Born into a military family, John begins by talking about his life as a boy during the Second World War. John left school at fourteen, moving from one job to the other until he joined the Army Apprentice School. Here, he continued his education while training as a mechanic. Afterwards, he underwent his basic training as a mechanic in Arborfield, Berkshire, before joining the Royal Electrical and Medical Engineers (REME) as a craftsman. After a series of injections, John, now nineteen, was kitted out, ready to be sent to Korea, a place he had never heard of before. First, the 121 REME’s were sent to the Reinforcement Base Depot in Japan to train for the Korean terrain. However, John sustained a knee injury playing football with his comrades, causing him to spend three more weeks in Japan recovering. When reunited with his mates in Pusan, South Korea, John recalls his shock at seeing the ‘horrendous’ conditions that people lived in. John’s first assignment was at an American airbase on Koji Island, repairing vehicles, later travelling to Seoul and the Yong Dong Po. During this time, his boss was Dutchie Holland, a man John speaks very fondly about, describing him as a father to the men. John talks about the charge sheets he used to receive, most often for carrying too many vehicles in at the same time, as well as recalling the harsh extremes of conditions in the workshop, both bitterly cold and boiling hot. In his time in Korea, John serviced lots of vehicles, including mobile bakeries, laundry vehicles, and k2 ambulances, as well as a Centurion tank that had been blown up, which was not a pleasant experience to work on. John talks of what Christmas day was like as a soldier, the time off, the gift of rum, and the food eaten. After returning to England on HMT Dunera, John was told that he had earned himself some stripes, a moment he was incredibly proud of. Thank you for such a fascinating interview John.

Rex shares his transformative experience of national service, going from a 'Jack the lad' fisherman in Ipswich, to Section Commander in Korea, all for a boy of 18 who had never left his home ground.

Rex describes traveling on The Windrush from Southampton to 'The Territories', 3 miles from Hiroshima to complete increasingly arduous military training run by Colonel Lonsdale designed to transform the men into “killing machines”.

From here the men were ½ a mile away from the Chinese military camps, where they could, on a clear day, see their enemy training to fight against them.

As soon as he turned 19, Rex was sent to Uijeongbu, to be quickly immersed in front line duty. He was soon to become a section commander, responsible for running patrols in the challenging landscape of paddy fields and mountains, at times coming within 150 yards of the North Korean and Chinese front line.

Rex recounts his experiences of living with Siberian winds, psychological warfare, 'Hill 335' and the brutality and carnage of fighting on 'The Hook', where death was only a whistle away. His story is one of resilience and comradeship.