Description
Object description
Ts transcription (290pp) of his well-written and interesting letters to his wife, Mavis (April 1942 - March 1944), recording his experiences with the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment (4th Brigade, 2nd Division), including the voyage to India (April 1942); training in Poona, various unnamed locations and the jungle in India Command (June 1942 - March 1944), attending a court martial at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun (September 1942); and commenting on life and conditions in India, notably acclimatising and learning Hindustani, relations with the local population, his dislike of Americans and Indians, the monsoon, the illness (50% of the Battalion out of action with disease, September 1942 - November 1942) and the anti-British campaign of Gandhi and Nehru; army life, notably his training (including exercises, schemes and attending a 'battle' course at the divisional Battle School (August 1942) and a company commanders course at the Army Tactical School, Poona (April 1943 - May 1943), jungle training, conducting exercises on the rifle range and training the battalion tactical cadre), his CO and fellow officers, his men (notably problems with morale from the break-up of marriages as a result of liaisons with American and Canadian troops in their absence, July 1943), his duties, courts martial, the billets, resentment of the Divisional Staff (March 1943), his routine, the food, his ration of beer, the padre and his off-duty entertainment, notably sight-seeing, hockey, shooting game, the divisional concert party, the cinema, and leave in Bombay; the rationing in the UK; his pay and expenses; celebrating Christmas (1942 and 1943); the post and giving news of family and friends, notably his wife's pregnancy and the birth of his son, the death in May 1942 of his brother-in-law (his wife's brother), Flying Officer L T Manser, shot down over Belgium (September 1942) who was later awarded the VC (November 1942), and the progress of the war; and mentioning Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Also included are ts transcriptions of letters of commiseration (18pp, May 1944 - December 1944) from his brother officers, General Sir Peter Strickland (Colonel of the Regiment) and the War Office to his wife following his death, killed in action attacking a bunker at Kohima in Assam, India in May 1944, giving news of his battalion, other casualties and of the posthumous award of the VC to her husband.
Content description
Ts transcription (290pp) of his well-written and interesting letters to his wife, Mavis (April 1942 - March 1944), recording his experiences with the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment (4th Brigade, 2nd Division), including the voyage to India (April 1942); training in Poona, various unnamed locations and the jungle in India Command (June 1942 - March 1944), attending a court martial at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun (September 1942); and commenting on life and conditions in India, notably acclimatising and learning Hindustani, relations with the local population, his dislike of Americans and Indians, the monsoon, the illness (50% of the Battalion out of action with disease, September 1942 - November 1942) and the anti-British campaign of Gandhi and Nehru; army life, notably his training (including exercises, schemes and attending a 'battle' course at the divisional Battle School (August 1942) and a company commanders course at the Army Tactical School, Poona (April 1943 - May 1943), jungle training, conducting exercises on the rifle range and training the battalion tactical cadre), his CO and fellow officers, his men (notably problems with morale from the break-up of marriages as a result of liaisons with American and Canadian troops in their absence, July 1943), his duties, courts martial, the billets, resentment of the Divisional Staff (March 1943), his routine, the food, his ration of beer, the padre and his off-duty entertainment, notably sight-seeing, hockey, shooting game, the divisional concert party, the cinema, and leave in Bombay; the rationing in the UK; his pay and expenses; celebrating Christmas (1942 and 1943); the post and giving news of family and friends, notably his wife's pregnancy and the birth of his son, the death in May 1942 of his brother-in-law (his wife's brother), Flying Officer L T Manser, shot down over Belgium (September 1942) who was later awarded the VC (November 1942), and the progress of the war; and mentioning Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Also included are ts transcriptions of letters of commiseration (18pp, May 1944 - December 1944) from his brother officers, General Sir Peter Strickland (Colonel of the Regiment) and the War Office to his wife following his death, killed in action attacking a bunker at Kohima in Assam, India in May 1944, giving news of his battalion, other casualties and of the posthumous award of the VC to her husband.
History note
Cataloguer SNR
History note
Catalogue date 2007-06-06