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Content description
122 lively and interesting ms letters written to his mother whilst serving as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Ghana Regiment in Ghana and the Congo (December 1960 – February 1962) and with the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment in Kenya (August 1963 – November 1964) during the period of British decolonisation in Africa, together with a collection of ms and ts orders and documents, including tactical operation reports, statements and patrol programmes, relating to C Company, 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment's tour of Northern Ireland (April – July 1976); his letters describe regimental routine, officer and battalion training in jungle warfare, patrols and ambushes, a visit of President Tito, experiences of surfing, rumours in the regiment following the mutiny of the 3rd Ghana Regiment in the Congo (December 1960 – March 1961), his deployment with the Regiment to the Congo as part of ONUC, the United Nations peacekeeping operation, describing in detail peacekeeping operations and rules of engagement, the aftermath of village massacres and the exodus of the Lulua tribe, his lucky survival from the massacre at Port Franqui of a company of Ghanaian soldiers along with two British and three Swedish officers following surrender to the ANC forces (April – May 1961), the social activities he undertook on his return to Ghana including meeting President Kwame Nkrumah, the visit of HM The Queen, crocodile hunting, sailing, rally driving and the departure of all British officers from Ghana (May 1961 – January 1962), then in Kenya (August 1963 – November 1964) as a Lieutenant commanding the Anti-Tank Platoon, 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment, describing his platoon's role in battalion and brigade training schemes, including one month in Aden, service in HMS RHYL protecting the evacuation of British subjects from Zanzibar (January 1964), the disarming and discharging of mutineers in Uganda (January – February 1964), and his efforts to instruct a cadre of soldiers from the Kenyan Army in anti-tank measures. The letters provide vivid descriptions of the landscape and wildlife encountered in both Ghana and Kenya, the author being an avid photographer.
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