East Midlands Oral History Archive
Military and conflicts
In the military and conflicts theme, we have the following collections:
Military
British Legion Project
This oral history collection comprises 17 interviews with people who had connections to the British Legion in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It features memories of service in the military, but concentrates on the work of the Legion to support former members of the military.
Korean War Veterans Collection
- Not catalogued
A series of interviews conducted using video by EMOHA and Leicestershire County Council. The individual interviews are available to be viewed by appointment, while the edited documentary video can be seen on YouTube.
Leicestershire Regiment Collection
The Leicestershire Regiment Collection comprises 13 interviews. The interviews in this collection were conducted with veterans of the Leicestershire Regiment who served during the Second World War. The testimony covers experience of theatres of war in Europe, Africa and the Far East, including Norway, France, North Africa, India and Malaya. The interviews also include the experience of Prisoners of War of the Japanese, following the fall of Singapore.
National Service Collection
This oral history collection comprises five interviews with residents of Leicestershire who took part in National Service. Conducted in 2011 at a National Service Open Day. Interviewees talk about their experience of National Service in the UK, Korea and Germany.
World War One
Memories in Conflict Project
This oral history collection comprises 21 interviews conducted in 2014. The Memories in Conflict project looked at resistance to war, before, during and after the First World War, explored through the memories of people who live in Leicester.
How Saxby Street Got Its Name Project
This oral history collection comprises 14 interviews with people in the South Highfields area of Leicester, conducted in 2014. The project sought to find out about life in the South Highfields area of Leicester during the First World War. It looked at how both rich and poor lived, ate, worked and died, and it told the story of the soldiers who fought and the impact upon the families they left behind. The project spoke with local people who had wartime family histories from around the world.
Online exhibition
Both the Leicester Oral History Archive (LOHA) and the Market Harborough Museum Collection feature recordings with individuals who recall either military service or the home front during WW1. The recordings from the LOHA were used to create this exhibition about Leicestershire and Rutland during WW1.
World War Two
em:source Collection
This oral history collection comprises three interviews and a group discussion with six interviewees which took place in 2003. It looks at memories of childhood in Nottinghamshire during the Second World War and former members of the Women's Timber Corps and the Land Army recalling their wartime service.
Evacuees Collection
This collection comprises 11 oral history interviews and five items of printed material which look at children who were evacuated during the Second World War.
German Ex-Prisoners of War Collection
This oral history collection comprises 9 interviews, 6 documents, 1 correspondence with relatives of German Prisoners of War and individuals who had contact with German prisoner of war camps in Leicestershire during the 1940s.
Granby School Air Raid Shelter Memories
This oral history collection comprises 16 interviews with people who attended Granby Primary School in Aylestone, Leicester during the Second World War. It was an intergenerational project in 2017 involving former pupils sharing their experiences of being a pupil during a time of war with current Year 5 pupils. Granby Primary School has air raid shelters that were built under the playground. Stories about these shelters were used as a starting point to collect further stories and memories from older members of the community. A book was produced.
Red Cross Collection
This oral history collection comprises six interviews with small groups of people who were Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) for the Leicestershire Red Cross during and after the Second World War.
WarGen Collection
This collection comprises 14 interviews with people from Leicestershire who were children/adolescents during the Second World War and who also had some memories of the First World War through their parents.
Whatton House Collection
The oral history collection comprises seven interviews that were conducted at a Whatton Hall/House reunion on 26 September 2009. This project interviewed people who had memories of the Whatton Hall/House when it was a maternity hospital during the Second World War (WWII).
Misc
Cold War Transcripts
- Uncatalogued
A series of talks and interviews at Loughborough University on various topics related to the Cold War. Transcripts only.
Legacy of Partition Collection
This oral history collection comprises 20 interviews as well as a recording of the launch event. Subjects covered include life before the Partition of India, the build up to 1947, events at the time of Partition, the aftermath, settling in the UK. Photographs and artefacts were also collected and these are stored at the Record Office.
The EMOHA and Mantle collections also feature memories of World War Two.