10. The Erotics of War

Chapter 10: The Erotics of War, is another contextual chapter, exploring the theme of people having love affairs in wartime that they wouldn’t otherwise have had. It opens with an oral history interview with Kath Jones, a Castle Donington contemporary of Norah’s, who met her husband at the dances put on for servicemen in 1941. For Kath, the war was a time of friendship and romance. The chapter examines my failings as an oral historian, particularly my inability to ask Kath about matters relating to sex. The chapter then turns to a second conversation with John Davison, who also knew Norah and met his wife at a RAF dance in 1944. The chapter includes a discussion of the place of wartime memories in their later lives and explores a collection of letters written to John by his mate Bob Evans, a flyer in the RAF. These letters are largely about women, sex and romance.