Oxfordshire’s VE Day Stories are our series of articles covering Second World War stories with county connections, celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day in 2025. Our commemorative exhibition is now open until 18 November 2025, but when we called out for your stories from the local area, we received more than we could fit into the exhibition alone! John Sheldon has long been a research volunteer at…
Private 5384940 Henry ‘Spud’ Durley – 1st Bucks Battalion (Territorial Army) – POW by John Sheldon Part of a series of articles covering Second World War stories with county connections, celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day in 2025. Our commemorative exhibition is now open until 18 November 2025, but when we called out for your stories from the local area, we received more than we could fit…
The Long March From The Camps – Winter 1944/5 by Ingram Murray The Archives of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum hold many accounts by British Prisoners of War of the forced marches from camps in Eastern Europe to the west as the Red Army swept through Poland and Prussia in late 1944. There is none so moving as the story of Bernard Green, known as ‘Pop’ because of…
Featured: The Great War POW Album and Pilot’s Log Book of Lt. Frederick Matthews Recently donated to the museum was an incredible collection of items relating to Frederick Matthews, often referred to as ‘Eric’, who served with the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars and later the Royal Flying Corps. Eric’s story is already featured in our Airpower display in the museum’s permanent exhibition space, alongside copies of images now part of…
OXFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY ‘QUEENS OWN OXFORDSHIRE HUSSARS’ 63RD (OXFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY) ANTI-TANK REGIMENT RA (TA) SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945 In 1938 the regiment was converted from its artillery role to that of an anti-tank unit and renamed the 53rd Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (TA) (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry), the 4.5-inch Howitzer guns were now replaced with two-pound anti-tank guns. The Oxfordshire Yeomanry had two batteries, 211 at Oxford and 212 at Banbury.…
