Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Green Howards during Maria Hertogh Riots in Singapore, Federation of Malaya, 12/1950; served with 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles, 29th British Infantry Bde in South Korea, 1/1951-4/1951; prisoner of war in Camp 1, Choksong, North Korea, 4/1951-71953
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Dewsbury, GB, 1929-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild of childhood in Dewsbury, GB, 1939-1945: German Air Force raids; influx of soldiers into town; German V1 Flying Bombs which fell on farmland around Dewsbury, 1944; effect of rationing; cash raising 'war weeks' for war effort; background to call-up for National Service, 1950. Aspects of period with 1st Bn Green Howards in Singapore, Federation of Malaya, 12/1950: voyage aboard Charlton Start from GB to Singpore; patrolling streets during Maria Hertogh Riots, 12/1950; voyage aboard SS Sangola from Singapore to Japan, 1/1951. Aspects of operations as private with 4 Platoon, B Coy, 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles, 29th British Infantry Bde in South Korea, 1/1951-4/1951: arrival in Suwon and secondment to battalion, 2/1951; advance north to Kansas Line, 2/1951; Recollections of operations as private with 4 Platoon, B Coy, 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles, 29th British Infantry Bde during Battle of the River Imjin, South Korea, 4/1951: return to front line on River Imjin, 1/4/1951; taking up reserve positions; story of watching film 'Tea for Two' when Chinese People's Volunteer Army assault begin; orders to unit to open up road to surrounded 1st Bn Glostershire Regt, 4/1951; question of faulty intelligence about position of Chinese People's Volunteer Army on River Imjin; loss of friend Keith Winterskill.
REEL 2 Continues: role during battle; receiving order 'everyman for himself'; attempting to withdraw by Centurion Tank and capture by Chinese People's Volunteer Army, 25/4/1951; question of accuracy of his memories of battle. Recollections of prisoner of war march into North Korea, 4/1951-5/1951: sight of huge number of Chinese People's Volunteer Army dead; opinion of Chinese People's Volunteer Army including lack of equipment, organisation; how average soldier carried five days supply of food, character of front line troops and lack of rifles carried; loss of personal possessions to Chinese captors; wild tobacco rolls given to prisoners of war by Chinese captors; problems of adapting to Chinese food; dodging United States Air Force attack in Hellfire Pass; gradual weakening of prisoners of war; recuperating in schoolroom Halfway House Camp at Munha-ri near Pyongyang; strafing of prisoner of war column by United States North American F-86 Sabre jet aircraft on march to River Yalu; how Chinese captors kept prisoners of war away from Korean civilians. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Camp 1 Choksong, North Korea, 1951-1953: conditions in camp; prevalence of 'give-in-itis' disease of American prisoners of war.
REEL 3 Continues: huge death rate amongst American prisoners of war in camp; impossibility of escape; types of food given to prisoners of war; lice infestations and how these were dealt with; life sustaining nature of soya beans for breakfast; camp celebrations; start of indoctrination, 8/1951; nature of Chinese captors' indoctrination; gathering fuel in hills; issue of kapok-padded clothing; punishment in pit for three days; availability of 'Daily Worker' newspaper to prisoner of war; British prisoners of war sending money to Lynmouth Disaster Fund; visits by Communist journalists Alan Winnington, Wilfred Burchett, Monica Felton and Jack Gaster; role of camp Peace Committee; results of anti-fly campaign; construction of fly-free latrine and urinal stall; Chinese captors' attempt to exploit racial discrimination among United States Army prisoners of war; condition of Turkish Army prisoner of war; news of signing of ceasefire, 27/7/1953.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of release from captivity in North Korea, 1953: removal of prisoners of war from Choksong to Manpo before being sent south for release; sight of destruction caused by United Nations' bombing on journey south; method of releasing prisoners of war to United Nations' forces; welcome prisoners of war received on return to South Korea; reaction to contrast in treatment of former prisoners of war with 1st Gloucestershire Regt and those from other units; question of long-term effects of captivity; attitude to having served in Korean War.