What differentiates the British World War II generation from any other?

I was always curious about my father, who at the end of a long and bitter conflict met and married my mother in the ruins of Hamburg - a German, the enemy - despite family reticence on both sides. They could not even speak the same language, yet decades later they have passed their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

There is enormous interest in the Second World War generation, primarily from their families, who look for insights about a conflict that is unsurpassed in scale, length and bitterness since. There are those that suggest this particular community may have had a more fulfilling spiritual life than many today, who by comparison, have materially everything.

Never Surrender seeks to identify the primary characteristics of this group now reducing with age, by examining the formative episodes that shaped their attitudes. This is not a story of battles and campaigns, rather selected vignettes from defining moments described through interviews, letters, diaries and personal accounts.

‘Snapshots’ are taken of these selected scenarios. What was it like to witness the fall of France and wait anxiously to be taken off the beaches at Dunkirk? What did people feel at the prospect of an invasion watching German bombers fly overhead during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz? What motivated Commandos to volunteer for virtual suicide missions or other men to take on the physical and psychological burdens of fighting and patrolling the deserts and jungles of the Middle and Far East? Merchant seamen on North Atlantic convoys, bomber crews over the Ruhr in Germany, paratroopers jumping from aircraft by night over Normandy or assault troops struggling ashore through obstacle strewn surf on D-Day are all freeze-framed to identify and encapsulate the unique characteristics the British wartime generation has.

A wide cross section of soldiers and civilians, men and women have, like my mother and father, spoken to us through personal accounts, letters, diaries and oral histories. The vast majority of them are now in their eighties. Never Surrender offers a final opportunity to hear their stories before they are gone for ever.