Doris White (1986).

 I think we were spurred on by romantic movies to be little

home-makers. I knew my boyfriend would come home and

we’d get married. I worked like mad and got the house nice,

whitewashed the ceilings and colourwashed the walls. And

after I’d done all that he used to go out every night because

he missed the comradeship. The men missed the war. It felt a

bit of a let-down to be home with the missus and the garden.

They just couldn’t settle.

Mary Smith (1981)

Husbands returned home, each to his private welcome. Mine

returned on 13 November 1945. When my sans saw him the

eldest said, ‘oh, you are my daddy!’ The second said, ‘You are

Mr Smith!’ My youngest, poor little thing, said, ‘Ooh. ‘im?,

the first words he had ever said. This was the first time he

had ever seen his father.

Megan Ryan (1981).

(May 8 1945) I thought of those who had not lived to see this.

Of John, who had stood at the altar with us on our wedding

day... who had been trapped in his cockpit when his plane

sank beneath the waves … Of Ron, who had vanished when

his troopship had been sunk by the Japanese; of Peter, who

had been shot while trying to escape from the prisoner of-war

camp....

They were all so young. The youngest died at nineteen, the

oldest at twenty-four. I sat thinking of them and then went

indoors to stand looking at the sleeping faces of my two little

sons, whose lives lay before them in a world at peace.

V.E. DayFor each source, write down how that person was affected by the

war. Give examples to show your thinking.

Which one sums up best what the war meant for most people?