When Gerry Masters began researching an exhibition on 20th century conflicts, as experienced by the people of his home town of Ilchester, he had a proud family history on which to draw from.

For his family served Queen, King and Country for at least 100 years. His great-grandfather, Job Robins, was a Royal Artilleryman who fought in the Crimean War. Job's campaign medals, including a clasp for the Seige of Sebastapol, still survive. Job's son, Jim Robins, Mr Masters' grandfather, served with the Devonshire regiment and his medals reflect service in the Punjab, North West Frontier and World War I.

Mr Masters' brother, Jim, was a Royal Engineer, and his campaign medals, reflecting service in Cyprus, Palestine, Suez and Northern Ireland, are included with the Robins' family medals in the exhibition, Conflicts of the 20th Century, organised by Ilchester Museum near Yeovil, which runs over the weekend of November 8-9.

Mr Masters, who saw National Service in the Royal Engineers, has called on the memories of Ilchester folk, some of whom had served at the nearby Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, as well as searching local newspaper archives to collect a wealth of fascinating accounts. The stories are set in context, with maps, and fragile artefacts, ranging from ration books to diaries.

When the 20th century dawned, Britain was at war with South Africa. The far-away fight is brought vividly to life by the recollections of driver J Squire of the Royal Horse Artillery, son of a family from Limington, just a mile from Ilchester. His voice speaks across the years, telling of opening the New Year with a 15-hour battle which killed 600 Boers with the loss of 27 of his own comrades. John Gale of Ilchester, serving with the 2nd Battalion Devon Regiment, won a clasp to his campaign medal for the relief of Ladysmith, and returned safely to his home in Church Street.

Local papers recorded the terrible toll of World War I, including the death of Albert Hilbourne of The Mead, Ilchester. A reservist and former Metropolitan Police officer, he served with the Coldstream Guards, returned twice to the front after severe wounds, and was fatally wounded in France in September 1916, leaving a widow and baby behind.

W orld War II saw young evacuees coming to Ilchester as men from the community fought Hitler across the world. The museum's book, Ilchester in World War II, has been republished to coincide with the exhibition, which itself coincides with the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. The book costs £12.50 but is available from the museum at the special price of £10 over the exhibition weekend.

Korea, Malaya, Cyprus, Aden, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Gulf Wars and Balkans conflicts have all seen people from Ilchester serving their country and helping to rebuild war-ravaged communities.

The exhibition shows how war changed life in Ilchester, with the parish council setting up allotments in 1916 and tells of Land Army girls employed locally in World War I to harvest flax, a traditional crop.

Jim Green, a Naval Petty Officer Mechanition, recalls the moment when HMS Hermes narrowly avoided being struck by an Exocet missile during the Falklands War: "My own moment of fear came as I balanced on the top of an A frame ladder, in the dark on the edge of the deck, unscrewing the IDF aerial from the tail fin of a Harrier…when I glanced down and saw nothing but the foaming sea beneath me. We were attacked by Etendards with Exocets, and launched chafe, which diverted the missile, but unfortunately the diverted missile struck Atlantic Conveyor and destroyed it."

Against a photograph of skeletal survivors of the atrocities in Bosnia, former Chief Petty Officer, Jonathan Coulson, is the last voice in the exhibition. After service in the Falklands Navy, helicopter squadrons were tasked to support the UN in the Balkans in the 1990s., resupplying ground troops and repatriating dead servicemen. Mr Coulson tells how men trained for war got some of their greatest satisfaction while off-duty, helping to improve life at a local orphanage.

In the 21st century, war has come full-circle. Mr Masters reflects: "My grandfather's regiment was involved in the fighting on the Hai river, North of Basra, and the borders of and in Afghanistan. And 100 years later, the boyfriend of my granddaughter is involved in the fighting in Basra and in Afghanistan."