Connect with us: 
From the outbreak of war to air raid shelters and VE Day, a new exhibition at The D-Day Story, Portsmouth will look at the memories of children living in the city during the Second World War.
‘Fun, Fear and Familiarity’ A child’s view of Second World War Portsmouth opens at the museum on 12 December.
Over the last few months the museum, in collaboration with the University of Portsmouth’s School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies, has been interviewing people who lived in the city to ensure these stories are not lost.
Many of those interviewed are in their 80s and 90s now and were children at the start of the war in 1939, not knowing any different from the rationing and air raids.
Interviewee Joan Bourne, photo: Connor Clear, University of Portsmouth
Joan Bourne lived in Buckland. She says in her interview: “Most of the houses were bombed, and we used to jump over the back walls from one to the other. And then suddenly you’ve got someone screaming ‘Get out of here’. And it was because someone was still living in there.”
The exhibition looks at the impact of war on the city and its residents in relation to simple things like going to the shop, the city cloaked in darkness and everyday family life. It will feature items from the museum’s collection, photographs and a film of some of the interviews.
Tony Stephens lived in Southsea, he says: “I don’t think I saw a banana until the end of the war. What was available was good, substantial stuff. And of course, we had the Spam and corned beef, these sorts of things which were imported, I think. What we had was basic foodstuffs.”
Family outside a shelter after an air raid in 1940
There will also be a section looking at wartime photographer Victor Stewart who worked for the Portsmouth Evening News (now know at The News). His photographs provide a unique record of this period in the city’s history, and the experiences of local people.
2025 marked 80 years since the end of the Second World War, with the 80 anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day on 8th May and Victory over Japan (VJ) on 15th August.
The D-Day Story is the only UK museum dedicated to telling the story of 6th June 1944. It is home to LCT 7074, the last preserved Landing Craft Tank that took part in D-Day landing on Gold beach. You can also discover the museum’s collection and explore the 83-metre-long Overlord Embroidery.
The exhibition is free and runs from Saturday 13 December 2025 until Monday 12 January 2026 at The D-Day Story. For more information, visit theddaystory.com
Posted in: Art & Culture, History & Architecture, Local & Community, What's On
