Leaving school at 15, Keith Nutter worked refurbishing shoe-making machinery before joining the army at 18, serving as a wireless operator in the Royal Norfolk Regiment. After basic training at Colchester, Keith applied for the Parachute Regiment. However, after sustaining a head injury during a motorbike accident, Keith was returned to his unit. Despite losing his opportunity to join the regiment he wanted, Keith remains grateful, as his service allowed him to visit a country that he only heard of for the first time upon joining the army. Keith speaks on the leisurely voyage he and his comrades had out to Korea, his first impressions on arriving in Pusan, and the devastation witnessed as they took a train North to Britannia camp in Samichon Valley. Keith goes into some detail about his training and role as a wireless operator, the conditions of living and working in the signalling bunker, and the process of transporting and using the radio set. Keith also addresses how the role of communicator relies heavily on trusting your platoon as you were ‘deaf to the battle environment’ due to the headset and unable to open fire easily due to handling the microphone. Keith talks of the listening, capture, and recce patrols he was involved in. One such patrol involved ambushing Chinese soldiers digging a trench on an unoccupied hill in the middle of the night. During this ambush, Keith, along with three other men, were responsible for collecting the wounded and stayed until first light to try and find the two men that remained unaccounted for. For his bravery displayed here, Keith was mentioned in dispatches; however, he speaks modestly, describing how he ‘was proud of it, but I just done me job … nothing brave.’ It was on this patrol that Keith lost a very close friend, Roy McDonald, killed by a Chinese mortar. Though he didn’t shed a tear at the time, once home, the devastation of the loss of his friend hit him hard. Keith was interviewed for the Britannia magazine in which he spoke about the sympathy he had for the Chinese army as the British had ‘better weapons, better clothing, better food’. When asked how he feels all these years later about being a veteran, Keith proudly says that he ‘loved it in C Company’, he’s really glad he went, and has ‘never regretted it.’ It led him to meet lifelong friends, one of whom he revisited Korea with some years later.

John was drafted into the Army and, upon becoming a commissioned officer in the Royal Welsh Regiment, chose Jamaica as his dream destination. Fate chose Folkstone's barracks for John instead. He explains how his strong relationship with his platoon commander, rugby and the British weather - but not its terrain - prepared them for Korea. John then fondly recounts travelling and being posted to Hong Kong in 1951, aged 19, and explains how "Tuffy" the goat mascot deeply affected Welsh servicemen's morale! Most men had never left Wales, so they brought Welsh hymns with them as they landed in Pusan. John recalls acclimatising to a country and people devastated by war. Posted on the "Hook" ridge frontline, John gives a colourful depiction of the British defensive positions and cooking with petrol. He recalls his first (very) close enemy contact and the Chinese army's professionalism. John fought fiercely on Hill 169. He explains what night-time fighting was like and how his company fought their way out of a Chinese encirclement. John poignantly reflects on how the love for his men often trumped his fear of death. John shares a heart-racing encounter with a numerically superior enemy and how British artillery helped them escape into no man's land. John explains how the unreliable Sten gun hindered their retreat and how an act of god saved his men. On another dreaded daylight patrol, John shares a heart-breaking memory of how a well-placed mortar killed two of his men. There were always two other enemies, the cold weather and hills, and John explains how they were fought. John's platoon was then posted to Hill 355. John recalls a night-time raid behind enemy lines and how his men kept their discipline under unimaginable terror, and how he won the Military cross. He also speaks of keeping his humanity during war. Korea gave John clarity on life's important things and a steadfast resilience to its challenges. He also got nightmares and a lifelong grief for his fallen men. John is testament to the British soldier's camaraderie, honesty and resilience in the face of unimaginable challenges.

Brian Daley initially trained as a signaller in the Royal Signals when he was called up for national service in 1951. In this interview he recalls how during his signal training he realised he instead wanted to volunteer for the Royal Military Police and fight in Korea. Excited to embark on a new journey, Brian began his police detachment training. Brian remembers his voyage to the Far East and albeit rough at sea, he enthusiastically discusses the details of each port and country in which they stopped on route. As part of the police detachment unit, his role was to patrol the docks for suspicious activity. Brian was first stationed in Kure, and eventually made his way to Busan. He remembers that by the time of his arrival in Busan the war was almost over and thus he was only required for general policing. Reflecting on the Korean war Brian does not remember the fighting due to his positioning but will always remember the local Korean people whom he met on his journey. In this interview he reminds of the importance of documenting and remembering not only the war, but those who lost their lives.