VE day brought joy, immense relief and, in the period that followed, a desire for change. Social commentators such as Dennis Potter for example, observed that the Forest of Dean was transformed by the Second World War:
"The atmosphere of confidence and something approaching trust was inescapable, and provides a great contrast to the more comfortable atmosphere today: the war had been won, our government was in, and they were starting to build houses again, beginning with lines of white boxed prefabs at the near-by village of Broadwell."
Though Potter was himself too young at the time many older Forest writers had been actively involved during the War. Harry Beddington for example was responsible for coordinating civil defence from the Belle Vue Centre building in Cinderford, and F.W. Harvey commanded a unit of the Home Guard. The impact of the War can be found in many books written afterwards and the period continues to be a source of fascination for readers, researchers and historians. The impact of American GI’s, and Italian and German Prisoners of War were perhaps the most exotic aspect of the War locally and left a lasting legacy for many Forest families. Rumours of the dumping of US military supplies and munitions in mines – the Forest was a huge ammunition dump – persist in popular memory (despite little historical evidence having yet been found).
Forest and Gloucestershire popular histories on the period include:
The Forest of Dean in Wartime ( by Humphrey Phelps
On the Home Front: Growing up in Wartime England (1998) by Ann Stalcup
Home Front Dean - DAG - John Putley and Alf Webb.
Gloucestershire Airfields in the Second World War (2005) by David Berryman.
Gloucestershire at War 1939-1945 (1979) by Derek Archer.
Inside the Wire the POW camps and Hostels of Gloucestershire 1939-1945 (2014) by Ian MC Hollingsbee.
Meet at the Schools: A History of Education in Bream (2007) by Ian Hendy.
The story of Italian prisoners in the Forest is told by Laura Porciani in From El Alamein to Marconi (2011) based on the memories and artefacts kept by her father. Laura now manages a vibrant Facebook page about Camp 61 at Broadwell that attracts Italian and British followers. Sarah Franklin recently served up a memorable novel - Shelter (2017) - based on a local family, an Italian PoW and a Lumberjill in the Forest of Dean.
Bill Tandy in his biography A Doctor in the Forest (1978), recounts many of his wartime experiences, including examining captured Luftwaffe crew and nearly being bayoneted by the Home Guard and more. There are many memoirs that reference the War, but it is the sole focus of the book Wartime Memories from Newnham (1986) edited by Hugh Lynch-Blosse. This book includes a chapter on the famous test pilot Jim Cordes of Newnham who actually flew Goering on a pre-war flight. Lynch-Blosse obliquely and understatedly mentions his part in the Great Escape, he was one of the many people in the Forest who built on the escaping tradition of FW Harvey from World War One. Others were Kenneth Lockwood a Colditz inmate living at Broadoak and Jock Hamilton- Baille a Colditz inmate living at Beachley.* Other memoirs include Old Memories (1986) by Margery Burch another Doug McLean publication, that addresses the wartime visit of two Jewish children refugees from persecution in Germany. The other Forest memoirists, Winifred Foley, Joyce Latham, and several less well-known figures, always mention the War as an important and sometimes life changing event. Seventy-five years later we remember VE day, whilst living through another life changing moment in history. Strangely, World War Two will be remembered for opening up the Forest, Covid-19 will be remembered for closing it down.
*Information courtesy of volunteer David Price of Newnham.