Bob was in Birmingham when it was bombed during WW2. A love of flying from an early age led him to join the RAF toward the end of the war and he was assigned to Coastal Command. He learned to fly the Sunderland, a four-engine flying boat, but before his training finished, he was sent to Berlin to assist with the Airlift. After qualifying as a pilot, he was assigned to Hamburg on the River Elbe where his squadron assisted in supplying Berlin with food and household goods. On their return trips they sometimes brought back malnourished children for care, as well as German export goods. He saw the Russians as confrontational, while relations were thawing with the Germans. During the period of the Airlift there was no leave for his squadron, but they were close to the centre of Hamburg where they could relax in the evenings. He thought that the Airlift was an important event but that the role of the Sunderland squadrons has received insufficient attention. After further overseas duties his squadron was assigned to Korea where war had just broken out. He flew coastal patrols, aiding the US navy in their search for enemy submarines. The Malayan Insurgency was also occurring during this time and the Sunderlands also helped the British army in their battle against communist guerrillas.  On leaving the RAF he spent many years as a flying instructor with various air forces in the Middle East before taking final retirement in 1976.

Brian Hough retells how he fought in Korea with the King's Regiment, his national service being his rare chance to see the world as well as what was planned for someone with a working class background. His regiment went through intensive training to prepare for the Korean War but Brian’s rough upbringing and his familiarity with discipline from school made it manageable.  Brian grew up with no hot water or upstairs electricity but that was nothing compared to the level of poverty he witnessed in Korea; the lack of sanitation, outdated technology and crowds of starving children made it seem like he'd gone back in time. Upon arriving at the trenches, he was apprehensive but got on with it due to being conditioned to believe everything would be okay if he followed his training and did what he was told.  After an invasion of the King’s Regiment's trenches, Brian saw hundreds of fiercely fanatical Chinese soldiers charging toward them, making hand to hand combat seem inevitable. Before Brian could panic, his commander bravely ordered artillery fire on the Chinese despite how close they were but miraculously none of the shells fell short and hit them. The King’s Regiment received battle honours for the role they played in bringing democracy to South Korea and Brian was amazed to see how quickly they then began advancing.

Rex shares his transformative experience of national service, going from a 'Jack the lad' fisherman in Ipswich, to Section Commander in Korea, all for a boy of 18 who had never left his home ground.

Rex describes traveling on The Windrush from Southampton to 'The Territories', 3 miles from Hiroshima to complete increasingly arduous military training run by Colonel Lonsdale designed to transform the men into “killing machines”.

From here the men were ½ a mile away from the Chinese military camps, where they could, on a clear day, see their enemy training to fight against them.

As soon as he turned 19, Rex was sent to Uijeongbu, to be quickly immersed in front line duty. He was soon to become a section commander, responsible for running patrols in the challenging landscape of paddy fields and mountains, at times coming within 150 yards of the North Korean and Chinese front line.

Rex recounts his experiences of living with Siberian winds, psychological warfare, 'Hill 335' and the brutality and carnage of fighting on 'The Hook', where death was only a whistle away. His story is one of resilience and comradeship.