Faye Hay

She was brought up on farm in Lonmay and remembers that there was no need for shelters in country.

She recalls Italian and German POWs working on the farm. They lived in “the chaumer”, an outside bedroom usually above the stable, to get the animals’ warmth.

The German POWs were very practical. They hunted rabbits and made carpets from rags and soles of old wellington boots.

The Italian POWs were very sedate and more interested in their appearance. They refused to work in the rain.

“There was no hostility, they were just people” - attitude of locals to POWs

He was brought up on a farm in Maud.

He trained as banker but during the war women took over these occupations.

He was exempt from call up because his father was ill and older brothers were already in the forces.

He was a member of the Home Guard from 1941 where he learnt orienteering and marksmanship.

In the Home Guard they were given a uniform, a gun and five bullets.

Mrs. Kitty McDonald

She was born in 1931 and remembers her sister being told to stand in a queue for fruit and buy ANYTHING. She swapped 1lb of sugar for sweets.

Her mum used to sit in the corner at Guides and knit socks.

She was upset in 1943 when her dad got called up to the RAF.

She remembers there being an air raid siren and AA guns on the top of Sunnybank School, Aberdeen.

She recalls houses being destroyed by bombs but often shelters were still standing.

War broke out two days before his 16th birthday. He worked as a joiner for Barratts the builder who kept getting deferments for him so he didn’t have to join up. But in November 1942, he had to join up, but he was glad to get away as people were speaking about him both in Hatton and Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

He went to Blackpool for training and then to Catterick to learn to be a dispatch rider. He was injured in an accident just before D-Day and spent some time in hospital before being sent to the Middle East. He felt very lucky because the only Germans he saw were in a POW camp in Egypt.