Description
Object description
175 ms letters (c. 660pp, plus envelopes) written by a National Serviceman to his parents in West Wickham, Kent, together with an edited transcription (57pp, 2011, with extracts of non-family related information only, and including explanatory notes and scans of photographs), covering his training at 5th Training Battalion Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) at Oudenarde Barracks Aldershot (November 1951) and 2nd Training Battalion (Supply) RASC, Willems Barracks Aldershot, with details of drill, training, entertainment, theft of equipment in barracks, opinions of officers and NCOs, pranks, duties, the firing range, typing pool duties, and discipline, his move to St. Lucia Barracks, Bordon, (February 1952), the preparations for departure to Egypt, flying to Egypt via Malta, his arrival at Buller Camp, Gebel Maryam, Egypt, MELF (Middle East Land Forces) (March 1952), his duties as a dispatch clerk in the HQ Commander Royal Army Service Corps (CRASC) Moascar office, descriptions of the camp which was next to the Suez canal, Egyptians being on strike at the time, moving to HQ Canal North District, Ferry Point, as they were short of a clerk (17th April 1952), details of his colleagues, off duty activities in Ismailia, seeing locals and touring markets, playing cricket, moving to, HQ Canal North District, Aviary Camp (June 1952), on the edge of Lake Timsah, leave outside the Canal Zone and movements being restricted as a result of the abdication of King Farouk (July 1952), his opinion that Anglo-Egyptian relations will deteriorate and that the two armies will come to blows, moving to Tel-el-Kebir (TEK) (August 1952), the camp consisting mainly of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and a minority of RASC personnel, being posted from CRASC Moascar to Barrack store Moascar, and attached to 486th Supply Platoon, TEK, working with civilian clerks of various nationalities, his promotion to Lance-Corporal, descriptions of CRASC command structure, a guard commander being demoted for sleeping on duty despite it being a quiet area, his boredom of night guard duty due to being only one of two NCOs able to lead guard duty, fire fighting practice, his pessimistic summation of the value of Army life, attending a lecture on atomic bombs, the cold in winter, home leave (March 1953), having to be armed at all times due to an Egyptian ambush elsewhere (May 1953), parades for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, losing an Egyptian accountant who was arrested for working for the British Army during the troubles, taking part in a practice general alarm (operation Flapjack), taking over as a Petrol Oil and Lubricant Accountant at the Petrol Station, with a conclusion in the transcription explaining his last days before demob in October 1953 (his original letters from July to October 1953 were missing). Also included with the letters are a few forms, menus and entertainment programmes which he sent home with his letters.
Content description
175 ms letters (c. 660pp, plus envelopes) written by a National Serviceman to his parents in West Wickham, Kent, together with an edited transcription (57pp, 2011, with extracts of non-family related information only, and including explanatory notes and scans of photographs), covering his training at 5th Training Battalion Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) at Oudenarde Barracks Aldershot (November 1951) and 2nd Training Battalion (Supply) RASC, Willems Barracks Aldershot, with details of drill, training, entertainment, theft of equipment in barracks, opinions of officers and NCOs, pranks, duties, the firing range, typing pool duties, and discipline, his move to St. Lucia Barracks, Bordon, (February 1952), the preparations for departure to Egypt, flying to Egypt via Malta, his arrival at Buller Camp, Gebel Maryam, Egypt, MELF (Middle East Land Forces) (March 1952), his duties as a dispatch clerk in the HQ Commander Royal Army Service Corps (CRASC) Moascar office, descriptions of the camp which was next to the Suez canal, Egyptians being on strike at the time, moving to HQ Canal North District, Ferry Point, as they were short of a clerk (17th April 1952), details of his colleagues, off duty activities in Ismailia, seeing locals and touring markets, playing cricket, moving to, HQ Canal North District, Aviary Camp (June 1952), on the edge of Lake Timsah, leave outside the Canal Zone and movements being restricted as a result of the abdication of King Farouk (July 1952), his opinion that Anglo-Egyptian relations will deteriorate and that the two armies will come to blows, moving to Tel-el-Kebir (TEK) (August 1952), the camp consisting mainly of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and a minority of RASC personnel, being posted from CRASC Moascar to Barrack store Moascar, and attached to 486th Supply Platoon, TEK, working with civilian clerks of various nationalities, his promotion to Lance-Corporal, descriptions of CRASC command structure, a guard commander being demoted for sleeping on duty despite it being a quiet area, his boredom of night guard duty due to being only one of two NCOs able to lead guard duty, fire fighting practice, his pessimistic summation of the value of Army life, attending a lecture on atomic bombs, the cold in winter, home leave (March 1953), having to be armed at all times due to an Egyptian ambush elsewhere (May 1953), parades for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, losing an Egyptian accountant who was arrested for working for the British Army during the troubles, taking part in a practice general alarm (operation Flapjack), taking over as a Petrol Oil and Lubricant Accountant at the Petrol Station, with a conclusion in the transcription explaining his last days before demob in October 1953 (his original letters from July to October 1953 were missing). Also included with the letters are a few forms, menus and entertainment programmes which he sent home with his letters.
History note
Cataloguer SJO