Reg was called up to the army in February 1942 and posted to the infantry. While in Dover he recalls shelling from German long-range guns across the Channel. In July 1944 he joined his unit south of Caen and saw death close-up when four men near him were killed. During the Battle of the Falaise Gap he remembers the stench and decay from the hundreds of human and animal corpses. By now his battalion had suffered fifty percent casualties and was brought back up to full strength. One time an infantryman jumped out of his trench and ran toward the German lines and was killed, a condition they called ‘Bomb Happy’. On Christmas Eve 1944, his unit was ordered to support American troops engaged in the Battle of the Bulge. When his unit reached Germany the fighting became even tougher, although the population preferred the western Allies to the Soviets.

Tom Cromie’s free spirit sparked initial ambitions to be an RAF fighter pilot, but so did every other nineteen year old, so instead he joined the Royal Artillery as a soldier of the 231 Mortar Brigade. His story starts with the invasion of Sicily as a dispatch rider and Tom shares fond memories of practicing trick cycling on his motorcycle in quiet lulls. But his part in Sicily was cut short when a Bren Gun Carrier reversed over his leg, breaking it and sending him back home to England, not before, however, a remarkable moment in which he shared a cigarette with a terrified German who lay in the bed next to him in hospital. Tom then shares his memories of the D-Day landings as a field gunner, and recounts his lucky escape from almost drowning off of Green Beach. Another injury ends his part in the Normandy invasion and unable to return to his brigade, he eventually volunteered to be sent out to the Far East, ending up in India. Tom’s story is one full of character and gives glimpses of lightheartedness and humour into the terror of WW2 invasions.

Christian Lamb returned from a year in France just before war broke out and quickly joined the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service). She was initially employed as a Coder but switched to plotting, which involved plotting the locations of all the ships and planes on a huge board. She served in this role initially in London, then Plymouth and Belfast before returning to southern England in the run-up to D-Day. She relates many light-hearted anecdotes: enjoying lunchtime concerts in the National Gallery when she was working at the Wren Headquarters in Trafalgar Square; experiencing several close encounters with bombings during the blitz; shopping in the Republic of Ireland where there were less restrictions. Throughout the war, she and her colleagues maintained a strong sense of patriotism and determination, inspired by Churchill's speeches. Despite the dangers, they never considered the possibility of losing the war.

Phillip Govett served with the 117 Pioneer Company. He landed in Normandy on D plus 6 and moved through France, Belgium, and Holland. His main duties included supporting command supply depots (CSDs), prisoner of war camps, and providing supplies like ammunition and water. The unit experienced a rough time outside of Caen and had to dig in. They faced the dangers of mines, with one sergeant being severely injured by a booby trap. Phillip’s company waited to move up, but the advance was delayed due to the fighting at Caen. Phillip's journey took him near the German-Holland border, where they were in a forward area of a prisoner of war camp holding thousands of German prisoners.

Dennis Bowen retells how as a naive teenager he joined his heroes in the army motivated by the harm World War 2 was having on the UK, the realities of war shattering all of his childish expectations. Initially being too young to fight he served as a demonstrator but due to the lack of action and the overestimation of his own abilities the job felt like a complete waste to him.   Upon reaching 18 he was sent to France as part of the D Day invasion force and was finally among the British soldiers he had always idolised. Whilst Dennis found himself trembling with excitement the older soldiers remained blasé, the realisation of how much experience he truly lacked immediately hitting him. He was shocked to witness them reflexively kill German soldiers before they could even try to surrender but overtime he also found himself treating them more like moving targets than people.   Dennis felt no longer human and like the battle would never end as everything except fighting was leaving his mind; there was no time for hunger, fatigue or pain, only fear, anxiety and excitement. Occasionally the thought of giving up did slip through but the fact none of his fellow soldiers had done so forced him to keep going as to not let them and especially those who had died down. When serious injuries temporarily left him unable to fight Dennis was so angry to be out of the battle he felt none of the physical pain as potentially letting everybody down was so much more distressing to him.  

Even though Michael was in a protected occupation he joined the RAF as soon as possible. He trained as a flight engineer and was assigned to a Halifax bomber squadron, aged eighteen, in 1942. On their ninth flight the crew had to bail out over Britain due to lack of fuel. His parachute malfunctioned and did not initially open. It opened just in time and he went to a nearby farm. The rest of the crew thought he had been killed. His aircraft flew several sorties for Special Operations Executive, dropping agents into occupied France before D-Day. These missions were at low altitude and attracted a lot of fire from German light anti-aircraft guns. Many of the shells went right through the Halifax without causing too much damage. Eventually Michael and his crew completed a ‘tour’ of forty missions, although this took a toll on him, especially when he would notice some of beds in the barracks had not been slept in, meaning that those men were not returning. Michael was often physically sick at the start of a mission and kept a tin in the plane for this purpose. During his tour he went to see the base Medical Officer (MO) and said that he was not feeling well, to which the MO replied that it was Lack of Moral Fibre. Michael told him to f*** o** and just left. Michael wonders that, if there is a God, why he let all the killing of the war take place.

At the onset of the Second World War, 16 year old Andrzej Jeziorski was living with his family in Warsaw, Poland. Within days, his father, a Polish Air Force officer, was transferred to southeastern Poland with his family. After the Soviet invasion of their country, they crossed the border into Romania and eventually made their way to France, where Polish Armed Forces units were regrouping. Andrzej Jeziorski continued his schooling in Paris until May 1940, when, at the age of 17, he joined the Polish Army as an Officer Cadet. He was then evacuated to England along with many other Polish servicemen and continued his training in their Tank Corps. In 1942, Jeziorski transferred to the Air Force to train as a pilot and, in 1943, joined the Polish RAF Squadron 304, flying Wellingtons in Coastal Command, mainly on anti-submarine patrols over the Bay of Biscay. He continued these missions until the war's end and expressed disappointment at the fate of his homeland and its Soviet occupation. Jeziorski remained with the RAF until 1948 and went on to become a commercial pilot, settling in the UK with his family.

Henry William “Buster” Brown grew up during the Second World War, evacuated as a child and training later as an apprentice electrical engineer. Determined not to end up in the mines, he went against his father’s wishes and volunteered for the Royal Navy. His skills as a wireman saw him posted to a specially adapted Landing Craft Flak — a flat-topped vessel bristling with anti-aircraft guns and manned by a close-knit crew of sailors and Royal Marines.

In his interview, Buster recalls training in Combined Operations, landing on Sword Beach on D-Day and almost immediately being placed in charge of 12 German prisoners. He describes patrolling the Gooseberry line off the Normandy coast under shellfire, cramped and damp life aboard LCF 39, and the loss of close friends. He recounts rescuing men from HMS Swift after she struck a mine, and the ferocious fighting of the Walcheren landings to open up Antwerp.

Buster’s story ends with his memories of VE Day and an unexpected posting to America — a vivid, humorous and heartfelt account of a remarkable naval career.