Having experienced the loss of his parents at a young age, Dennis explains how this tragedy was in fact the making of him and led him to joining the national service with the support of his extended family. In 1952 Dennis Dymond joined the Royal Fusiliers at the Tower of London, and recalls how he thoroughly enjoyed his time there. When Dennis first joined the Royal Fusiliers he was not aware that he would be sent to Korea, and a year later he embarked on his journey to the far East. Remembering the war, Dennis reveals he could never fire a rifle but enjoyed working with a mortar when in battle. He humorously discloses that his only fears during the war were explosives, mines and worst of all, snakes. In reflecting on Korea, Dennis discusses the brutality of warfare and, although he hadn't been on the front line, the awful conditions and violence enveloped in the Korean war. His lasting memories are of watching small children fleeing from war-torn towns and the refugees who begged for rations among the soldiers. Dennis's interview provides an insightful and emotional account of his early life, time spent in Korea and his ever-lasting memories of battle.

Marge Arbury was born in Cobham and at 19 years old she joined up to serve her country.  She completed three weeks of initial training at a training camp in Guildford, where she found out she was very good at Morse code, and because of this was selected to be a wireless operator. She was sent to the Isle of Man to be a Y operator. When she arrived she was required to sign the Official Secrets Act, Marge recalls that one person was sent home, as she had a German grandmother so wouldn’t be eligible for the role. She remembers the six months on the Isle of Man, learning how to understand Morse code, getting her ready for her new role as a wireless operator. In October 1943, she was sent to Harrogate, Forestmore, where she started to decipher German enigma messages. Marge never expected that she would be a spy when she first joined up, she thought she would be driving lorries! Her role as a wireless operator involved going through transmissions trying to find hidden Morse code messages.  She was responsible for covering messages coming out of Yugoslavia, from the German Army, Navy, and the Gestapo. All of the messages were passed on by motorbike to Station X, also known as Bletchley park. Whilst stationed in Harrogate, due to the secrecy of the role, people thought she wasn’t contributing anything, and townspeople didn’t treat her well. This couldn’t be further from the actual truth and the important work she was working. Marge stayed with the Y service until the very end of the war and was eventually demobbed in October 1946.

Morris Morby had been a regular soldier for a year in 36th Army Engineer Regiment when he volunteered for Korea in 1951. He recalls a pleasant journey by sea, marked by watching the porpoises playing round HMT Orwell and hearing the choir of a Welsh battalion in full voice. Once in Korea, the 3-day journey from Busan to Seoul was hair-raising, with rough tracks instead of roads. He then joined 28th Field Engineer Regiment as part of Stores Troop, ferrying defence and bridging stores from the railhead to the front line on the Imjin River. He was ‘under fire’ twice: on one occasion it turned out to be REME armourers testing Bren guns, unaware there were troops in front of them; on another, ammunition from tanks overshot when they fired at rafts that the Chinese were floating down-river to destroy bridges. He also recalls two deception operations: on one occasion he drove dummy tanks into the forward positions; on another, he was involved in building a huge netting tunnel to camouflage a road.