Arthur Brown joined the army in 1943 as a radio operator in the Tank Regiment but soon became fed up with the training and volunteered for the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He joined Operation Jedburgh, which involved three-man teams—an allied commanding officer, a radio operator, and a local officer—being parachuted behind enemy lines around D-Day to work with resistance fighters in France and the Low Countries. There were around 100 ‘Jedburgh’ teams deployed in the European theatre mainly between June and September 1944. On the 9th of June, Brown, now a Sergeant, his team leader, the highly decorated Scottish officer, Major Tommy MacPherson and a French officer, Michel ‘Bourbon’ were dropped into central France to assist the Maquis. The ‘Jedburgh’s were dressed in military uniform to avoid being executed as spies, if captured. Brown’s role was to send coded radio messages back to the UK updating their operations but he became ill and had to be hidden by the Maquis, being moved around to avoid detection. After France was liberated, he and MacPherson continued similar operations in Italy until the German surrender. When faced with a possible posting to Germany, Brown volunteered to go to Burma and served there with other former ‘Jedburghs’ until the war's end. 

Colonel R.K. Montgomery shares his story as a British Army officer during World War II. Coming from a family with a strong military background, Montgomery joined the Royal Engineers in 1939. Early in the war, he faced the fast advance of German forces and had to pull back from France to England. His interest in explosives led him to join the Commandos, a special unit trained for tough missions. In his role he trained other Commandos in using explosives. His skills were crucial during the St. Nazaire Raid, a mission to destroy a key German port. During the raid, they completed their mission under heavy enemy fire but were eventually captured by German forces. Montgomery spent time as a prisoner of war in Oflag IX-A/H Spangenberg Germany. He faced many hardships but also showed great resilience to make it through his imprisonment. After the war, he continued his military service in Malaya, working in engineering roles. His story is a powerful example of bravery, skill, and dedication.

Kay volunteered for the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a teenager in 1940. Toward the end of her training three ATS women were killed in Chatham and she volunteered as one of the replacements. This assignment was in the Y service, which was a worldwide network of intelligence gathering. Her work involved receiving messages from around the world, transcribing them so that they could be evaluated and passed on to various units. Some went to the Ultra decoding group at Bletchley Park. After several different locations her unit was sent to disguised purpose-built offices near Loughborough. Here she spent the next five years until the end of the war, which they knew was imminent when they received an uncoded message from Germany ‘Der Fuhrer ist kaput’! When the war ended she held the rank of sergeant. She was sworn to secrecy and did not talk about her work for thirty years, which irritated her mother. During her time in the Y service, she worked with Special Operations Executive and intelligence officers, including Kim Philby. She thinks that her work during the was worthwhile and has been told that it may have shortened the war by up to two years. In 1945 she married a man she met working at the same establishment, and they were both demobbed that year. She became a borough councillor and was thinking of standing as an MP but instead went with her husband to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where they lived and worked for fifteen years.