Stuart Raw joined the Army as a boy soldier in 1961 at just 15 years old. He trained with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), eventually qualifying as an aircraft engineer specialising in airframes and engines.
Arriving in Aden in the middle of the night, Stuart was struck by the intense heat and tight security and remembers feeling shocked and apprehensive about what he had got himself into. As an aircraft engineer, he spent much of his time facing the challenge of keeping aircraft serviceable in harsh desert conditions, particularly the constant problems caused by the sand.
His work often brought him close to danger and he recalls some of the more difficult moments of his time in Aden, including aircraft damaged by enemy fire, casualty evacuations and the loss of friends.
Stuart reflects on Aden as an experience that made him more careful and self-reliant, carrying those lessons into the rest of his long Army career. Now, as the number of surviving veterans grows smaller, Stuart continues to honour their service and keep their memory alive by marching with the Aden veterans at the Cenotaph.