In 1982, Rupert Ballantine experienced a unique journey that he will always remember. He went from traveling the seas between the UK and the US aboard the renowned cruise ship the QE2 to embarking on a mission towards a conflict zone. When the military requisitioned the ship, Rupert immediately volunteered his services. It took approximately half a day for 3,000 troops and their equipment to be loaded onto the ship. The voyage began with the ship limping out of Southampton, briefly stopping behind the Isle of Wight, where a closed stopcock was found to be the culprit. The QE2 achieved speeds of 27 knots, outpacing the accompanying warships as it navigated across the oceans in a zigzag pattern. Throughout the journey, troops utilised every available space for training, and Rupert had the opportunity to sample a Gurkha curry, which is still the best he has ever tasted. Sadly, Rupert did not set foot on land when they reached their destination, but he takes pride in having contributed to the safe arrival of the British troops, enabling them to reclaim the land. The return journey included 700 injured service personnel from three British vessels that had been sunk.

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.

Doreen was studying German at university in WW2 when she was called up, age 20, and assigned to Naval Intelligence at Bletchley Park. This was in June 1944 at the start of the German V1 ‘flying bomb’ offensive. She was part of the Ultra intelligence unit and translated de-coded documents intercepted from the German Enigma system. After translation she classified and sorted the documents so that they could be accessed by senior officers. She worked in the same hut as Alan Turing, one of the crucial scientists in the Ultra system. One of the main tasks she worked on was tracking U-boat movements in the Atlantic as they tried to threaten Allied convoys. She also worked on locating the German battleship Tirpitz so that it could be attacked and sunk by the RAF. After the end of the war she was assigned to Berlin, in occupied Germany, where her knowledge of German and military procedure stood her in good stead. She worked with senior officers in Naval Intelligence and was in Berlin during the first part of the Airlift. After two years in Germany she returned to Britain. Here she worked for the War Office, translating documents for the War Crimes tribunal. This task she found both horrific and interesting. When this ended Doreen found a job outside the service, at Lloyds Bank. She was employed in their foreign section, where the red tape was worse than in the intelligence services! This irritated her and she left after one year.