John Parsler joined the Royal Navy at 15 and served on various ships until he was 18 when he joined the Naval Police, training in close protection and obtaining the Commando Green Beret. John was sent to Hong Kong soon afterwards but within a few months after the start of the Korean War, 41 (Independent) Commando was formed and he was drafted in and flown to a US base in Japan. From their base, John was in a troop of about 50 men assigned to a submarine that took part in raids on the Korean coastline to disrupt the enemy’s transportation supply lines. In November 1950 41 Commando joined a Untied Nations advance into North Korea working with the US Marine Corps and took part in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir under the British Command of Lt Colonel Drysdale. John was in a convoy of trucks as part of an operation to help relieve thousands of US troops encircled by the Chinese and as a result about half of 41 Commando were either killed or captured. 41 Commando continued operations until 1952 when it was disbanded and John returned to Hong Kong.

On the same day a 16-year-old Harry Card was turned away from the Army for being underage, he was signed up to the Navy by a passing chief petty officer, and so began his death-defying military career. Harry joined HMS Swift, an S-class destroyer, in late 1943 and set sail on the Arctic convoys. He describes the Arctic’s mountainous seas in terrifying detail, and recalls various hair-raising moments of his service including submarine attacks, clearing ice from the ship’s masts, and Operation Tungsten: the Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz. Later on in the war, HMS Swift was on the front line of the D-Day landings. Harry vividly recalls the opening bombardment as they sat poised off Sword Beach in Normandy, before describing the exact moment the ship was struck by an oyster mine and split clean in half. Despite the sinking of the Swift, Harry survived and was given six weeks to recover, after which he set sail once more.  This time he was on HMS Odzani, heading for the Far East where he embarked on further convoy duties and assisted in the liberation of Hong Kong and Singapore.