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Gordon-Smith

A veteran interview with

Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith gives an emotional account of his military experiences during WWII starting with memories of the Blitz.

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About Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith shares an emotional account of his WWII experiences, starting with memories of the Blitz. As a Royal Engineer he was involved in the secretive construction of the Mulberry Harbours, a massive project involving over 40,000 people and 13 million cubic meters of concrete.

On D-Day, Gordon landed on Sword Beach and recalls fighting the enemy and his friends! He recalls the severe impact on Calais, which was heavily bombed by the 10th Panzer Division in May 1940, fortified by Germans, and used as a V1 Flying Bomb launch site. In February 1945, he was haunted by a British bombing mistake on Calais.

He is also posted to the Far East and describes the Changi POW camp, where the Japanese held 50,000 POWs in the British Army’s Selarang Barracks.

Gordon reflects on the war’s profound effect on him, despite feeling fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time.

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker
Reviewed by:
Martin B

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

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Home | Veterans | Gordon Smith

A veteran interview with

Gordon Smith

Gordon-Smith

Gordon Smith gives an emotional account of his military experiences during WWII starting with memories of the Blitz.

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Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Smith, Gordon. A Veteran Interview with Gordon Smith. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, n.d. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/gordon-smith/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
APA Style:
Smith, G. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Gordon Smith [Interview by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Retrieved January 23, 2026, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/gordon-smith/
Chicago Style:
Smith, Gordon. n.d.. A Veteran Interview with Gordon Smith. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee. Accessed January 23, 2026. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/gordon-smith/
Harvard Style:
Smith, G. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Gordon Smith. [Interviewed by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/gordon-smith/ (Accessed: 23 January 2026)
Vancouver Style:
Smith, G. A Veteran Interview with Gordon Smith [Internet]. Interview by M. Bisiker. Legasee; n.d. [cited 2026 Jan 23]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/gordon-smith/
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An interview with

Alan Guy

Army health Inspector provides an interesting perspective on the Korean War.

Alan Guy was deployed to Korea in 1952 aged 19.  He served with the Royal Army Medical Corp’s 10 Field Hygiene Section.
In his interview he talks about his early life in Liverpool including recollections of the blitz and his first job as a rat-catcher. On the way to Korea, Alan and a friend set-up a make-shift photographic studio taking pics of some of the families that were also en-route to the Far East. He arrives in Pusan and then travels towards the front line where the desolation and cold are striking memories. Alan’s unit, a tight-knit group of 30 specialists, was tasked with teaching soldiers on disease prevention and health and hygiene. He talks in detail about his work including the various medications and processes for keeping the troops fighting fit. He reflects that despite the brutality of the war, there were surprisingly few cases of mental trauma. Alan was in Korea during the ceasefire. When he returned to England he married and became an army reservist. One morning he receives a telegram and by the afternoon he was back in barracks.  Then he's posted to the Suez and the start of a difficult posting. In later life, Alan became President of the British Korean Veterans Association and was instrumental in the building of the Korean War memorial on London's SouthBank.
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Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker