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This story was submitted by David Durow to the People's War team in Wales and was added to the site with his permission.

As a child I used to love watching the ships in Portsmouth. The main fleet 鈥� the battleships - had all gone to Scapa Flow out of the way but you used to get lots of little destroyers and MTBs used to go in鈥hat鈥檚 motor torpedo boats and gun boats鈥nd they were camouflaged and you couldn鈥檛 see them! Even when they went past you they merged into the sea and I used to find it fascinating鈥his gigantic bow wave going along and nothing seeming to propel it!

It was the excitement and there was an atmosphere around. It seemed as if everyone was taking care of everybody else. People seemed to be more ready to talk to you. Afterwards there was quite a celebration. We knew the war had ended before it was announced鈥ecause all the ships in the harbour started blasting off their sirens and I think they started firing flares as well鈥 can鈥檛 quite remember. And we heard this鈥 think it must have been late afternoon, because my dad wasn鈥檛 there鈥� and my mother suddenly grabbed me and danced me around the room and she was shouting, 鈥淚t鈥檚 over, it鈥檚 over, it鈥檚 over!鈥� And then she sat down in a chair and cried her eyes out and I just couldn鈥檛 understand why she was crying鈥�.. (I do now)鈥�..because she should be happy instead of crying鈥�..

My worst experience was after the war ended鈥hen the news started coming through about Belsen and Dachau and Auschwitz and despite what we鈥檇 been through in Portsmouth with the bombing we just could not believe that people could do this, and I remember we were out one afternoon ..shopping with my mum 鈥�.and we were near a cinema and the army had taken over a cinema and the soldiers were on the streets and they were directing us into the cinema to see this. It was so horrific, there were people screaming and fainting and trying to get out and I was thirteen, coming up for 14 then鈥nd it so affected me that for the first time in my life I had nightmares, and I asked to come in my parents鈥� bed, because I was so disturbed for about a week after that I think. That memory stayed with me all my life鈥�.it was the idea that prejudice caused that, that stayed with me as well. I鈥檝e always been angry about prejudice 鈥nd what a Christian, educated nation could do as a result of blind prejudice and corrupting nationalism into that. I found that absolutely appalling鈥nd I鈥檝e never accepted any prejudice at all.

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