Description

Congratulations to Emma Vickers for successfully defending her thesis, which examines the experiences of queer men and women in the British Armed Forces during the Second World War. Drawing on oral interviews with queer veterans of the war and other oral sources, plus a wide range of primary and secondary material including autobiographical works and personal memoirs, Emma has uncovered the lived experiences of queer men and women who served and the reactions of those who served with them. She interrogates the role and position of queer personnel during a war which saw volunteerism and conscription on a hitherto unprecedented scale, making a significant contribution to the historiography of gender and warfare. The thesis was examined by Lucy Noakes.