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This story was submitted to the people’s war website on behalf of Leo Cohen by a national trust volunteer. Mr Cohen fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

I lived in Leicester during the war with my mother and father. I have lots of memories of that time. I remember we had evacuees in the city from the East End who died when Leicester was bombed. A bomb hit a part of the city where lots of people who’d been evacuated were stasying. I can remember trenches being dug at school and anti gas drill at school. I can remember my father was a fire watcher. We once had two bombs on parachutes land in the village next to ours and there was a big blast. I was on holiday aged 10 when war was declared , we were in Hunstanton and I can remember seeing planes practising dive bombing over the Wash. We came straight home to Leicester. I remember the buses only had one or two windows we could see and the rest were boarded up and the word Leicester was blacked out on the buses and the trams. We went to Manchester in 1941 to see friends and I remember you could see the name of the city on the trams and buses and being very surprised. Regular timetables were abandoned and mid morning and mid afternoon buses were rare. I also remember radio war broadcasts were increased because of the shift workers. I used to listen to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and to the enemy broadcasts much to the annoyance of my mother. The Germans had taken control of the broadcasting wavelengths in France so you could easily listen. Every day at about 1115 and 1515 there would be a high command communiqué from the Germans . I remember hearing they once acknowledged Montgomery’s success in Egypt. I can also remember at the end of the war the broadcasts saying Germany would not lay down it’s arms at five to 12 but at five minutes past 12 the victors. My mother used to tell me to turn it off. My parents were in business and I remember they rented a room away from where we lived so we’d have somewhere to go if something happened. A lot of people did if they could afford it , first we were at Six Hills then Belton. We spent one night in that room but Derby was being bombed so it was just as bad as being at home. There was a huge factory at REarsby which was later used for building helicopters. I had an evacuee sitting next to me at school from Kent and other boys were from Germany and Austria they spoke excellent English with no accent. I remember VE day was a holiday and going into Leicester and everyone partying and the lights being on — not all of them as some bulbs had been taken out but as many as they could to light up the city. I stayed up as late as possible and stayed at a friends house for the first time ever. My mother died 2 weeks after VE day from cancer so it’s a time of mixed memories for me. She was only 52 when she died and I lived with my father.

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