Valour and Victory: Stories of the Second World War

George Arthur Roberts

A military veteran, activist and the first Black man to join the London Auxiliary Fire Service, in 1938, serving bravely throughout the Blitz.

Mary Morris

Her diaries describe how she nursed troops returning wet and wounded from Dunkirk and later travelled to Normandy to care for casualties after the D-Day landings.

Tommy Macpherson

A Commando known for his audacious actions, including being dropped by submarine in North Africa, where he sabotaged enemy positions.

Violette Szabó

Joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service before volunteering for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and working undercover in occupied France.

John Harrison

Served in the Royal Navy on the destroyer HMS Belfast and was responsible for maintaining ‘A’ and ‘B’ gun turrets at the front of the ship.

Bhanbhagta Gurung

Fought in Operation Longcloth in Burma, now Myanmar, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery under heavy fire.

Thomas Peirson Frank

A civil engineer and surveyor whose rapid-response teams repaired over 100 breaches of the Thames wall during air raids, saving many lives.

Mahinder Singh Pujji

A pilot and Squadron Leader with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Indian Air Force, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his outstanding courage and leadership over Japanese-occupied territory.

William Tutte

A brilliant mathematician and codebreaker, William (‘Bill’) Tutte’s work was key to decrypting the Lorenz cipher, the German code used for top-level communication and intelligence.

Lilian Bader

After being forced to leave the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) canteen because of her ethnicity, Bader volunteered to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1944, and went on to train as an Instrument Repairer, becoming one of the first members of the WAAF to qualify in this role.

Dame Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn