Remembering War: Your memories
Add, view and share your memories of war. These memories will be analysed and will help us to understand how we understand and recall war. 'Remembering War: Your memories' is part of the 'Remembering War' event, which supports the 'War and Medicine' exhibition.
Whether they are of an actual experience, of watching a film, or of listening to others recount their experiences, our minds are infused with memories of war and conflict.
At Wellcome Collection's 'Remembering War' event in January 2009, Professor Martin Conway and his colleague Dr Catriona Morrisson from the University of Leeds will give an interim report on the memories collected so that we can understand more about how society remembers conflict.
Featured memories
VE night, May 1945
I was not quite 3 years old, out at night with my parents in Putney, S.W. London. I was in my pushchair. It must have been well past my normal bedtime as my first recollection is of strings of bright light-bulbs shining along the Towpath (as it was still known by the locals, actually the Thames Embankment). Putney was a much closer riverside community in those days, and Dad always seemed to know everyone though no doubt complete strangers connected that night!
We progressed up Putney High Street, and stopped for a drink at a pub. Across the road was the Post Office (on the corner of Disraeli Road), where a revolving searchlight was sweeping the sky.
My overwhelming memory is of the joyful atmosphere; thats presumably why it sticks in my memory from such a young age.
TV coverage of the first Iraq war
I was at school and I think this is the first war that i remember that involved the UK, i was only 5 during the Falklands so don't have any memory of that conflict. I remember watching the News at all hours of the night on a portable black and white TV in my bedroom. I made sure i knew exactly what was happening. It felt important for me to understand why we were fighting. I had a mix of emotions, i think that after that experience i truly understood what the word war meant.
The Wellcome Trust is not responsible for the content of the memories on this site.
For more information, please email: info@wellcomecollection.org
