Cheryl was twenty-four when she joined the WRAC and saw the army as a career opportunity. At Guildford she dedicated herself to training and felt a sense of achievement wearing her solider's uniform. Cheryl completed her trade training at Aldershot, and specialised in silver service techniques. She was then posted to the Royal Armament and Development Establishment where she worked in both the sergeant's mess and on guard duty. At the RARDE soldiers would test new vehicles and weapons under extremely classified conditions, therefore those working there, such as Cheryl, had to stand on high alert at all times. Cheryl remembers having basic weapon training during this period, yet she still was not given ammunition whilst on guard. In her interview she describes the horrific treatment of women in the army, one of the reasons for her leaving in 1989. Cheryl felt unsupported on her leave and disappointed by the army's attitude towards the female corps. She feels that although the WRAC is a huge part of her history, there were real issues of gender discrimination which should be documented in oral histories such as those held in Legasee's archive.

Eric Coombes was born in Hertfordshire, in a little village named Shenley, just outside of London. As a boy, he remembers seeing London on fire after it was bombed during World War II. When he turned 18 years old he was called up for national service and was sent to Blenheim Camp, St Edmunds, for six weeks of basic training. After that, he continued his training for 10 weeks in the Royal Norfolk regiment. After training, he was deployed to Korea; Eric was really excited for his deployment, as it gave him the chance to travel the world for the first time. He remembers the crossing going well, he kept himself occupied with bingo, exercising, and at times, going ashore for a couple of hours when the ship pulled into port. Once landing in Hong Kong, they were put through a stiff training routine, learning how to use mortars and other weaponry. His regiment was then sent on its way to Pusan, Korea. On the way into Korea, Eric remembers the sound of heavy artillery fire not far away from where he was. When he arrived in Pusan, he had a couple of days to get comfortable before he started working. Eric’s role was mortar support, he recalls the very detailed way in which mortars work and how he used his training to operate them. His first experience with loss came when two of the people he signed up with were killed whilst on patrol, he remembers this being a very sad time. On another occasion, Eric remembers hearing about a company of soldiers being captured whilst on patrol. At the time he hoped they were captured by the Chinese, as stories spread about how horrible the Korean prison camps were. For Eric, the scariest time was being mortared whilst in a valley, his platoon had to quickly fall back whilst mortars were being dropped behind them. Eric wishes there could be no wars and talks about the tragic loss of life for both sides. He left Korea in September 1952.