Description
Object description
A ms diary for 1940 written in a French diary by a Corporal with 5th Field Ambulance RAMC (1st Division, BEF), with entries beginning 9 May 1940, but some earlier pages used for notes and some entries in French in a different hand possibly by an original owner, with details of leave being cancelled, seeing aircraft fighting overhead, moving to Belgium (10 May 1940), seeing refugees, seeking refuge in a cellar as German planes bombed the town, confusion of the situation and rumours, crossing and re-crossing the French and Belgian border, losing ambulances and lorries due to enemy planes, dumping his kit and moving in full retreat, reaching Dunkirk and boarding a cruiser and crossing to England (28 - 29 May 1940), moving to Aldershot then to Leeds, getting a good billet, moving to Brighouse and Waddington, 48 hours home leave to Newcastle (June 1940), starting a new job as an attendant on a skin ward, going down sick and taken to a Base Hospital (July 1940), then with few and brief entries until September including being placed in charge of a band (August 1940), the Main Dressing Station being evacuated and leave cancelled, coming down with a fever after a TAB injection, working in a MDS in Hull (November 1940), with throughout details of his movements, German bombing and machine gunning, anger at the RAF not keeping enemy bombers at bay, details of war news from elsewhere, piano playing in concert parties, the breaking down of discipline and putting men on a charge, being arrested himself for having a dirty fire bucket in his department, and notes throughout of military procedures, play lists of concerts, notes pertaining to his postal duties, and his pay. Together with: two Army Certificates of Education, Third Class (September 1928) and Second Class (December 1928) while with the RAMC at Crookham Camp; a Certificate for his qualification as a Nursing Orderly Third Class (November 1929); a letter of reference for Stebbing (1p) from the Colonel of the Military Hospital, Guernsey, Channel Islands (March 1931); a card 'Welcome to France - A Help to the English Soldiers, Instructions on the French Measures' (1939); a permanent pass for Hull and District (November 1940); his Regular Army Certificate of Service (1928 – 1941); Soldiers' Service and Pay Book (AB 64); Certificate of Discharge (July 1941); a postcard from his wife, Yvonne's, relative, Marcel Cariou, from Guernsey, Channel Islands (15 May 1945), speaking of family matters and the feelings on seeing British soldiers landing in Guernsey again; three letters of reference (1p each), one from the firm Boydell's, Newcastle-on-Tyne, one from J James & Son (March 1948); a Disabled Persons (Employment) Acts Certificate of Registration (September 1969); an autograph of band leader Duke Ellington; his 1939 - 1945 Star, War Medal 1939 - 1945, and RAMC cap badge.
Content description
A ms diary for 1940 written in a French diary by a Corporal with 5th Field Ambulance RAMC (1st Division, BEF), with entries beginning 9 May 1940, but some earlier pages used for notes and some entries in French in a different hand possibly by an original owner, with details of leave being cancelled, seeing aircraft fighting overhead, moving to Belgium (10 May 1940), seeing refugees, seeking refuge in a cellar as German planes bombed the town, confusion of the situation and rumours, crossing and re-crossing the French and Belgian border, losing ambulances and lorries due to enemy planes, dumping his kit and moving in full retreat, reaching Dunkirk and boarding a cruiser and crossing to England (28 - 29 May 1940), moving to Aldershot then to Leeds, getting a good billet, moving to Brighouse and Waddington, 48 hours home leave to Newcastle (June 1940), starting a new job as an attendant on a skin ward, going down sick and taken to a Base Hospital (July 1940), then with few and brief entries until September including being placed in charge of a band (August 1940), the Main Dressing Station being evacuated and leave cancelled, coming down with a fever after a TAB injection, working in a MDS in Hull (November 1940), with throughout details of his movements, German bombing and machine gunning, anger at the RAF not keeping enemy bombers at bay, details of war news from elsewhere, piano playing in concert parties, the breaking down of discipline and putting men on a charge, being arrested himself for having a dirty fire bucket in his department, and notes throughout of military procedures, play lists of concerts, notes pertaining to his postal duties, and his pay. Together with: two Army Certificates of Education, Third Class (September 1928) and Second Class (December 1928) while with the RAMC at Crookham Camp; a Certificate for his qualification as a Nursing Orderly Third Class (November 1929); a letter of reference for Stebbing (1p) from the Colonel of the Military Hospital, Guernsey, Channel Islands (March 1931); a card 'Welcome to France - A Help to the English Soldiers, Instructions on the French Measures' (1939); a permanent pass for Hull and District (November 1940); his Regular Army Certificate of Service (1928 – 1941); Soldiers' Service and Pay Book (AB 64); Certificate of Discharge (July 1941); a postcard from his wife, Yvonne's, relative, Marcel Cariou, from Guernsey, Channel Islands (15 May 1945), speaking of family matters and the feelings on seeing British soldiers landing in Guernsey again; three letters of reference (1p each), one from the firm Boydell's, Newcastle-on-Tyne, one from J James & Son (March 1948); a Disabled Persons (Employment) Acts Certificate of Registration (September 1969); an autograph of band leader Duke Ellington; his 1939 - 1945 Star, War Medal 1939 - 1945, and RAMC cap badge.
History note
Cataloguer SJO