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.

William O’Brien joined the navy as a 13-year-old cadet in 1930 and qualified as a Sub Lieutenant in 1937. He served on HMS Garland in the Mediterranean and, after World War II broke out, transferred to the destroyer HMS Wolsey patrolling the UK’s East coast. In May 1940, O’Brien was involved in a land-based operation ‘Royal Marine’ laying mines on the Rhine, but had to retreat when German forces advanced. Returning to sea, he became First Lieutenant of HMS Witherington, which patrolled the English Channel but was damaged during a bombing raid whilst docked at Portsmouth. At the end of  1941, O’Brien transferred to HMS Offa, participating in a raid on Norway and escorting Arctic convoys, including the ill-fated PQ17.  In February 1943, O’Brien took command of the destroyer HMS Cottesmore, conducting patrols and participating in D-Day operations at Gold Beach, where they supported the beach landings. Promoted in late 1944, O’Brien was sent to the Asian theatre as a planner for amphibious assaults in Burma. He witnessed the surrender of Singapore and became the Allied Forces Naval Liaison Officer in Jakarta. O’Brien continued his naval career after the war, retiring as an Admiral in 1971

Stanley White joined the Navy in 1946 and describes some of the challenges of working as an aircraft armourer at sea: tight living conditions, frightening typhoons, messing arrangements and working with explosives. He joined HMS Unicorn in June 1949 when she was recommissioned as a maintenance carrier; she sailed in September on a 12-month “show the flag” tour but was off Japan when the Korean War started in June 1950, so she diverted to Singapore to pick up aircraft. Stanley then transferred to the aircraft carrier HMS Triumph, where he was responsible for rearming Seafires (fighters) and Fireflies (ground-attack) with rockets, ammunition and bombs to support ground troops. He describes how the crew took their CO’s death in a deck-landing accident in their stride. He met his wife of 64 years during leave after returning from Korea. He subsequently served aboard HMS Ark Royal before leaving the navy and spending 29 years at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough.