Group Captain John Hemingway, 104, is the last known surviving member of the group Sir Winston Churchill famously described as “the few”.
He was shot down four times during the war – and credits “Irish luck” with helping him survive.
When he was 21 he was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, a three-month period when air force personnel defended the skies against a large-scale assault by the German air force, the Luftwaffe.
During the Battle of Britain he was shot down twice in the space of eight days.
Churchill said of the fighter pilots and bomber crews: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”
John puts his survival in the war down to good fortune.
“It must be to do with something like that because here I am, an Irishman, talking to you.
“So many others were shot down first time and that was the end of them.
“I was lucky. And I’m still lucky.”
We Were There aims to collect as many first-hand accounts as possible by 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, to preserve veterans’ accounts for future generations.
The BBC is currently working on the project with a number of partners including the Normandy Memorial Trust and Royal British Legion. Some of the stories collected may be shared with our partners and used on BBC News platforms.
If you have a story to share, or know someone who does, please click here to tell us a little bit more or use one of the methods below.
Do you or someone you know have memories of World War Two? Please share these experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
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