George describes his WWII childhood in Cornwall, leaving school at 14 and working as an apprentice for the General Post Office (GPO). Conscripted into the army’s Royal Corps of Signals aged 19, he remembers training camp instructors’ hostility and his lasting camaraderie with trainees from all backgrounds. He recalls seeing other countries and nationalities for the first time during his 28-day journey to Korea, becoming emotional while reflecting upon his arrival in Pusan, where he saw refugees facing extreme poverty and the ravages of war. As a wireless operator, George drove reconnaissance vehicles around the Imjin River. At night, he scraped sleeping holes into hillsides or slept under the stars, always missing home but never frightened. He conveys the stench of war, the whistling of shell fire overhead, the suffocating heat of the dusty summer and the sometimes-fatal blistering winter cold. He reminisces fondly about the Korean nation and the feeling of returning home to Penzance. George’s depiction of wartime smells, sights and sounds show the enduring intensity of veterans’ memories even decades later. His interview highlights how, for some, deployment was the adventure of a lifetime that took them to otherwise inaccessible corners of the world.

When the Royal Marine Band and military recruiters visited her school, Diane was immediately drawn to the idea of joining the armed forces. She first applied to the Royal Navy, but the prospect of being posted to her home town of Plymouth didn’t offer the adventure she was looking for. Then she learned that the Army could send her further afield — and that was all the encouragement she needed. At just seventeen, she enlisted, and her journey with the Women’s Royal Army Corps began. After her initial training at Guildford, Diane was posted to Kineton where she worked with classified documents and ammunition. She was then posted to Northern Ireland as a volunteer searcher and worked alongside the Royal Military Police. Diane describes the issues women faced in the army, and the mistreatment of female corps by male soldiers. Whilst in this posting she experienced the bombing of Newry in 1980 and soon after decided to leave Ireland. Diane was then moved to Berlin where she worked as a clerk for the Royal Transport Corps. Although Diane feels forever connected to the WRAC, she felt strongly that there were innate issues with the female corps surrounding pay discrepancy, limited opportunities for women on the front-line, and multiple attempts to stop women's careers on the conditions of marriage and pregnancy.

Having experienced the loss of his parents at a young age, Dennis explains how this tragedy was in fact the making of him and led him to joining the national service with the support of his extended family. In 1952 Dennis Dymond joined the Royal Fusiliers at the Tower of London, and recalls how he thoroughly enjoyed his time there. When Dennis first joined the Royal Fusiliers he was not aware that he would be sent to Korea, and a year later he embarked on his journey to the far East. Remembering the war, Dennis reveals he could never fire a rifle but enjoyed working with a mortar when in battle. He humorously discloses that his only fears during the war were explosives, mines and worst of all, snakes. In reflecting on Korea, Dennis discusses the brutality of warfare and, although he hadn't been on the front line, the awful conditions and violence enveloped in the Korean war. His lasting memories are of watching small children fleeing from war-torn towns and the refugees who begged for rations among the soldiers. Dennis's interview provides an insightful and emotional account of his early life, time spent in Korea and his ever-lasting memories of battle.