When war broke out, Joan was initially in Civil Defence. However, after two years she was called up to the Auxiliary Territorial Service at the age of twenty-two; this was the women’s branch of the Army. She was sent to London for training, where she learned how to drive an ambulance. Joan was posted to Edinburgh where the barracks were so cold she slept with her greatcoat on. Later she drove her ambulance during the bombing of London. Just before D-day she remembers seeing huge columns of tanks and other vehicles, in preparation for the landings. After the invasion there were a lot more wounded to take to hospitals but the casualties decreased toward the end of the war. In Aldershot her barracks was bombed, and she also remembers the rations of unpleasant marrow jam and horse meat. She used to swap her cigarette ration for sweets. Like many others, once the war was over she missed the camaraderie of the Army. Thank you Joan for sharing your memories at the wonderful age of 107!

By the age of 14, Esther Hayes was approaching Grade 8 standard on the flute and piano. Three years in the band of the TA led her to pursue a full-time military musician career, and after completing basic training at ATR Winchester she spent her first year at Kneller Hall. Esther shares memories from her subsequent assignment to the Band of the Royal Corps of Signals, followed by a return to Kneller Hall for three more gruelling years of hard work to become a bandmaster. She went on to make history as the first female bandmaster of the Paras, and she talks about her experience of what was then a heavily male-dominated environment. After several years with the Paras, Esther returned to Kneller Hall, spending a couple of years in post as a Training Design Warrant Officer before joining the Household Cavalry and further developing her skills by learning to ride a horse whilst playing the flute. She goes on to talk about an operational role in Afghanistan, a stint in the Band of the Queen’s Division, and another return to Kneller Hall, this time to facilitate the training of the student bandmasters joining the ranks: a full-circle moment, but by no means the end of her incredible career.

A keen runner and fitness fanatic, Anthony Cooper signed up at 16 and completed his training at AFC Harrogate and Catterick before being posted to Germany with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment – an experience he recalls with great glee. Anthony goes on to talk about the six-month operational tour of Iraq that followed, and shares the harsh realities of his first real soldiering experience compared to the practice of training. After a brief decompression in Cyprus, Anthony returned to Catterick where training for combat in Afghanistan began. He recalls the relentlessness of the conflict on arriving in Nad Ali, and talks about living with the fear of a constant threat to life which became all too real in 2010 when a 45kg IED exploded beneath his feet on a routine patrol in Helmand Province. Anthony talks candidly about his injuries, the long road to recovery and the hard work needed to adapt to life as an amputee with severe brain trauma and visual impairment. The extraordinary courage and resilience of his service now manifest themselves in his determination to overcome any new obstacle in his path, and to achieve his dream of running again one day on blades.