Sparked from his involvement in the Air Cadets, hearing that her son, Kingsman Anthony Cooper, had signed up to the army at 16 was something Shelley Cooper never wanted to hear. She recounts how, despite her reluctance, she let him leave home and eventually serve tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In July 2010, Anthony was severely injured by an IED leading to him lose both his legs, one eye, several fingers, and suffer from a devastating blast brain injury. Doctors told him that he would never walk or eat normally again but, as the determined mother she is, Shelley did not lose hope on his rehabilitation. Shelley shares the emotional journey of being told of Anthony's injuries, visiting him in Birmingham hospital and her support in his recovery at Moseley Hall hospital and Headley Court. By staying strong and fighting for the best care, Shelley ensured that Anthony had every opportunity to succeed in his rehabilitation, despite others' doubts and his own fears. Like mother, like son, Shelley's interview shows the commitment and resilience both she and Anthony displayed in the face of adversity.

Before the war Moyra Smiley worked aged fifteen as an au pair in France, Italy and Germany to learn the languages. From 1936 aged seventeen she went to a FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) camp once a year in Kenya where she grew up and learnt to drive, mend cars and shoot rifles. When the war began, she was stationed as a FANY in Kent and Dover driving ambulances with wounded soldiers who had been brought over by ship. In Spring 1940 Moyra journeyed from Marseille via the Suez Canal to the East Africa FANYs and became a Lance Corporal. She recalls being appointed as the first NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) woman cypher worker and after two years being a Sergeant FANY in charge of a well-established signals and cypher department in East Africa, receiving and relaying messages to local and British intelligence. Moyra looks back fondly at the camaraderie between the FANYs in Kenya, when she lived in a convent outside Nairobi and how everyone pulled together. Moyra continued to use her cypher knowledge to work for M16 long after the war had ended.

In firstly describing his earlier life, Bob recalls growing up in Paris and joining the special detachment force at the beginning of the Second World War. He then recalls arriving in England to undergo specialised training, and from this point onwards was made a saboteur. Bob remembers his first jump, and the speed at which saboteurs would have to seek, report and destroy enemy objectives. Operating in small teams of five to six individuals, he recalls the importance of discretion and trust among his network. As a member of the SOE, Bob was required to have a forged identity and resultantly, landed himself in troubled situations with the enemy. He recalls one particular incident on Christmas Day 1943 where, having missed the enforced curfew in Paris, he was taken by the German patrol. In an attempt to escape, he was shot in the lung and as a result, thought he had died. It was a slow recovery as not only did he have to remain in hiding from the enemy, but could only receive medical attention once he had returned to England in February. In the rest of his interview Bob discusses D-Day, the allied liberation, his post-war experiences in Asia, and the dive school he established in North Africa where he trained frogmen. Bob's account provides a series of exciting, moving and fascinating stories of his experience in the SOE both during, and after, the Second World War.