Phillip Govett served with the 117 Pioneer Company. He landed in Normandy on D plus 6 and moved through France, Belgium, and Holland. His main duties included supporting command supply depots (CSDs), prisoner of war camps, and providing supplies like ammunition and water. The unit experienced a rough time outside of Caen and had to dig in. They faced the dangers of mines, with one sergeant being severely injured by a booby trap. Phillip’s company waited to move up, but the advance was delayed due to the fighting at Caen. Phillip's journey took him near the German-Holland border, where they were in a forward area of a prisoner of war camp holding thousands of German prisoners.

Gilbert Beck’s journey into military music began humbly in rural Oxfordshire, where his father brought home a grand piano from a local market, sparking a lifelong passion. Raised in a musical family, Gilbert sang in the church choir and played organ before joining the Army in 1948 as a band boy with the Royal Artillery. Trained at Woolwich and later Kneller Hall, Gilbert played double bass, tuba, and bass trombone, eventually joining the North Staffordshire Regiment. His musical service took him across Europe and into the Korean War, where he played a vital role in maintaining morale. From conducting services with a portable organ to performing for multinational troops, including Canadians and Americans, his music helped bridge cultural divides in a devastated landscape. In Korea, Gilbert played at the dedication of a tented village for displaced civilians and led hymns at makeshift services in Gloucester Valley. His experience highlighted the humanising power of music amid the harshness of war. Later selected for the demanding bandmaster course at Kneller Hall, Gilbert's talent earned him great respect, even as he ultimately chose family life over a full military career. Music remained central to Gilbert’s life, both in and out of uniform - a true servant of harmony in service and in peace.

Collin Parker details his experience with PTSD as well as his tragic fall from invincible Coldstream Guard to being left for dead in the Middle East. Slaving away day after day at his foundry job pushed Collin to actualise his childhood infatuation with the Armed Forces and join the Coldstream Guards. This particular regiment had a violent and prideful reputation due to moulding their recruits to feel like nothing could hurt them, something Collin experienced first hand.  Collin initially found it exciting to be on the battlefield until he was surrounded by Middle Eastern tribals and gravely injured by their mortar fire, the two teenagers soldiers under his command at the time not making it. Laying in the crater thinking about his family one last time Collin was fully convinced he had died but miraculously he survived.  After the attack Collin had to relearn how to walk and talk and was then medically discharged and forced to deal with his new found PTSD alone. Having to accept that the army viewed him as expendable was extremely difficult for Collin; he felt so small and powerless after being discharged, he had lost everything and they did not care. Due to the way the Coldstream Guard trained him Collin never believed he would suffer from PTSD but now he was stuck constantly relieving the stress and fear from that day over and over.