Larry Rafferty was born May 30, 1932 in Blackpool, England, where he grew up against the backdrop of World War Two.  Larry has many engaging memories of the time, from the Blitz to the rations and Blackpool FC!  Larry grew up in Blackpool and Manchester, returning to the latter after the bombings had subsided.  His father was in the Home Guard and the 48th Field Regiment (Royal Artillery).  After the war came to an end – and he came of age – Larry began his own national service in 1950, where he was assigned to the Royal Army Medical Corps and the 35th Field Ambulance.  They were deployed to Libya, expecting that they might be going on to Korea, where the war had begun a few months earlier.  He ended up at the British military hospital in Porto Benito, where he trained as a nurse orderly and was often involved in desert patrols.  On one of those occasions he was wounded in the leg – Larry remembers that there was quite a bit of local conflict and that they always had to be on the lookout for a short or a grenade that might be coming their way.  Britain at this time was overseeing Libya and attempting to maintain stability in the region, and that included involvement in Egypt and Iran, where local nationalist forces were challenging imperial rule.  Following his five years in the service, Larry returned to England and married, finding work with the Atomic Energy Commission.  A friend who had emigrated to Canada told him he should come too, and Larry and his wife decided to give it a try.  Larry was interviewed by Scott Masters at his home in Lindsay, Ontario in March 2025.