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We all did our bit during the war. I was 19 when I went into the forces. We had IQ tests to see what we could do, whether we would be cooks, etc. It was decided that I would go into signals and I was sent to Belgium just before the VE war ended. The VJ war ended just after I arrived in Brussels. After that I was sent to Germany and stationed in magnificent German barracks. I had never seen anything like it in Britain, of course the Germans were very good at everything.

After the war had ended the British put up a monument in the middle of Luneberg Heath, which was the site of the battle where the Germans were finally defeated. The monument said that this is the spot where the Germans surrendered. One dark night it was burnt down, obviously by the Germans. After this they put up a marble one with a guard permanently on duty.

It was quite tricky living there as we were obviously not liked by the Germans. We were told never to go out on our own, not that they could do anything too serious, but if you just walked down a narrow pavement they would nudge you off into the road or anything like that that they could get away with. Naturally, they did not love us — if we had been occupied we would have been the same. It was a tricky situation and we had to be careful where we went or what we did in our off duty time.

This story was entered on The People's War Website by Stuart Ross on behalf of Joan Page. Joan fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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