Robert Greenall, born in 1922, has produced a powerful narrative about his life in North West England and the way that world events influenced the lives of ordinary Lancashire people.
He describes the school and work experiences of himself, his sister and his four brothers during the harsh economic climate of the 1930s.
He continues with a personal description of the effects on his Lancashire family of the dangers and frustrations of the build-up to World War II.
At the age of seventeen, he joined the Local Defence Volunteers, spending many nights alone in the local countryside keeping a look-out for enemy paratroopers. His experiences after call-up to the army at the age of nineteen are both comic and poignant.
He concludes with his family's sometimes difficult return to civilian life.