Nikita Gill

To commemorate Remembrance, we are proud to have partnered with Nikita Gill, the talented poet, playwright, writer and illustrator to create the poem ‘Who You Are’.

Inspired by records and imagery available from Ancestry’s collection of over 2 billion wartime records, Gill’s specially commissioned work illustrates the wartime experiences of ordinary people both at home and overseas.

Gills shares, “This commission really speaks to me on a personal level – both my grandfathers were in the army so it’s a real privilege to be able to commemorate the experiences of those who experienced wartime Britain through poetry. I hope that by seeing how I used Ancestry’s UK Wartime Records to uncover the everyday – and not so everyday – stories of those on the frontline and the homefront, people are inspired to look into their own family wartime history and learn more about the experiences of ordinary people during those turbulent times, as I did."

Using historical documents, you could also discover your own family’s untold wartime stories, and what roles your ancestors played during the world wars to ensure their memory and contributions live on.