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A veteran interview with

George Barnes

George Barnes had spent his child hood playing around on the harbours and beaches of his native Cornwall. In 1950 he was conscripted and sent to Korea

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About George Barnes

George describes his WWII childhood in Cornwall, leaving school at 14 and working as an apprentice for the General Post Office (GPO). Conscripted into the army’s Royal Corps of Signals aged 19, he remembers training camp instructors’ hostility and his lasting camaraderie with trainees from all backgrounds.

He recalls seeing other countries and nationalities for the first time during his 28-day journey to Korea, becoming emotional while reflecting upon his arrival in Pusan, where he saw refugees facing extreme poverty and the ravages of war.

As a wireless operator, George drove reconnaissance vehicles around the Imjin River. At night, he scraped sleeping holes into hillsides or slept under the stars, always missing home but never frightened. He conveys the stench of war, the whistling of shell fire overhead, the suffocating heat of the dusty summer and the sometimes-fatal blistering winter cold. He reminisces fondly about the Korean nation and the feeling of returning home to Penzance.

George’s depiction of wartime smells, sights and sounds show the enduring intensity of veterans’ memories even decades later. His interview highlights how, for some, deployment was the adventure of a lifetime that took them to otherwise inaccessible corners of the world.

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker
Reviewed by:
Natasha Norris

Transcripts:
Please note that transcripts and closed captions in the video player are automatically generated by Vimeo.

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Home | Veterans | George Barnes

A veteran interview with

George Barnes

georgeBarnes

George Barnes had spent his child hood playing around on the harbours and beaches of his native Cornwall. In 1950 he was conscripted and sent to Korea

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Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Barnes, George. A Veteran Interview with George Barnes. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, 27 Mar. 2012 https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/george-barnes/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.
APA Style:
Barnes, G. (2012, March 27). A Veteran Interview with George Barnes [Interview by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Retrieved December 12, 2025, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/george-barnes/
Chicago Style:
Barnes, George. 2012. A Veteran Interview with George Barnes. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, March 27. Accessed December 12, 2025. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/george-barnes/
Harvard Style:
Barnes, G. (2012). A Veteran Interview with George Barnes. [Interviewed by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee, 27 March. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/george-barnes/ (Accessed: 12 December 2025)
Vancouver Style:
Barnes, G. A Veteran Interview with George Barnes [Internet]. Interview by M. Bisiker. Legasee; 2012 Mar 27 [cited 2025 Dec 12]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/george-barnes/
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Betty Webb

Betty joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1941.

Joining during the Second World War, Betty was sent to train at the Welsh Barracks near Wrexham. After performing well in her tests, she was sent to interview with the Intelligence Corps in London. She remembers being immediately taken to sign the Official Secrets Act and proceed to working in listing translated messages in Bletchley. It was at this posting that she discovered her talent for paraphrasing, and from this point onwards was given the task of paraphrasing translated enemy messages to be sent on to Burma. Remarkably, Betty was then sent to work in the Pentagon before moving to the British Army Staff base in Washington DC. In her interview she describes the lack of news made available to American civilians surrounding the war in Europe, and her frustration at the lack of understanding future employment had on the highly classified status of her military work. When asked her thoughts on the disbandment of the WRAC, Betty felt disappointed that there was no longer a women's army as she enjoyed the independent identification of the female corps.
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Geoff Grimley

A light-hearted recollection of a young Signalman's journey far-East with the 28th Brigade at the beginning of the Korean War.

Growing up in Cosford during the Second World War, Geoffrey Grimley became familiar with military surroundings from a young age. School geography lessons instilled in him an interest in Japan, and when conscription came at 19 years old, he registered with a preference to be stationed in the far-East. Geoffrey's childhood near an RAF base discouraged him from the airforce, so he instead became listed as a Signalman. The 6-month training period Geoffrey completed in Catterick taught him to decipher up to 14 words of Morse Code per minute. After a single excursion to a firing range, Geoffrey boarded a Devonshire 'Bibby Line' to Singapore. The journey took six weeks, and just a few weeks after his arrival, he journeyed on to Hong Kong. One bad winter later, Geoffrey left Kowloon Harbour to the sound of the Royal Ulster Rifles Pipe Band for the final leg of his journey to Korea. He arrived with the Kings Own Scottish Borderers on St. George's Day, 1951. Geoffrey recalls unsettled weather, mischievous tank drivers, and entertainment within his Brigade, including a boxing match between the KOSBs and a professional Filipino sportsman. Geoffrey was soon stationed at the Battle of Kapyong. Geoffrey's interview was cut short before sharing further details of his service due to his feeling unwell, but the beginning of his story creates a vivid, and at times, humorous, picture of his journey to becoming a Signalman.
Photo Gallery icon 1 Photo
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An interview with

Diane Pratt

Diane Pratt worked in logistics for the WRAC and the Royal Transport Corps.

When the Royal Marine Band and military recruiters visited her school, Diane was immediately drawn to the idea of joining the armed forces. She first applied to the Royal Navy, but the prospect of being posted to her home town of Plymouth didn’t offer the adventure she was looking for. Then she learned that the Army could send her further afield — and that was all the encouragement she needed. At just seventeen, she enlisted, and her journey with the Women’s Royal Army Corps began. After her initial training at Guildford, Diane was posted to Kineton where she worked with classified documents and ammunition. She was then posted to Northern Ireland as a volunteer searcher and worked alongside the Royal Military Police. Diane describes the issues women faced in the army, and the mistreatment of female corps by male soldiers. Whilst in this posting she experienced the bombing of Newry in 1980 and soon after decided to leave Ireland. Diane was then moved to Berlin where she worked as a clerk for the Royal Transport Corps. Although Diane feels forever connected to the WRAC, she felt strongly that there were innate issues with the female corps surrounding pay discrepancy, limited opportunities for women on the front-line, and multiple attempts to stop women's careers on the conditions of marriage and pregnancy.
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