Arthur Staggs shares the remarkable story of his time working as a wireless operator for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in enemy-occupied France. Fluent in the local patois of Roubaix, Arthur was parachuted into France in 1942. He recounts the ‘physical challenge’ of the extensive training, and the SOE ‘Farmer’ circuit’s work alongside local resistance movements around Lille to sabotage railways and industrial targets. He tells how his ‘nerve’ got him out of some dangerous situations, including bribing customs inspectors and chatting with a German officer to deflect police attention. In late 1943 his luck ran out, and he was imprisoned and interrogated by the Gestapo. He relays his determination not to talk, and how, upon his release, the local Gestapo chief joked that they had ‘mistakenly’ believed he was an ‘English parachutist’! His language skills had saved him. Keen to resume work, Arthur joined the French Resistance. Known as Capitaine Bébert, he led operations to sabotage V-1 rockets destined for London, and worked on missions that unbeknown to him paved the way for the D-Day landings. Arthur’s story tells of lost friends, and the strain of clandestinity, but ultimately it is one of sheer determination to do whatever he could to disrupt the German war effort, and defend his country.

Dave Buck joined the Cheshire Regiment in 1997 and transferred to the Royal Logistics Corps after completing training. His first posting was to the 5th Airborne Brigade, which became the spearhead for NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping mission, and Dave talks in detail about military life in Kosovo, the destruction he witnessed, and the role – and frustrations – of a peacekeeping force. He shares memories of decompression in Cyprus and exercises in Canada, before recalling the moment he realised he’d achieved everything he’d wanted to do in the army, and left. After intense difficulties adjusting to civilian life, Dave volunteered for a six-month tour of Iraq as a reservist and worked predominantly in force protection, escorting convoys from Basra to Kuwait. After returning home again, the effects of PTSD began to manifest in earnest and Dave hit rock bottom. Eventually, after several years without help and stuck in an ever-downward spiral, Dave received support from Combat Stress who enabled him to recognise his illness, and provided him with ways to cope with and manage the condition he knows he’ll carry with him for the rest of his life.

In this interview Judy recalls joining the WRAC as a way to begin her career and move out of her family home. Judy completed her initial basic training at Lingfield, which was the predecessor of Guildford, before she was posted to Worthy Down to specialise as a pay clerk in the Royal Army Pay Corps. Reflecting on her training, Judy remembers being amazed at how quickly she transformed from a young girl into an adult woman. She also describes the experience of working with fast-changing technology, and how later in her life she realised how instrumental her work in data processing became with the arrival of the first computerised consensus. Later, Judy was posted to Aden and remembers the excitement of flying over the pyramids. Here she was taken to the Singapore lines where she worked with the binary code. When asked to reflect on the WRAC, Judy felt frustrated by the lack of options made available to women at the time but also extremely proud of the work she had done.