From time to time we hear of organisations who are engaged in similar kinds of projects to what we are doing. In the past year we have come in contact with the excellent work of the “Second World War Experience Centre” in the UK. We feel that our interests are similar and our work certainly compliments each other. I have asked the Centre to present an article for our readers in the hope that the personal stories of those involved in that great conflict will not be lost, but will be preserved for future generations forever. If you can help to preserve a part of military history, please get in touch with the staff at the Centre.
(Ed.)

The Second World War Experience Centre

The Second World War Experience Centre was created to save a crucial part of our heritage. Year by year, countless letters, diaries and memories from the Second World War period are disappearing. The aim of the Centre is to rescue the surviving personal evidence of the men and women who participated in the Second World War in whatever capacity. The Centre is concerned not only with soldiers, sailors and airmen, but with the daily civilian and military experience of all men, women and children in every community during wartime, both Allied and Axis. The collection we are preserving for posterity includes wartime letters, diaries, photographs, maps, newspapers, books, official papers and ‘three-dimensional material’ evoking the period.

The intention is to make such material available to researchers, students and to the general public so that we can inform present and future generations about their important, fascinating past, thus promoting understanding and respect. We have original and recollected material relating to more than 30 Far Eastern Prisoners of War and civilian internees. The first set of Far Eastern P.O.W. material that the Centre received came from Maurice Cunningham in Quinton, Birmingham, who was a P.O.W. from 1941 to 1945. Maurice’s memoirs and photographs were used in the exhibition which marked the launch of the Centre in September 1999. Maurice’s exhibition panel read:

“It is impossible to convey to other people what life was like in those Camps. I really did think that I had been killed during the fighting and gone to Hell. Although we kept our spirit, we had forgotten how to smile. I could not envisage any other life than the one I was undergoing. I knew that the War had to end, but I could only think of having enough rice to eat. With the passing of the years, there is still the occasional nightmare, but not like those years after the War. I am really appreciative that I survived against all the odds and am still here. I do not recall dates but even now, some of the things that happened are very clear in my memory. All the close friends I lost - I can picture their faces and I still hear their voices. It will always be yesterday to me.

The people at home here could never visualise the life we had led in those Jap P.O.W. camps. We always said then, that if we survived to return home, no one would ever believe what had happened to us. I do hope that more attention is given to teaching other generations what happened to their fathers and grandfathers. I am appalled at the lack of knowledge, even of people in their forties. We do not expect them to fully understand, just as long as they know”.

It is Maurice’s concern about the lack of knowledge and understanding amongst younger generations that lies at the heart of the Centre’s work to promote understanding and remembrance. In order to do this work we need your help. This can come in the form of original documentation, written or recorded memories relating to the Second World War. Original or recollected material is preserved in the Centre's archives for the purposes of responsible research. We also reach a wider audience by illustrating the Centre’s Website and the Centre’s twice-yearly journal, Everyone’s War with material held at the Centre. Membership of the Centre entitles Friends to receipt of the journal.

For more information, please contact the Director, Dr Peter H. Liddle F.R.Hist.S., the Business Director, Claire Harder MA or the Archival Assistant, Tracy Craggs at The Second World War Experience Centre, 6-8 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DS; tel: (0113) 2450475; fax: (0113) 2349265; E-Mail: enquiries@war-experience.org or see our Website: http://www.war-experience.org