Blitz Kids
Sean Longden

The traditional story of British children in WW2 focuses on the story of the evacuees and on how young children coped with the deprivation of wartime life. Using a large number of fresh interviews, this book tells a different version. Instead, the author looks at the children and teenagers who played a more active role in the war effort. Subjects covered include: the work of Boy Scouts during the Blitz; 14 year-old cabin boys in the Merchant Navy; Home Guard, ARP and Fire Brigade messengers; Post Office boys delivering telegrams telling people of deaths of family members; and school leavers earning high wages on ‘war work’. Particular focus is placed on underage volunteers in the armed forces, including ‘boy sailors’, underage airmen and 14 year-old boys running away from home to join the army.

Other subjects covered reflect the changes that took place for people growing up in wartime Britain, including: attitudes to sex, teenage prostitution and venereal disease, crime and violence. The author also covers teenage prisoners of war, including 14 and 16 year-old boys. The book looks at a number of incidents that particularly affected children including: the sinking of HMS Royal Oak in which a large number of ‘boy sailors’ died; the Bethnal Green tube disaster; and the sinking of the SS City of Benares which was carrying evacuees to Canada.