In 1942, Jack Webb joined the 70^th young solider battalion Essex regiment, when this disbanded in 1943, he went to the 2^nd 4^th battalion Essex regiment, before finally being press-ganged into the 5^th Berkshire regiment as preparations for the Normandy invasion began. Jack details his involvement in the D-Day invasion; starting with the beach training in Scotland and ending with a firsthand account of landing on Juno beach (Bernieres-Sur-Mer) alongside the 8^th Canadian assault troop. After successfully landing, Jack worked as part of a “dump company”, a regiment tasked with unloading resources to keep troops well supplied. He described the work as valuable, but physically and emotionally demanding. Jack worked at Bernieres until August 1944; he was then transferred to the 5^th Wiltshire Battalion and sent to Vernon, where he was taken as a Prisoner of War and transported to Limburg, he stayed there until he was rescued the following April. Jack considers himself incredibly fortunate to have returned home unscathed “for an unlucky man, I had an awful lot of luck”. Following the war Jack joined the Normandy Veterans Association and has returned to France regularly to visit the graves of his old troop members.

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.