5 The War Generation project

The War Generation

WarGen was founded by broadcaster and historian, Dan Snow, and author and broadcaster, James Holland.

We’re a small team with big ambitions. We’re creating a crowd-sourced online repository of oral-history from the people who lived through World War 2 and we are asking you to help us. We are looking for individuals willing to join our volunteer team as interviewers and to go out into your local communities and record these important stories of a fast disappearing generation or to let us know if they have a family member or friend or even know of someone who they believe would like to have their stories recorded. Please check out the website http://www.wargen.org for the interviews that have already been carried out the length and breadth of the country.

A message from Dan Snow:

The War Generation

That amazing generation who lived and fought through the Second World War is slipping away, their numbers dwindling daily. All too soon, there will be none left at all and World War II, like those conflicts before it, will fall out of living memory.

It is of vital importance that we capture as many memories while we still have the chance. Once they have gone, they have gone. Those men and women will not be able to speak to us from beyond the grave. But while they are still living, they remain crucially important witnesses to the most cataclysmic war the world has ever known.

We Need Your Help

Help us to find these surviving veterans and civilians, and to then sit down with them and record their testimonies. Their life stories. They have incredible tales to tell – these ordinary men, women, and children and from all countries who were caught up in something completely beyond their control. Ordinary people made to do extraordinary things.

This generation is so important. The second world war was an incredible and destructive war – every man woman and child were involved in that conflict. We need a record of these guys before it’s too late. Once they’ve gone that’s it, their memories will have gone with them. Help us capture their stories.

Dan Snow

James Holland adds:

We want people to record interviews with a generation that is slipping away. Help us collect the stories of people that experienced the second world war from all around the world. Help us record their stories before it’s too late.

James Holland

If you can help, contact Shane Greer – shane@wargen.org

And let MHS know as well – contact editor@mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk