
Helen Parr is a professor at the University of Keele and has previously worked on the experiences and memories of the 1982 Falklands war and wrote Our Boys: The Story of a Paratrooper.
In this new project, in partnership with the National Army Museum, Helen is hoping to find out more about how British military conflicts were remembered after 1945 and about the impacts these conflicts had. She is looking first for people whose relatives died serving Britain during the Malayan Emergency 1948-60 or in the recent conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan who would like to share their memories and recollections.
The aim is to try to understand better how people remember their loved ones – their sons, brothers, husbands, uncles or their friends or comrades; or, in the case of more recent conflicts, also their daughters, sisters, wives, or aunts. There may also be the chance to involve some people in a photographic project, photographing the many ways people have found to remember their loved ones – whether it is a photographic display or display of memorabilia in your home, or a memorial bench or tree.