A project by The Hemel Hempstead School in association with 
FREE DOWNLOAD: Click here for our free guide to how you can adapt our project to your local area. See also a news release about the launch of the guide.
LATEST UPDATES
- Molly Stanbridge who served with Eisenhower and Montgomery.
- Eric Summers on life aboard HMS Venerable in the Pacific from 1943.
- John Stanbridge's recollections about school life, Americans at Bovingdon, living on a farm, Land Girls and serving in the Home Guard.
- A compelling account from David Denchfield about being shot down over France and his experiences as a prisoner of war. See also details of the plaque unveiled honouring this former pupil of Hemel Hempstead Grammar School.
- John Wright, who served in the Royal Navy on a Landing Craft at D-Day, and later experienced a kamikaze attack at Singapore.
The story of Joe Keen, the former Hemel Hempstead Grammar School pupil killed in 1943 in Tunisia. His name is missing from the original school memorial, but both he and Lionel Killick have now been commemorated on plaques dedicated on 11th November 2011.- Photographs of the Portsmouth Naval Memorial which includes Geoffrey Saunders.
- Interview with Cyril Smith, who was part of the second intake at Hemel Hempstead Grammar School and served as a radar mechanic in the RAF in WWII.
IN THE NEWS
- 'Hemel at War' is featured in an article in the Historical Association's publication
Teaching History (December 2012) which is the UK's leading professional journal for secondary history teachers. Click here to link to the issue containing the article, written
by Lynda Abbott and Richard Grayson. It describes how the methods used for the
'Hemel at War' project could be utilised by other schools.
OTHER RECENT ADDITIONS
- Ernie Guest talks about his own experiences in Malaya and about Lionel Killick who was killed there in 1951, plus recollections from Lionel's brother, Ray.
- Interview with Godfrey Orrell, who served in Cold War Berlin while on National Service.
- Interview with Charles Price, who served in the Royal Army Service Corps in WWII.
- Interview with Zena Bullmore who moved to Hemel during WWII when the research organisation she worked for moved out of London.
Selected areas of this site include:
- A transcript of an interview with brothers Captain David Broomfield and Captain Simon Broomfield, who have been serving in Afghanistan with the Royal Anglian Regiment.
- Information on ten former pupils at Hemel Hempstead Grammar School, killed in WWII and commemorated on the school memorial:
- The Foskett family who served in the Boer War, First World War, Second World War and Korean War.
- Battle of Britain pilot Denys Mileham from Boxmoor, who was killed in action in 1942.
- A guide to Hemel Hempstead WWI graves/memorials at selected Somme sites.
- Information on WWI fatalities: Henry Balderson, William Barber, Harry Freeman and Robert Masterman.
- Marine Matthew Harrison who was killed in Afghanistan in July 2010.
Introduction
Britain at War with Germany… France Falls in Blaze of Blitzkrieg… Hitler’s Bombs Blitz London… Sad Partings as Children Sent to Safety… Allies Land at Normandy…
The headlines give us the story. We at The Hemel Hempstead School are now seeking to find the stories behind the headlines.
We know there is a wealth of first-hand experiences of World War Two living within our reach. We want to make sure these accounts from local people are secured for the benefit of future generations – and in time we hope to explore the impact of other wars as well, from World War One to the Falklands and Afghanistan.
Over the coming months we will be interviewing people from in and around Hemel Hempstead who lived through World War Two and placing those accounts on this website. Soon we hope this site will be full of stories and artefacts documenting the experience of local people, both on the front lines and back at the Home Front - and eventually we want to examine the impact of both older and more recent conflicts on the citizens of our community as well.
Join us as we seek to bring local history to life, for the benefit of not just our students but for the community beyond.
Email: hemelatwar@gmail.com
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