Ron Smith grew up in an Army family but chose the Royal Marines, earning his green beret after tough commando training. Selected for service in Korea, he was sent to Camp McGill in Japan where, alongside the US Marines, he prepared for daring night raids along the Korean coast. He remembers his first mission vividly, and speaks warmly of his commanding officer, Colonel Drysdale, whom he calls “one of the finest officers I’ve ever met.”

In his interview, Ron shares striking memories: the tension of stealth landings nearly betrayed by barking dogs, the shock of Chinese forces entering the war, and the fierce fighting at the Chosin Reservoir. He recalls the eerie sound of enemy bugles, the trauma of combat, and the shrapnel wound that saw him evacuated to Japan. Later, he rejoined his unit for raids from Wonsan Harbour.

Ron reflects too on everyday encounters: the plight of Korean civilians, the adoption of a local child, and the lasting impact of a conflict often called the “Forgotten War.” Returning decades later, he marvelled at South Korea’s transformation.

After serving in the Home Guard and experiencing bombing in the blitz in London, Cornelius Snelling was conscripted into the Royal Navy in 1942 and carried out his basic training on HMS Ganges at Shotley. From his port division, Chatham, he was assigned his first posting, as a Bosun’s mate, to a newly commissioned ship docked at Glasgow, HMS Wild Goose, a Black Swan-class sloop. HMS Wild Goose specialised in anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay and Snelling took part in some of the ship's most notable actions, including the renowned "six in one trip" in 1943, which saw HMS Wild Goose, alongside other Bird-class sloops, sink six German U-boats in a single patrol. Snelling’s final journey aboard HMS Wild Goose was participating in an Arctic convoy to Murmansk and he describes the extreme conditions. In 1944, Snelling transferred to HMS Tyler, an American-built frigate on loan to the Royal Navy. HMS Tyler conducted patrol and escort missions in the North Atlantic and the English Channel, where it also escorted landing craft and supply ships during the D-Day invasion of the Normandy beaches. Snelling's service concluded in October 1945 when he steamed with HMS Tyler back to the United States, where the ship was returned to the US Navy.