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A veteran interview with

Roger Tomlinson

Lieutenant Colonel Roger Tomlinson shares stories of a horse that wouldn’t canter, choppers coming the wrong way, and the sound of a bullet whistling past at close range.

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About Roger Tomlinson

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker

Transcripts:
Please note that transcripts and closed captions in the video player are automatically generated by Vimeo.

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Home | Veterans | Roger Tomlinson

A veteran interview with

Roger Tomlinson

Roger-Tomlinson-scaled

Lieutenant Colonel Roger Tomlinson shares stories of a horse that wouldn’t canter, choppers coming the wrong way, and the sound of a bullet whistling past at close range.

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https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/roger-tomlinson/

Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Tomlinson, Roger. A Veteran Interview with Roger Tomlinson. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, n.d. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/roger-tomlinson/. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
APA Style:
Tomlinson, R. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Roger Tomlinson [Interview by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/roger-tomlinson/
Chicago Style:
Tomlinson, Roger. n.d.. A Veteran Interview with Roger Tomlinson. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee. Accessed June 14, 2025. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/roger-tomlinson/
Harvard Style:
Tomlinson, R. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Roger Tomlinson. [Interviewed by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/roger-tomlinson/ (Accessed: 14 June 2025)
Vancouver Style:
Tomlinson, R. A Veteran Interview with Roger Tomlinson [Internet]. Interview by M. Bisiker. Legasee; n.d. [cited 2025 Jun 14]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/roger-tomlinson/
An interview with

Phillip Govett

Phillip Govett, a Private, served with the 117 Pioneer Company, landed in Normandy, and supported the Allied advance through Europe.

Phillip Govett served with the 117 Pioneer Company. He landed in Normandy on D plus 6 and moved through France, Belgium, and Holland. His main duties included supporting command supply depots (CSDs), prisoner of war camps, and providing supplies like ammunition and water. The unit experienced a rough time outside of Caen and had to dig in. They faced the dangers of mines, with one sergeant being severely injured by a booby trap. Phillip’s company waited to move up, but the advance was delayed due to the fighting at Caen. Phillip's journey took him near the German-Holland border, where they were in a forward area of a prisoner of war camp holding thousands of German prisoners.
Service:
Interviewed by:
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An interview with

Sylvia Adams

Sylvia worked in the Royal Military Police and became one of the first women to ride in the mounted troop.

Sylvia joined the WRAC in 1974 in hopes of working with animals and also learning to drive. After completing her initial training at Guildford, she began her specialised training with the police after performing well in her aptitude test. Unlike some other veterans, Sylvia remembers feeling she had a choice regarding her trade and as a result thoroughly enjoyed her experience with the military police. Belonging to squad 7405, she recalls the complex physical and mental training she had to complete in order to become a ranked military police officer. Although never weapon trained, she was taught how to engage in unarmed combat and endured NBC training procedures. In this interview Sylvia provides an insight into the feelings of WRAC women existing under the shadow of IRA threats. Discussing the Guildford bombing of 1974, she recalls the constant fear that hung over those serving in the army in their shared realisation that everyone was a target. She also describes her desires to push against the restrictions on female horse riding, and was eventually posted to Aldershot as the first female rider to join the military police mounted troop. Sylvia's interview provides an interesting and powerful account of one of the many ambitious women who served under the WRAC, and showcases the importance of documenting these women as army veterans.
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Service:
Interviewed by:
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An interview with

Rex Sheppard

From a parochial fisherman to the front line in Korea, Rex recounts his transformative experience of National Service

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.

Service:
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