This book takes the reader from late nineteenth century England to the end of the Second World War. The story of John Philip (JP) Gregory is based on the life of a Royal Air Force pilot and Squadron Leader who fought in Africa, and at D-day and the battle of Arnhem in 1944, and the parallel story of Emily Hale, who lived through the Blitz in London while working for the BBC. Emily became a WREN and was involved in the development of radar at Defford when she met JP.Both Emily and JP grew up without a parent: JP’s father, Lionel, having died from the effects of his exposure to poison gas in the First World War.The intimate letters reproduced in this book give the reader a deeper insight into the lives of the members of their two families through which the ‘blast of war’ echoed down two generations. The themes of the book include the power of memory to fill our lives, and demonstrates the importance of passion, excitement and mortality in the shaping of those memories.