In 1939 there were more than ten million children living in Britain. Their childhoods were about to beshattered by events they could neither control nor comprehend. The Second World War not only tore two million children away from their homes as evacuees, it also called on boy scouts and girl guides to risk their lives as air-raid messengers and fire watchers. It made sleeping in air raid shelters and never having enough food or clothes part of everyday life. Worse, it made hundreds of thousands of families homeless and took the lives of mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and grandparents - as well as children themselves. But amidst the turmoil and tears, the war also brought excitement and opportunity.