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One In Five

Diaries and notebooks written during the Second World War offer the modern reader an invaluable insight into the everyday thoughts, hopes and fears of normal people leading their everyday lives in extraordinary circumstances. In a time characterised by uncertainty, diaries were an important way of expressing an individual’s response to the events around them, and to reflect on the impact these had on their own lives. Read through the diaries below to see how the war affected two people in very different ways.

Iris Bullen - War Diary

After June 1940, when Winston Churchill announced that the Channel Islands would not be defended, Iris Bullen, a resident of the Islands, had to make a difficult choice: to be evacuated or stay and face German occupation. One third of all Channel Islanders left for the British mainland. Iris was worried about her family getting separated and chose to stay on Jersey with her two young children. Iris kept a journal that describes her struggle to keep the Bullen family safe and healthy during the five years that Jersey was occupied. You can read this diary by clicking the link above.

Mary Harrison - War Diary

Mary Harrison wrote poems and painted cartoons about her work for the Royal Air Force (she served in the WAAF – the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force – during the Second World War). You can read these poems and see Mary’s cartoons by clicking the link above.

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