When Peter Waddington turned 18, his National Service call-up papers arrived and soon after he found himself training with the 1st King’s Liverpool Regiment. Like many young men sent to Korea, he admits he knew almost nothing about the country or the conflict before he landed there. His memories capture both the strangeness and the stark reality of service: from being greeted on arrival by a band playing the Saint Louis Blues March to the harsh daily grind of trench warfare along the 38th Parallel.

In his interview, Peter recalls moments of humour, the ever-present rats and lice, and the rare relief of rest and recuperation in Japan. But he also speaks candidly about loss — the friends killed in action, the fear of attack, and the brutal fighting at the Battle of the Hook. Out of all his close comrades, Peter was the only one to return home unscathed.

Back in post-war Britain, he reflects on the challenges of returning to austerity and his determination that Korea should never be the “Forgotten War.”

Joining during the Second World War, Betty was sent to train at the Welsh Barracks near Wrexham. After performing well in her tests, she was sent to interview with the Intelligence Corps in London. She remembers being immediately taken to sign the Official Secrets Act and proceed to working in listing translated messages in Bletchley. It was at this posting that she discovered her talent for paraphrasing, and from this point onwards was given the task of paraphrasing translated enemy messages to be sent on to Burma. Remarkably, Betty was then sent to work in the Pentagon before moving to the British Army Staff base in Washington DC. In her interview she describes the lack of news made available to American civilians surrounding the war in Europe, and her frustration at the lack of understanding future employment had on the highly classified status of her military work. When asked her thoughts on the disbandment of the WRAC, Betty felt disappointed that there was no longer a women's army as she enjoyed the independent identification of the female corps.