Edgar spent most of his childhood living near Heathrow and experienced the blitz and bombing of London. He enlisted in 1949 at aged 18. After joining the Middlesex battalion and travelling to Hong Kong, Edgar became a batman, as well as a barman and waiter. However, 8 months after arriving, they were transferred to Korea with only 4 days’ notice. He describes being nervous, as he didn’t know what to expect or what was happening there. His memories of Korea began with the smell of human waste at the dock. His primary role in Korea was that of riding shotgun for supply convoys to the front line such as the Pusan Perimeter and Huang He. Edgar gives a rich account of his time in Korea, including the complex relationships they had with the American troops, his experiences of the Korean people and the significant challenges of facing the Chinese army. He ascribes his own survival to the knowledge of the WWII veterans, and particularly the skills of their three commanding officers.  However, he feels that the Korean war and their role in it, have not been recognised to the extent that it should even to this day.

In 1942, Jack Webb joined the 70^th young solider battalion Essex regiment, when this disbanded in 1943, he went to the 2^nd 4^th battalion Essex regiment, before finally being press-ganged into the 5^th Berkshire regiment as preparations for the Normandy invasion began. Jack details his involvement in the D-Day invasion; starting with the beach training in Scotland and ending with a firsthand account of landing on Juno beach (Bernieres-Sur-Mer) alongside the 8^th Canadian assault troop. After successfully landing, Jack worked as part of a “dump company”, a regiment tasked with unloading resources to keep troops well supplied. He described the work as valuable, but physically and emotionally demanding. Jack worked at Bernieres until August 1944; he was then transferred to the 5^th Wiltshire Battalion and sent to Vernon, where he was taken as a Prisoner of War and transported to Limburg, he stayed there until he was rescued the following April. Jack considers himself incredibly fortunate to have returned home unscathed “for an unlucky man, I had an awful lot of luck”. Following the war Jack joined the Normandy Veterans Association and has returned to France regularly to visit the graves of his old troop members.

Brian Hough retells how he fought in Korea with the King's Regiment, his national service being his rare chance to see the world as well as what was planned for someone with a working class background. His regiment went through intensive training to prepare for the Korean War but Brian’s rough upbringing and his familiarity with discipline from school made it manageable.  Brian grew up with no hot water or upstairs electricity but that was nothing compared to the level of poverty he witnessed in Korea; the lack of sanitation, outdated technology and crowds of starving children made it seem like he'd gone back in time. Upon arriving at the trenches, he was apprehensive but got on with it due to being conditioned to believe everything would be okay if he followed his training and did what he was told.  After an invasion of the King’s Regiment's trenches, Brian saw hundreds of fiercely fanatical Chinese soldiers charging toward them, making hand to hand combat seem inevitable. Before Brian could panic, his commander bravely ordered artillery fire on the Chinese despite how close they were but miraculously none of the shells fell short and hit them. The King’s Regiment received battle honours for the role they played in bringing democracy to South Korea and Brian was amazed to see how quickly they then began advancing.