As they manned the radio link and hid from the enemy shells in their dugout, desperately trying to keep out the minus 30 degree chill, Reg Briggs and Colin Clay struck up an instant bond.

They were just teenagers when the Korean War broke out in 1950, and it was a shock to the system when they were posted to the inhospitable mountainous terrain of the Imjin Valley a year later.

Although they had only a few days together in the N Signals Troop, attached to the Royal Engineers before Colin was sent to another brigade, the time they spent together stayed in the hearts of both men.

In 1999, a letter from out of the blue led to an emotional reunion for the pair at a Peterborough restaurant. Diners turned to look when an overcome Colin shouted out: "I haven't seen this fellow in 47 years."

Since then, they have stayed in touch by e-mail and met up last week at Reg's workplace in Churchgate to share their colourful and poignant stories.

Reg, who at 75 still works as a courier, has compiled a cherished album of photos and memorabilia from the war, and each picture sparks a memory.

There is the time when the former radio operator almost shot his colonel Black Jake after helping to lay a minefield for two hours in the pitch black and became spooked by a ghostly silhouette.

Or the picture of the dugout the men shared with six others and made the "best in our unit" after stocking it with heaters fashioned out of biscuit tins and hanging blankets at the entrance.

But Reg, of Chaucer Road, New England, Peterborough, said it was the long chats he enjoyed with Colin, a radio mechanic, that he most treasured. He said: "You made friends for life during the war. I thought Colin was a really good bloke.

"We became very good friends and it was with great sorrow when Colin got posted to 29 Brigade. We didn't see each other after that."

Colin, who now lives in Canada, and still works as a university chaplain, said: "It was the type of friendship struck up very quickly.

"It was quite emotional when we met up again. When there's eight of you living together in a dugout, you are so close."

Their paths crossed again when by chance, Colin spotted a photo and article about Reg in the Wire magazine, and wrote to his long-lost pal. Reg's wife Margaret (71) remembers seeing tears in her husband's eyes when he read it.

Colin said: "When I saw the magazine, I said, 'I shared this big dugout with this man.' I wrote to him and the rest is history.

"We met for the first time in 1999 and shared our war stories."

He added: "The Korean war was a funny kind of war. Because there were so many hills, you were never that far away from your enemy, but we still felt fairly safe. The most dramatic movements had taken place before we got there.

"There were occasional vigorous battles, but by and large, the front line stayed behind the Imjin Valley. We weren't involved in hand to hand combat."