Armistice Day and Eden Camp

TODAY, November 11, is Armistice Day, and for 91 years, since the end of the First World War in 1918, people have marked this day by wearing poppies, attending special services and remembering those soldiers who died in the two world wars and the conflicts that have occurred since.

It’s an especially poignant time for veterans and their families and, the more years that pass, the fewer older veterans remain with us to keep the memories of the two world wars alive. This year, in July, the last of the ‘Tommies’, Harry Patch, died at the age of 111, taking the last living memories of the horror of the First World War trenches with him. And, with many of the veterans of the Second World War now in their 80s and 90s, that link with the events will soon dwindle, too.

It’s important, however, that the younger generations and those to come don’t forget the events and sacrifices that soldiers made during the two world wars. It’s also important that they know about the contributions and sacrifices that the ‘ordinary’ civilians of Britain made to the war effort, and the experiences they went through, plus the lesser known groups, who all made huge contributions and sacrifices.

That’s where Eden Camp museum, near Malton, comes into its own.

Eden Camp, a former POW billet, has been converted into a modern history museum dedicated to ‘honouring the courage, fortitude and sacrifice of the people who served in all walks of life during the Second World War’.

So said Stanley Johnson, whose idea and vision to set up the museum led to it being what its manager, Nick Hill, describes as being the most comprehensive display of British Second World War memorabilia in the world – much of which has been donated by veterans and people who lived through the times themselves.

He said: “Eden Camp is unique – we’ve got people’s personal accounts and stories and put them in their historical place.

“The museum appeals to the historian and the general public too, who can relate to these personal stories.”

Laid out over six acres, in a series of huts which once housed prisoners of war, and dotted with real military vehicles, air-raid shelters, artillery and much more, Eden Camp sets the scene straightaway for the visitor, bringing the Second World War period to life in a very authentic and real way. This is especially true for many of the visiting school parties, who experience what the text books could never teach them.

Each hut covers a particular subject. There’s an abundance of well-researched history and life-size displays that bring the era to life, such as burning streets during the Blitz, a living room with a family tuned into their wireless, hearing Neville Chamberlain’s announcement that Britain is at war, the inside of a U-boat and a trip down the mine of Bevin’s Boys, all researched, both visually and in written displays, in minute detail.

The history of Eden Camp is an interesting one. It came into being in 1942, when a small group of army personnel arrived at the site to construct a barbed wire enclosure containing tents to house some of the increasing numbers of POWs being brought into Britain.

The first inmates of Eden Camp consisted of about 250 Italian prisoners of war, who helped in the construction of a larger, more permanent camp. Within a barbed wire fence, 45 huts were built, 18 of which were barrack huts, each one housing 64 men. The other huts included a mess hall, hospital, laundry, recreation hut, and cooking and washing facilities.

Italian inmates inhabited the camp until 1944, when German POWs inherited the site, and the camp was eventually abandoned in 1948, when the last of the soldiers were released.

Eden Camp remained derelict until the mid-1980s, when local businessman Stanley Johnson discovered that much of the camp was unchanged from when the last of the prisoners left, even though in the intervening years it had been used as a camp for displaced persons, and then an agricultural camp, where people went from the cities to learn about agriculture.

The majority of the huts have been re-equipped to tell the story of The People’s War, the social history of life in Britain from 1939 to 1945, with others having been given military themes, and especially the wider world war in Europe, Russia, North Africa, America and Japan, and the brilliant Museum within a Museum, charting specific battles and political events which shaped the war.

It’s a very atmospheric museum, and, as you wander round, you get a feel for what life was like for the prisoners living here, plus what it was like for the ordinary people living in Britain during the war.

“The museum is dedicated to those ordinary people, the cogs who made things work,” said Nick.

“They might not have felt that they made a difference, but they did.”

There’s also a hut which is dedicated to the First World War, which is not only interesting in its own right, but provides the necessary information and background to the origins of the Second World War – which, frighteningly, came just 21 years later.

It’s quite an eerie place and as you wander through the trench, complete with realistic sights, sounds and smells, you really get a feel for what life on the battlefields was like.

Hut 13, meanwhile, is dedicated to all those conflicts that Britain has been involved with since the Second World War, including the Iraq wars and Afghanistan, covering events to the present day.

The NAFFI hut provides a welcome resting place where you can warm up with a cup of tea, or some tasty food – particularly welcoming if you visit, like I did, on a sunny, yet chilly, November day. Or pop into Hut 6, the music hall, and watch a puppet show featuring music from the key performers of the era, from Gracie Fields to George Formby.

Eden Camp is an internationally-recognised military museum and, as such, is continually forming partnerships with military and civilian veteran groups, associations and old comrade clubs, which have led to many donations of original memorabilia and archives, all of which are invaluable resources.

The museum also hosts reunion events for old veterans, and its annual Remembrance parade and service in September is the largest gathering of service veterans in the North of England, with 1,500 attending this year.

The museum’s Chapel of Remembrance, located within Hut 29, is the ideal place to stop for a moment of reflection; so if you find yourself there, spare a minute for not only the soldiers who have been involved in conflicts around the world, but also for the civilians who are affected, too.