This film captures Year 10 students from Wildern School, Hedge End engaging in a unique oral history project, exploring the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC). The project was run by Legasee with support from the WRAC Association and Adjutant General's Corps (AGC) Museum in Winchester. The workshops fostered critical thinking, curiosity, and enquiry as students developed their knowledge of some of the challenges faced by Britain and the wider world in the 20th century - one of the content requirements of the English National Curriculum for History at Key Stage 3. Through their research about the WRAC, and perceptive questioning of Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Sue Westlake, MBE, the students examined the complexities of life during the Cold War and the evolving role of women in the military. By connecting with lived experiences, students practised essential skills like communication, confidence, and evidence-based reasoning. With thanks to the staff at Wildern School for welcoming Legasee in, and encouraging their young historians to develop new perspectives on societal change, gender equality, and British military conflicts in the second half of the 20th century.

After surviving the Blitz as a child, Leonard later joined National Service as a young adult. Following basic training, he volunteered for deployment in Korea, eventually travelling on the Empire Fowey. Upon arriving in Pusan, he joined the 14th Field Regiment. He reflects on his role as a signaller, detailing the equipment he worked with on the frontlines. Leonard remembers a night on duty when a radio transmission came through, the sound of gunfire in the background before fading into silence. By morning, he learned that those behind the transmission had been ambushed and killed by the Chinese. The cold of winter and the rabbit-sized rats that swarmed the battlefield and dugouts remain vivid in Leonard's memory. During his deployment, the Chinese broadcasted propaganda messages, aiming to demoralise soldiers by reminding them of home. Eventually, Leonard’s time in Korea ended and he returned home. He found it hard to adjust to life back home, but eventually settled. Years later, he revisited Korea and was amazed by how much the country had transformed since the war.

Marjorie Inkster was inspired to become a FANY and later work on anti-aircraft radar when her parent’s house was bombed early in the war. Because she was only 19 and had insufficient driving experience, she spent a year on petrol counting, which prompted her to volunteer for radar training. After 9 months’ training, she initially worked on radar research then found herself in charge of a REME detachment of men looking after the radar for 5 gun sites in north London. She provides many interesting and inspiring recollections: dealing with an incendiary that hit her lodgings; the extent of the technical training; the competition to service the radar on a dredger because they got navy chocolate; avoiding a bomb as they drove to fix a radar; sending secret components for repair by normal post. In London, she was incentivised to ensure the Identification Friend or Foe worked correctly because her brother was a night fighter pilot. Secrecy meant their work was never discussed, including the fact that her sister spent the war at Bletchley Park.