Born in 1931, Ronald George Yardley faced the hardships of wartime as a child. At 18, he joined the Navy, trained for six weeks at HMS Royal Arthur, and became a Wireless Telegraphist. He later served on HMS Belfast and was deployed to Korea. Ron remembers the immense cold as they journeyed closer to Korea, travelling through frozen seas. When the Belfast arrived in Korea the bombardment and involvement in the war started immediately. He remembers a sad moment when the ship’s water pipes burst after being hit by enemy fire, scalding a soldier to death. Ron also recalls two marines who died on a mission, their bodies never recovered. Ron recounts a heartfelt moment when a young orphan from his mess deck, who never received letters, asked if Ron could read some of his own to help him feel connected to life back home. After leaving HMS Belfast, Ron was posted to HMS Royal Prince in Germany, where he carried out exercises on Hermann Goering’s luxury yacht. He remains deeply thankful to the South Koreans for funding the National Korean War Memorial, a place he proudly takes his grandchildren to.

Alan Johnson served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1947. The son of a professional Manchester city footballer he was enlisted as an Able Seaman on the Minesweeper HMS Onyx. In his expansive interview he talks in detail about his life onboard and the work he was involved in. He describes the mine clearing procedure in depth and the particular threats the ship faced day and night. The Onyx operated both in the Balkan seas on the Russian convoys and in the English Channel during the Normandy invasion. Alan shares entertaining memories from them all.

A few months after World War II began, Frank Wilson enlisted in the Royal Navy. He completed 10 weeks of training at HMS Collingwood and continued at HMS Wellesley in Liverpool, where he trained as an anti-aircraft gunner. Frank was then stationed on HMS Activity, a 14,000-ton ship, posted to the forward starboard side operating the anti-aircraft guns. He fondly recalls Captain Willoughby as an absolute gentleman. While training, Frank remembers being held in the harbour at Greenock when HMS Dasher exploded and sank in the Clyde in March 1943, with 379 out of 528 crewmen lost. He saw the smoke and heard about the sea being afire with aviation fuel. Frank’s first Russian Convoy was extremely cold, with temperatures below 50 degrees. He was part of the team escorting battleships Royal Sovereign and Missouri. On another trip, he witnessed HMS Bluebell get hit by a torpedo from the German submarine U-711 in the Barents Sea, where only one person survived. In Russia, Frank saw the hunger and gave food to the locals whenever he could. The Activity had to keep moving in dangerous waters to avoid being an easy target for the Germans. Frank was part of 20 different convoys, traveling in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. After serving on The Activity, he was transferred to HMS Berwick and sent to the Far East. In Singapore, he visited HMS Activity again to celebrate the end of the war with his old friends.