In 1965, Len Tyler entered the Army as a Junior Bandsman. By the time he left in 1994, he was the Director of Music of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Len’s love of music may never have started without Leicestershire’s ‘radical’ music programme, which provided free instruments, music lessons, and weekly coach journeys to children who needed them. Before leaving school at 16, with little knowledge of what he wanted to do, he stumbled across an army information wagon. Little did Len know that the recruiter behind the counter was in-fact a sergeant from the 4th Royal Anglian Band. As a Junior Bandsman, Len's first posting to Malta was also his first time abroad, where he married a Maltese girl. When their son was later born with medical complications, Len became the first student on Kneller Hall's pupil's course to receive his own quarters - a wonderful three-bedroom house in Hounslow. Len had an exciting time as part of the 'Golden 8', made up of the top eight players on the course. Together, they performed at high profile events like the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Later in 1992, as Director of Music of the REME, Len would also perform for the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. When he was deployed to the First Gulf War, Len worked on helicopter landing sites. Reflecting on his experience of entering a war zone, in this interview Len recalls how musical people often struggle to become military people, however he luckily adapted well.

Having lived through WWII as a child, Michael was conscripted at age 18. He trained as an anti-tank gunner in Norfolk and then sailed for Korea on the Emperor Orwell in late August 1950. He and his compatriots were among the first British regiments to go to Korea. He tells of the journey to Korea, stopping in Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore and Hong Kong. Life on board ship involved training on what to expect, as well as practice on the 17 pounder anti-tank gun. Michael describes a 24-hour train journey to Britannia camp after arriving in Pusan. From there he tells of day-to-day life, fighting trench warfare, primarily on 355 hill (Kowang Sang). Conditions were very challenging; they lived in a constant state of alertness, remaining in their clothes and boots as they had to be prepared to fight at a moment’s notice. Suffering frequent mortar bombardment and attacks by the PVA, Michael describes in detail the measures they had to take to counteract these attacks and the importance of keeping going despite the fear. He returned home after two years and tells of his frustration that the Korean war appears to have been forgotten.

At aged 18, Richard interrupted his apprenticeship to do national service. He enlisted in the Royal Artillery, became a radio operator and was posted to Germany. While there, he tells of being asked to volunteer to go to Korea and was also asked to sign up as a regular. He refused to become a regular but agreed to go to Korea. Subsequently, he embarked on HMS Asturias and arrived at Pusan some 4 and ½ weeks later. He describes being welcomed during disembarkation by the band of the 2nd US Infantry Division. Following this he tells of a nighttime journey to the Headquarters of the Royal Artillery which was a distance away from the frontline at the Imjin River. He was required to relay messages from the frontline for US, Canadian and British troops. This included messages about the locations of the Chinese artillery and he described being actively involved in supporting the 3rd battle of the hook, just before the armistice was signed in 1953. He also describes his involvement in processing British POW’s after armistice. Lastly, he expresses his frustration at the extent to which the Korean war has been ignored.