Description
Object description
Ts account written for his grandchildren, largely made up of edited transcriptions of his detailed contemporary letters and sketches written to his parents, with later explanatory notes (210pp, written July 1985 – January 1989), with brief background details of his life, his father's dairy farm in Essex, and being called up aged 18 in December 1944, initially with No 4 Platoon, 'H' Company, No 1 Infantry Training Centre (ITC), with basic training at Warley Barracks, Brentwood, Essex, in barracks over Christmas, dental treatment and inoculations, rifle training, ending primary training and continuing his training with the Royal Fusiliers, with No 3 Platoon, 'G' Company, No 1 ITC (January 1945), transferring to 'D' Company (February 1945), details of assault courses, night fighting, rifle and Bren gun ranges, moving to 9 Platoon, 'C' Company, 2/4th Battalion Essex Regiment, for training at Shorncliffe Barracks, Hythe, Kent (April 1945), celebrating VE Day (May 1945), being under 19 so not being sent to Burma, joining 'A' Company, No 1 Holding Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (June 1945), based at Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex, preparations of draft (July 1945), travelling by train to Liverpool, sailing to the Middle East, details of the voyage in the REINA DEL PACIFICO, news of the Labour victory in the parliamentary elections, arriving at 'B' Company, Royal Fusiliers, Middle East Infantry Training Depot (MEITD), in Egypt (July 1945), daily life in Egypt, joining 'W' Company, 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (1st City of London) (180th Brigade) (August 1945), thoughts on the atomic bombs, the end of the war, a trip to Cairo and thoughts on Egyptian life, preparations to join PAI Force, details of the truck journey to Iraq via Egypt, Palestine, and Trans Jordan (September 1945), trips to Baghdad, moving to Persia, joining Persia and Iraq Command, vocational training, his first birthday away from home, descriptions of his new platoon (No 7), monotony of schemes, hearing of unrest in Palestine, being chosen to be a Battalion Orderly Clerk (October 1945), transferring to the Orderly Room, HQ Company, the staff, feeling useful again, a trip to Kermanshah, moving to Khanaqin, Iraq, changes in the Battalion as older men are demobbed, a brief history of 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers 1939 – 1945, Christmas in Iraq, time in 117th Indian General Hospital with an unexplained high temperature (January 1946), routine of sick parade, recuperation, diagnosis of para-typhoid fever, rumours of promotions, Companies being disbanded as numbers drop, moving to a hospital in Baghdad, moving to No 3 Convalescent Depot, Nathanie, Palestine (February 1946), routine in the depot, trips to Jerusalem, staying at the YMCA (March and April 1946), a trip to Nazareth, moving to a transit camp in Beirut, having to turn back from a journey to Haifa as troops were not allowed through Damascus, and shots being fired at him, eventually travelling to Haifa, waiting for his Battalion to arrive in Palestine, preparations for travelling to Greece, the journey in the PRINCESS KATHLEEN, No 30 Reception Camp outside Athens (May 1946), moving to Kavouri, living in tents, promotion to Lance Corporal, a trip to the Acropolis, duties, meeting two girls, Bebita (Pepitsea) and Olga Zarnari, and their family, waiting for LIAP, preparations for home leave, with details of the leave (August 1946) written retrospectively by Green, with details of meeting his future wife, Betty Anderson, with extracts from her diary, returning to Greece via France (September 1946), his 20th birthday, the disbanding of the 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (November 1946), joining 'G' Branch, British Military Mission to Greece, based in Athens (December 1946), in 30th Reception Camp while waiting to join, Christmas in Greece with the Zarnari family, brief details of his role in Intelligence, taking dancing lessons, anger of rumours of being posted to 131st Pioneer Company (February 1947), his move being cancelled, BMM moving to new barracks along Kifissia Road (March 1947), being shot at for only the second time, by a Greek (April 1947), the funeral of the King of Greece, his father planning to sell the dairy and open a smallholding (June 1947), and ending with recollections of his last six months in Greece (the letters were lost), being made up to Corporal, his 21st birthday, returning home for demob, and a post-script about his post-Army life, with throughout details of his movements, accommodation, friends, officers and NCOs, his friend Alan, food, routines, leisure time including all the films he watched, the NAAFI, ENSA shows, weather, sports, shopping in bazaars, packages to and from home, constant discussion and rumours about demobilisation, his love of Greece, thoughts on post-war situation in Palestine, Persia, and Greece, reflections on his experiences, and the hospitality of the Zarnari family, and also includes a transcription of a letter from his mother in Colchester (January 1946), worrying about his health, and a letter from Pepitsea from Greece (August 1946).
Content description
Ts account written for his grandchildren, largely made up of edited transcriptions of his detailed contemporary letters and sketches written to his parents, with later explanatory notes (210pp, written July 1985 – January 1989), with brief background details of his life, his father's dairy farm in Essex, and being called up aged 18 in December 1944, initially with No 4 Platoon, 'H' Company, No 1 Infantry Training Centre (ITC), with basic training at Warley Barracks, Brentwood, Essex, in barracks over Christmas, dental treatment and inoculations, rifle training, ending primary training and continuing his training with the Royal Fusiliers, with No 3 Platoon, 'G' Company, No 1 ITC (January 1945), transferring to 'D' Company (February 1945), details of assault courses, night fighting, rifle and Bren gun ranges, moving to 9 Platoon, 'C' Company, 2/4th Battalion Essex Regiment, for training at Shorncliffe Barracks, Hythe, Kent (April 1945), celebrating VE Day (May 1945), being under 19 so not being sent to Burma, joining 'A' Company, No 1 Holding Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (June 1945), based at Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex, preparations of draft (July 1945), travelling by train to Liverpool, sailing to the Middle East, details of the voyage in the REINA DEL PACIFICO, news of the Labour victory in the parliamentary elections, arriving at 'B' Company, Royal Fusiliers, Middle East Infantry Training Depot (MEITD), in Egypt (July 1945), daily life in Egypt, joining 'W' Company, 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (1st City of London) (180th Brigade) (August 1945), thoughts on the atomic bombs, the end of the war, a trip to Cairo and thoughts on Egyptian life, preparations to join PAI Force, details of the truck journey to Iraq via Egypt, Palestine, and Trans Jordan (September 1945), trips to Baghdad, moving to Persia, joining Persia and Iraq Command, vocational training, his first birthday away from home, descriptions of his new platoon (No 7), monotony of schemes, hearing of unrest in Palestine, being chosen to be a Battalion Orderly Clerk (October 1945), transferring to the Orderly Room, HQ Company, the staff, feeling useful again, a trip to Kermanshah, moving to Khanaqin, Iraq, changes in the Battalion as older men are demobbed, a brief history of 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers 1939 – 1945, Christmas in Iraq, time in 117th Indian General Hospital with an unexplained high temperature (January 1946), routine of sick parade, recuperation, diagnosis of para-typhoid fever, rumours of promotions, Companies being disbanded as numbers drop, moving to a hospital in Baghdad, moving to No 3 Convalescent Depot, Nathanie, Palestine (February 1946), routine in the depot, trips to Jerusalem, staying at the YMCA (March and April 1946), a trip to Nazareth, moving to a transit camp in Beirut, having to turn back from a journey to Haifa as troops were not allowed through Damascus, and shots being fired at him, eventually travelling to Haifa, waiting for his Battalion to arrive in Palestine, preparations for travelling to Greece, the journey in the PRINCESS KATHLEEN, No 30 Reception Camp outside Athens (May 1946), moving to Kavouri, living in tents, promotion to Lance Corporal, a trip to the Acropolis, duties, meeting two girls, Bebita (Pepitsea) and Olga Zarnari, and their family, waiting for LIAP, preparations for home leave, with details of the leave (August 1946) written retrospectively by Green, with details of meeting his future wife, Betty Anderson, with extracts from her diary, returning to Greece via France (September 1946), his 20th birthday, the disbanding of the 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (November 1946), joining 'G' Branch, British Military Mission to Greece, based in Athens (December 1946), in 30th Reception Camp while waiting to join, Christmas in Greece with the Zarnari family, brief details of his role in Intelligence, taking dancing lessons, anger of rumours of being posted to 131st Pioneer Company (February 1947), his move being cancelled, BMM moving to new barracks along Kifissia Road (March 1947), being shot at for only the second time, by a Greek (April 1947), the funeral of the King of Greece, his father planning to sell the dairy and open a smallholding (June 1947), and ending with recollections of his last six months in Greece (the letters were lost), being made up to Corporal, his 21st birthday, returning home for demob, and a post-script about his post-Army life, with throughout details of his movements, accommodation, friends, officers and NCOs, his friend Alan, food, routines, leisure time including all the films he watched, the NAAFI, ENSA shows, weather, sports, shopping in bazaars, packages to and from home, constant discussion and rumours about demobilisation, his love of Greece, thoughts on post-war situation in Palestine, Persia, and Greece, reflections on his experiences, and the hospitality of the Zarnari family, and also includes a transcription of a letter from his mother in Colchester (January 1946), worrying about his health, and a letter from Pepitsea from Greece (August 1946).
History note
Cataloguer SJO