Mary Soames OBE delivers a vibrant account of her journey from an ambulance driver for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANYs) to a colonel in the British Army. She recounts with fondness the memories and occasional challenges that emerged throughout her twenty-six-year career which witnessed the entirety of the Second World War. Initially driving converted bread vans as ambulances at Royal Albert Docks following the outbreak of war, Mary moved to a more senior and administrative role at Streatham Common. As she progressed through her career, Mary undertook more senior roles and responsibilities in a variety of locations and shares the stories she collected along the way, including brief affiliations with the intelligence corps, tales of the Blitz, and interactions with Royal Family members. Mary joined the army in 1942, where she was commissioned as a colonel and remained in this position until her marriage in 1964. Mary’s story reflects some of the struggles that women faced in positions of military authority. Nonetheless, her pride at being a member of FANY and admiration for the remarkable organisation are illuminated throughout her account. Her career was one of remarkable growth and was made all the more commendable with her roles as life vice-president of WRAC Association and chairman of the Benevolent Fund.   The publication of this previously unseen interview was made possible thanks to a grant from The Gerry Holdsworth Special Forces Charity, to mark 80 years since the closure of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in January 1946. 

Gordon Smith shares an emotional account of his WWII experiences, starting with memories of the Blitz. As a Royal Engineer he was involved in the secretive construction of the Mulberry Harbours, a massive project involving over 40,000 people and 13 million cubic meters of concrete. On D-Day, Gordon landed on Sword Beach and recalls fighting the enemy and his friends! He recalls the severe impact on Calais, which was heavily bombed by the 10th Panzer Division in May 1940, fortified by Germans, and used as a V1 Flying Bomb launch site. In February 1945, he was haunted by a British bombing mistake on Calais. He is also posted to the Far East and describes the Changi POW camp, where the Japanese held 50,000 POWs in the British Army's Selarang Barracks. Gordon reflects on the war's profound effect on him, despite feeling fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time.