Deryck Cook
Born in Exton, England, in 1938, Deryck Cook could not remember a time before the
world was at war. Although the worst bombings of the Battle of Britain had ended by
the time Cook was in school, gas masks remained compulsory and air raids were common.
Cook recalls how his family played host to three evacuated children from Coventry,
how ration stamps were required for purchases in the village shop run by his mother
and aunt, and how the village children begged chewing gum from American troops stationed
there between 1943 and 1944. Cook left England in 1982 with his wife and three children,
moving first to Toronto, Canada, and then to Detroit, Michigan, and finally to Georgia
where he has lived for more than thirty years.
Click here to watch Cook's videos.
Topics: War in Europe, Rationing, The Blitz, War in Europe, Racism in the Military, Prisoners of War, Women in War