Ted was born into a boating family and became an apprentice towing up to 150-ton barges on the Thames. He joined The Royal Engineers as a Sapper (Combat Engineer) Waterman. He was sent to Field Company Kitchener Barracks Chatham, then to the 229 Field Company, a territorial unit in the 49th West Riding Division. He undertook pontoon training, building rafts and dismantling bridges. Ted was put on a cadre course to earn his lance corporal stripe and travelled to Norway as part of The North -Western Expeditionary Force (NWEF). He arrived in the port of Narvik to obtain iron ore supplies, facing gun fire and bombing. After damaging cranes, quays and railway lines to slow down the enemy, he travelled back on The Lancastria ship, stopping to build defences from Scotland to East Anglia. Ted became a sergeant and was posted to 947 in the world of transport company. He later became a sergeant major, working as a tug skipper and undertaking OC2 (Officer Cadet) training. As D-Day approached Ted had a detachment of army lighterman with the 953 Inland Water Transport Company (IWT).  He was sent to Normandy in charge of Rhino ferry barges on Gold beach. He describes the responsibility of the men in his ferries and the dangers of mines and mortar shells as they loaded cargo at the Mulberry Harbour. Ted brought his company back after V-E Day and was sent to Marchwood as Marine and IWT Superintendent. He was demobbed after serving for over six years. Ted later reminiscences about the fear he felt, his friendships with his fellow sergeants, and how lucky he was to survive.

Lewis Trinder joined the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday in 1942, as his father had done before him. After training he went to sea on HMS Fleetwood, an escort ship based at Gibraltar. The ship was used in convoys to West Africa. On his second convoy a stricken U-Boat U528 was spotted by an aircraft and Fleetwood located it and released depth charges forcing it to the surface where it was shelled. Fleetwood took on board the surviving 45 crew. After Fleetwood was sent for a refit, Trinder joined HMS Magpie as a plotter. Magpie was a convoy escort ship in both the Atlantic and Arctic, before being used on assault convoys in the English Channel for D Day. In August 1944 the ship was used to clearing a path across the Channel for laying a fuel line from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg as part of Operation PLUTO. After this Magpie was stood down for a refit in November 1944 and Trinder joined HMS Opossum which was sent to the Far East, joining the British Pacific Fleet and was deployed on patrol duties based out of Hong Kong. Trinder opted to be demobbed in 1946 and retuned to the UK.