This episode marks 80 years since the start of World War II, and brings fresh insights to the conflict through personal stories and family mementos. Introduced by Fiona Bruce from Dover Castle, where the evacuation of Dunkirk was organised in the spring of 1940, the episode includes the stirring tale of HMS Hardy and its doomed efforts to protect the Norwegian port of Narvik – a mission that secured its captain the Victoria Cross.
A sinister photo album belonging to an Austrian soldier offers a previously unseen glimpse of Neville Chamberlain’s ill-fated meeting with Hitler in 1938, and Fiona meets 95-year-old Ray Palmer, who has the rare distinction of being first a child evacuee and then a serving soldier. Hilary Kay samples a potato-based dessert cooked from a wartime ration book, while Ronnie Archer Morgan admires a collection of colourful silk scarves designed to deliver propaganda messages. And finally, Bill Harriman is moved by the story of a child evacuee called Audrey whose parents arranged for her to be taken from Britain to Canada in a desperate bid to ensure her safety – but with tragic consequences.
