Denis and Gwendoline's Journey in Willesden

Denis Northern and his wife-to-be Gwendoline Exton were both teenagers at the start of the war, living in Willesden, North London. Denis was a hydraulics engineer but the factory where he worked was converted to produce parts for tanks. This was a reserved occupation, so Denis joined the Home Guard. His daughter believes he always felt guilty about not being in the forces, especially as his father was killed by a bomb dropped on a hospital where he was a patient. Denis didn't tell any stories about the Home Guard, but he did say that Dad's Army was spot on.

Gwendoline was fourteen in 1939 but was not evacuated; they were bombed out of their home and went to live with her grandparents nearby. She then left school and got a job in a factory then was called up and posted to work in the Admiralty but never said what she did there.

She and Denis met while they were out and about. He was a keen cyclist. They got married in 1945 before the end of the war. It was a small wedding with a borrowed dress, as was the way it was done at the time.