Edgar spent most of his childhood living near Heathrow and experienced the blitz and bombing of London. He enlisted in 1949 at aged 18. After joining the Middlesex battalion and travelling to Hong Kong, Edgar became a batman, as well as a barman and waiter. However, 8 months after arriving, they were transferred to Korea with only 4 days’ notice. He describes being nervous, as he didn’t know what to expect or what was happening there. His memories of Korea began with the smell of human waste at the dock. His primary role in Korea was that of riding shotgun for supply convoys to the front line such as the Pusan Perimeter and Huang He. Edgar gives a rich account of his time in Korea, including the complex relationships they had with the American troops, his experiences of the Korean people and the significant challenges of facing the Chinese army. He ascribes his own survival to the knowledge of the WWII veterans, and particularly the skills of their three commanding officers.  However, he feels that the Korean war and their role in it, have not been recognised to the extent that it should even to this day.

Freddie Montgomery recounts her experience in Germany during the Berlin airlift, from being assigned overseas when she was nineteen to the eventual lifting of the blockade during her tenure in the WRAC. Although she initially wanted to become a military policewoman, a position opened overseas, sending her to Germany and then, eventually, Berlin to help during the blockade. Freddie recalls her time in Berlin, primarily working in administration, and her sympathy towards struggling elder Germans, fear of Russian soldiers, and the lack of food during the airlifts. Nevertheless, Freddie reminisces on her time in Berlin with fondness, and explains how the Germans largely welcomed British troops, socialising with other sectors, and enjoying cultural activities like visiting the cinema and playing sports when she wasn't working. Later in life, Freddie became a minister in the Church, which was a choice heavily inspired by her experiences working during the airlift. Despite loving her time in Berlin, Freddie remembers the poverty she saw, and the amount of loved ones she saw die. Freddie's work as a minister still brings her in contact with the Berlin blockade today, as she recounts how she met some German people in the cathedral who expressed gratitude for British aid during the Berlin blockade, and Freddie is similarly aware of the impact of the airlift on her today.

George Reynolds tells the story of his military career, where each memory is as engrossing as the next. Following in his father’s footsteps, George enlisted in the army in 1937. Not long after, in 1939, he was off to India, where he had become both a stand out signaller and a skilled equestrian.   By 1941, his regiment found themselves embroiled in battle against the invading Japanese army. Troubling times followed; the Japanese succeeded in their occupation, George among the 80,000 taken as POW.   He was first put to work in a Singapore prison, where he detailed his starved but tanned condition, a result of outdoor work. After being shipped off to Taiwan in 1942, George recalls his torturous experience in a copper mine, where he faced the threat of beatings, malnutrition, and sickly skin, all at a level he had never seen before.  I’m sure you’ve gone through a roller coaster of emotions engaging with George’s story, but he closes on a powerful note. Following his liberation by the American Navy in 1945, George was plunged into a moral dilemma – how was he supposed to feel about the people who had hurt him?   To hate them, he says, was akin to a “cancer eating away at him”. At once, there and then, he decided to “forgive but not forget”. This ultimately underlines the hardiness and determination of a soldier, who, after seven long years away from home, was favoured to live to tell the tale.