Stories of the Korean war by the men who experienced it.

In 1942, John Duke was hand-selected to join the 61^st Reconnaissance Regiment of the Armoured Corps. After undertaking intense training, John was sent to Normandy in the 2^nd wave of the D-Day invasion (13^th June 1944). As a Reconnaissance squadron, John’s unit was often further ahead of most soldiers, their job was to gain intelligence on enemy movements and report back. He recalls the precarity of this role, and how as the squadron’s driver, it was often his job to get them out of trouble in a hurry. John served in Normandy until August 1944. He was then sent to Nijmegen in Holland to assist the airborne landing in the Ardennes – this was all a part of Operation Market Garden. He speaks of the poor weather, and relentless German fire, which made it impossible for his squadron to advance. After Nijmegen, John was withdrawn to Belgium where he was involved in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. He recounts the extreme weather conditions – “we were up to our armpits in snow” – and the difficulty of fighting tanks in winter camouflage. After the Ardennes the 61^st regiment was disbanded, and John joined the 5^th regiment prior to the advance into Germany. He made it as far as Hanover and stayed there until 1946, when he was demobbed and returned home to become a police officer.

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electricity but that was nothing compared to the level of poverty he witnessed in Korea; the lack of sanitation, outdated technology and crowds of starving children made it seem like he'd gone back in time.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.