Frank Bewley, born in London in 1931, joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1948 and was initially posted to RNAS Culdrose, where he recalls early trials of jets landing without undercarriage. He volunteered for Korea and joined 821 Squadron, which trained at RAF Makrihanish before heading to Korea in 1952. He served on HMS Glory, which flew old World War II Firefly 5s for ground support. He was responsible for maintaining his assigned aircraft and had a close relationship with his pilot, Lieutenant Barrett. Initially unfamiliar with Korea, he learned about its history through old World War II books. He found HMS Glory more friendly than other ships, but prone to rolling. He describes the challenges of working on the flight deck, where a lot of maintenance and arming work was completed, in inclement weather and the camaraderie among the crew. They still operated on messdecks containing up to 14 men, sleeping in hammocks and collecting food form the galley, rather than having a central canteen.

Pete Dunning shares with us his journey from being a bored pub worker in Wallesey to a medically discharged ‘meaningful Marine’ after being posted to Afghanistan twice with the Armoured Support Company during the mid-2000s. Pete recounts his gruelling training for the Royal Marines and how ‘exhilarating and exciting’ it was to operate the Viking armoured vehicles during his two tours in Afghanistan. In May 2008, Pete was involved in an incident where the vehicle he was travelling in hit an IED, resulting in the amputation of both of Pete’s legs. He spent over seven weeks at Selly Oak Hospital where he underwent surgery on his spine and received skin grafts for his severe burns before being sent to Hedley Court for rehabilitation. Pete talks about his ‘stubbornness to get back up from this’, and it was his sheer determination that helped him walk again. Despite opting for medical discharge from the Royal Marines just short of five years of service, he is now focused on watching his young family grow and thrive. His account of the incident and the changes it brought to his life is inspirational. A story of great determination to adapt to a life post-injury.

Alec Victor Ashcroft Pulfer was conscripted into the Royal Navy in August 1939, just before World War II. Despite his reluctance to join the Royal Navy, he decided to see the war through. After four months of signalman training, he joined HMS Javelin in Southend on Sea. He struggled with Morse code but eventually mastered it, finding Morse code and semaphore crucial for his daily duties. In the Battle for Norway, Alec and his crew faced a disaster when their transport ship was torpedoed by the Germans and sank, leaving them unable to save anyone while they hunted the attacking submarine. They retreated to Alesund, where German paratroopers attacked, but HMS Javelin managed to return to England. Unfortunately, HMS Glorious and other ships were not as fortunate. Alec then joined HMS Woolwich, heading to the Mediterranean fleet. After two years in the Mediterranean, HMS Woolwich survived despite losing most of its fleet. Alec returned home for signals training before heading back to the Middle East, where he fought in the Greek civil war, his worst experience. He remembers seeing people die, describing it as very grim, but it was something he got used to. But he never got used to seeing civilians dying, that was a common occurrence in Greece, as the Germans had mined everywhere before they left. Alec was tasked with safely routing ships in and out of Greece. Eventually, the war ended and Alec returned home and was demobbed (released from service).