Following completion of an apprenticeship, Peter signed on as a regular in the Army for three years in 1951, because it meant he could choose where he wanted to serve. After training, he served in the Royal Army Service Corps as a driver. He tells of a posting to HQ Southern Command and from there being sent to Korea. Like many others, he explains that he hadn’t heard of Korea before this. Embarking at Southampton on the Empire Fowey, he and his compatriots travelled first to Japan. He recounts the journey from Japan to Korea, travelling through Hiroshima and seeing the crater, following which he was parachuted into Seoul. He was posted to the 26th Field Ambulance Division and drove both ambulances and transport. He tells of the poor conditions of the roads and the impact of the weather on their work, including that their trucks would freeze during the winter if not looked after properly. At the end of the Korean War, Peter tells of his brief foray into athletics, running for the battalion. He was then posted to Hong Kong. He expresses frustration at the lack of attention given to the Korean war in comparison to other wars.

Rex shares his transformative experience of national service, going from a 'Jack the lad' fisherman in Ipswich, to Section Commander in Korea, all for a boy of 18 who had never left his home ground.

Rex describes traveling on The Windrush from Southampton to 'The Territories', 3 miles from Hiroshima to complete increasingly arduous military training run by Colonel Lonsdale designed to transform the men into “killing machines”.

From here the men were ½ a mile away from the Chinese military camps, where they could, on a clear day, see their enemy training to fight against them.

As soon as he turned 19, Rex was sent to Uijeongbu, to be quickly immersed in front line duty. He was soon to become a section commander, responsible for running patrols in the challenging landscape of paddy fields and mountains, at times coming within 150 yards of the North Korean and Chinese front line.

Rex recounts his experiences of living with Siberian winds, psychological warfare, 'Hill 335' and the brutality and carnage of fighting on 'The Hook', where death was only a whistle away. His story is one of resilience and comradeship.

Tony Martin shares his memories as a member of the Royal Pioneer Corps, initially carrying out the dirty job of setting up smoke screens to protect British cities and factories from German bombers during WW2. However, he is soon reallocated to the advanced airfield construction groups in preparation for D-Day.  Tony describes the relentless work of setting up crash strips for damaged planes and maintaining airfields in France, including how they set up a fully operational airstrip in record time. He shares the thrill of the frenzied crash strips, as spitfires, hurricanes and bombers “belly flopped” onto the runway. Tony also, however, reveals the danger and horror of the airstrips, as men dropped from burning planes thousands of feet above and they themselves became the target of German bombs, resulting in the loss of a close friend. After those initial months of the invasion, Tony was sent out to the Far East and he transferred to the military police in India. Tony’s interview is a stark reminder of the bravery and essential support work that the Royal Pioneer Corps carried out in WW2.