War Stories                             

Series Synopsis:

War Stories: A series of 20 x 5 minute films in which veterans from different conflicts of the 20th century tell of their experiences with the aid of archive film and personal photographs. The series is currently being shown on BBC Wales's new digital channel 2W

 

 

1. Fly Girls       
There were several hundred women pilots who delivered aircraft between factories and air bases during WW2. Barbara Thomas was one of only two female flight engineers flying with the Air Transport Auxiliary and recalls the day that her Lancaster nearly ran out of Runway.

Director - Chris Rushton


 

 

2. Out of Africa
Cyril Morris was captured at Tobruk and sent to Italian POW camp Fara Sabina. In September 1943 he escaped and spent 9 months on the run. During this time an Italian family protected him, until the British army arrived.

Director - Chris Rushton


 

 

3. Down Under
Ron Robertson, joined the Navy in 1943. In the spring of 1945, Ron joined HM Submarine Thorough and was posted to the Pacific. As the war with Japan ended, his sub was rumoured to have been lost at sea.

Director - Aled Jenkins


 

 

4. WW1 - Wings Over Waves
Philip Bristow Joined the Naval Air Squadron in 1917. After training in Northern France and further seaplane training at Lee on Solent, Philip commenced active service flying a torpedo carrying seaplane and patrolling the North Sea.

Director - Rhodri Edwards


 

 

5. South Atlantic Heroes
Denzil Connick Served with 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment in the Falklands in the spring of 1982. He was seriously wounded after the Battle of Mount Langdon, when a shell blew off one of his legs and seriously injured the other.

Director - Chris Rushton


 

 

6. Land Girls
Betty Smith from North Wales and Ennis Jones from Cardiff joined the Women's Land Army in 1940. They talk about the work and the Camaraderie among the girls who did their bit on the Home Front.

Director - Rhodri Edwards


 

7. On The Convoys
Allan Higgins Served on HMS Edinburgh protecting the Russian and north Atlantic convoys in WW2. He recalls the attack made on Edinburgh by German U-Boats in the Barents Sea. She took two days to go down.

Director - Chris Rushton


 
 

8. A Police Action
David Griffiths arrived in Korea in November 1950. He was a combat engineer planting and removing land mines. During a retreat south, David was caught in an explosion that threw him 30 yards into a Paddy Field, twisting his spine and crippling him for life.

Director - Rhodri Edwards


9. Trouble at Home
Chris Ledner was a Trombonist in the regimental band of the South Wales Borderers. In November 1969, he and the rest of the band were sent to Northern Ireland, the first regiment to be posted there in the present troubles.

Director - Rhodri Edwards


 
 

10 Bombing Berlin
Tommy Thomas flew Lancasters with 57 Squadron from East Kirkby and in December 1943, flew 11 of the 16 massed Bomber raids on Berlin. He recalls exactly what one of those missions were like.

Director - Chris Rushton


11. In the WAAFs
At just 19 years of age, Joyce Skelton joined the WAAFs and after the briefest basic training, she was posted to Pembroke Dock as the only WAAF Officer in charge of 18 WAAFs. The CO was horrified to have women on his base

Director - Rhodri Edwards


 
 

12. Moonlight Patrol
After a brief service on Lancasters during WW2, Trevor Rossiter was transferred to 228 Flying Boat Squadron based at Pembroke Dock, the town of his birth. Trevor had to endure long 14-hour patrols in a Sunderland defending shipping on the Western Approaches.

Director - Aled Jenkins


13. On The Home Front
Hilda married Jack Davies on New Year's eve 1938 and within less than a year, he had been called up for Army service in WW2. But instead of staying at home, Hilda followed Jack to his various postings in Liverpool and Dorset.

Director - Aled Jenkins


 
 

14. Prisoner Of War

Wyn Trepte was only 16 when he was sent to the Russian Front with 1200 comrades. Five months later he was one of just six to return. In July 1944 he was fighting the allied advance in Normandy when he was captured and sent to a POW camp, ending up in Wales.

Director - Aled Jenkins


15. Balkan MASH
Tina Donnolly is a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. She served in both Bosnia and Kosovo and it wasn't just British soldiers she had to treat, sometimes it was Serbs and Kosovan Albanians who turned to her unit for help.

Director - Aled Jenkins


 
 

16. Malta Stopover
In September 1941, Ivor Broom, a young Flight Sergeant was detailed to take a squadron of Blenheims to Singapore. While refuelling in Malta, he was ordered to remain on the island and help with its defences. This sudden change of orders, changed his life.

Director - Huw Talfryn Walters


 

17. War Photographer
Aled was working as a War Photographer during the Gulf War. While taking pictures in a refugee camp in Iran, he was arrested, tried and found guilty of spying. He was and sentenced to death. But by a dramatic turn of fate, Aled was rescued.

Director - Huw Talfryn Walters


 
 

18. Building Bombers
Hilda Dodd went to work at the new Vickers Armstrong aircraft factory at Broughton, shortly after it opened in 1939. Her job was to stitch the fabric on the wings of Wellington Bombers.

Director - Huw Talfryn Walters


19. Day trip to France
Allan Higgins had served in the Royal Navy throughout WW2, experiencing the north Atlantic convoys and the landings at Solerno. But nothing had prepared him for June 6th 1944 when his landing craft was one of the first to hit Sword Beach.

Director - Huw Talfryn Walters


 
 

20. War on the Wadi

Mike O'Rourke was serving with 45 Commando, when he was posted to Aden in February 1963. 45 Commando was tasked keep Arab dissidents under control, while talks were underway for Yemeni independence.

Director - Huw Talfryn Walters

 

War Stories - 20 x 5 minutes for BBC Wales
Series Producer Pamela Jane Hunt
Directors Chris Rushton (specific films listed above)
Rhodri Edwards (specific films listed above)
Aled Jenkins (specific films listed above)
Huw Talfryn Walters (specific films listed above)