.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44It's the first time Jamie's family have seen his name on it.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00To look at a wall that Jamie would have once seen
0:49:00 > 0:49:02in Afghanistan, in Camp Bastion...
0:49:03 > 0:49:05Yeah, he must have walked past it.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07And now it's over here in the National Arboretum.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09And he used to pay his respects to them all,
0:49:09 > 0:49:11because he lost lots of them, of his friends.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15He wouldn't think he'd be added with them.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Forces families are joined at the rededication ceremony
0:49:23 > 0:49:25by the Prime Minister and Prince Harry,
0:49:25 > 0:49:27who himself saw action in Afghanistan.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29THE NATION ANTHEM PLAYS
0:49:29 > 0:49:33This memorial reflects the spirit of the old one,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37containing, as it does, the original brass plaques,
0:49:37 > 0:49:39a large piece of the original stonework,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42the original cross
0:49:42 > 0:49:47and the last Union flag to fly over the memorial in Camp Bastion.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
0:49:57 > 0:49:58we will remember them.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02We will remember them.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06THE LAST POST PLAYS
0:50:18 > 0:50:21I'd like to thank all the people that have made this happen.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Yeah. It means a lot.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26You know, to help keep the fallen's memory alive for ever.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30Because it means a lot. And it means a lot for the soldiers, as well.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Yeah. Because of their friends, comrades.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36They were together through thick and thin over there.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Brothers in arms for ever.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52Well, earlier, we heard the amazing story of Joy Lofthouse,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56who flew 18 different types of planes during the Second World War.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58Joy never lost her passion for flying.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02And what better way to celebrate the wonderful work she did
0:51:02 > 0:51:05than by reuniting her with one of her favourite planes?
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Today is a chance for Joy to turn back the clock.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18More than 70 years after she learned to fly,
0:51:18 > 0:51:20she's taking to the skies once again.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25Well, it's a long time since I've been in a Tiger Moth.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28So part of me is looking forward to it
0:51:28 > 0:51:32and part of me is wondering how I will feel in the wide open spaces.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34But I'm very much looking forward to it,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38taking me back to my very, very early days of training.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43Tiger Moths were the main training planes for ATA pilots.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46With an open cockpit and simple controls,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49they were the ideal plane to perfect flying skills.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51Today, Joy will fly in this one
0:51:51 > 0:51:54at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56her old training ground.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02It's so long since I flew in an open-cockpit aeroplane.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04I hope I shall feel all right!
0:52:04 > 0:52:08And I've got to climb up on there. I think I can manage that.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Flying with Joy, another woman of the sky,
0:52:11 > 0:52:13instructor Amanda Harrison.
0:52:14 > 0:52:15Hello, Joy!
0:52:15 > 0:52:18Hello. Oh, it's a lady pilot!
0:52:18 > 0:52:20I'm your pilot today. I hadn't realised that.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24I have to say, I've wanted to fly an ATA lady... Have you?
0:52:24 > 0:52:25Yes, absolutely.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28So this is a huge privilege for me. I'm glad about that.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32After we've done the three circuits... Yeah.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35..we're then going to fly out and I'm going to hand it over to you
0:52:35 > 0:52:36and say, "You have control."
0:52:36 > 0:52:38Well, not for long!
0:52:44 > 0:52:46How's that? That's OK.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50Not since the 1940s has Joy done this.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54And there's no stopping her now.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01Right, here we go. It all gets quite noisy.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22SHE LAUGHS
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Well, now, I'm not allowed to say what her landing was like.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12I'm sure it was better than anything I could have done!
0:54:14 > 0:54:15I'd better say it was eight out of eight, shall I?
0:54:17 > 0:54:20It was a great experience to be back in a Tiger Moth, yes.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24I wouldn't like to do it day after day after day at my age.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28But the experience of being back in an open-cockpit aeroplane
0:54:28 > 0:54:31that I flew during the war...
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Everybody wants to be reminded of when they were young.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37And flying today does that for me,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39reminds me of when I was young.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Well, that's about it from this special programme
0:54:45 > 0:54:47for Remembrance Sunday.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49But there's just time to show you
0:54:49 > 0:54:52one of our favourite performances from the week.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11# He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way
0:55:11 > 0:55:13# He had a boogie style that no-one else could play
0:55:13 > 0:55:16# He was the top man at his craft
0:55:16 > 0:55:19# But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
0:55:19 > 0:55:22# He's in the Army now, a-blowin' reveille
0:55:22 > 0:55:25# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B
0:55:25 > 0:55:28# They made him blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam
0:55:28 > 0:55:30# It really brought him down because he couldn't jam
0:55:30 > 0:55:33# The captain seemed to understand
0:55:33 > 0:55:36# Because the next day the cap went out and drafted a band
0:55:36 > 0:55:38# And now the company jumps when he plays reveille
0:55:38 > 0:55:41# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B
0:55:41 > 0:55:44# A-toot, a-toot, a-toot-diddelyada-toot
0:55:44 > 0:55:47# He blows it eight to the bar in boogie rhythm
0:55:47 > 0:55:50# He can't blow a note unless the bass and guitar is playin' with him
0:55:52 > 0:55:55# He makes the company jump when he plays reveille
0:55:55 > 0:55:58# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B
0:55:58 > 0:56:02# He was some boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B
0:56:04 > 0:56:09# And when he plays boogie-woogie bugle he is busy as a buzzy bee
0:56:09 > 0:56:12# And when he plays he makes the company jump eight to the bar
0:56:12 > 0:56:15# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B
0:56:15 > 0:56:17# Toot toot toot-diddelyada Toot-diddelyada, toot-toot
0:56:17 > 0:56:19# He blows it eight to the bar
0:56:21 > 0:56:25# He can't blow a note if the bass and guitar isn't with him
0:56:25 > 0:56:28# And the company jumps when he plays reveille
0:56:28 > 0:56:31# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B... #
0:56:31 > 0:56:33TRUMPET SOLO
0:56:48 > 0:56:51# He puts the boys to sleep with boogie every night
0:56:51 > 0:56:54# And wakes 'em up the same way in the early bright
0:56:54 > 0:56:56# They clap their hands and stamp their feet
0:56:56 > 0:56:59# Because they know how he plays when someone gives him a beat
0:56:59 > 0:57:02# He really shakes it up when he plays reveille
0:57:02 > 0:57:04# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B
0:57:05 > 0:57:16# Dat-da da-do-do da-dup
0:57:16 > 0:57:18# And the company jumps when he plays reveille
0:57:18 > 0:57:23# He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B. #
0:57:27 > 0:57:30Thank you for joining us on this day of reflection.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34From all of us here at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, goodbye.
0:57:34 > 0:57:35Goodbye.