Description
Object description
Papers, diaries, photos, and other items relating to John Harold Broom, as a driver in Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), and Enemy Ammunition Disposal Control Unit Mobile Section (EADCUMS), including: Pocket Diary for 1942 (120pp) with brief entries while he was with 148th Independent Infantry Brigade Company, and 293rd Company, RASC, based in Northern Ireland, mentioning the freezing cold weather and men passing out on parade, guard, workshop, and maintenance duties, inspections, trips in to Belfast, weapon training, taking over as a Driving Instructor (February – March 1942), promotion to Lance Corporal, some details of the men he was training, his 21st birthday, leave, having his tonsils removed (May 1942), recuperating in MEC Bangor, moving to 6th ACC in Crawfordsburn (June), posting on detachment to Clandeboye, with few entries from July, leave; a Universal Diary for 1943 (62pp), with brief entries, while at Pangbourne (January 1943), drilling a squad, guard duty, dances, cinema trips, issued with tropical kit (April 1943), boarding SS ORMONDE, the journey to Algeria, arriving in Algiers (23 April 1943), driving to Bone (May 1943), working hard in the harbour, duties, millage covered, trips to Tunis and others, coming down sick on a tank course in Bone and time in 5 General Hospital (October 1943), with mentions of the heat, flies, opinions of his work, pay and expenses, snakes and jackals; a Universal Diary for 1944 (66pp), covering his posting to No 4 Section, boarding a US troopship at Oran (April 1944), sailing to the UK, arriving in Lancaster, coming down with a bout of malaria, time in 11 Vehicle Reserve Depot (VRD) RAOC, brief entries relating to route marches, moving to a camp in Surrey (June 1944), another bout of Malaria (July - August 1944), home leave, moving to a convalescent camp in Taunton, brief entries regarding treatment until moving to a convalescent unit in Chester, moving to 'K' camp RAOC MOB Centre, Donnington (November 1944), leave, posting to 55th Infantry Division OFP, Danehill, Sussex (December 1944), with details of his work, movements, and leisure time; a Quikref Diary for 1945 (66pp), with details of being posted to Ostend (April 1945), posting to No 10 Enemy Ammunition Disposal Control Unit Mobile Section (EADCUMS), moving to Xanten, Germany, driving ammo between Goch and Kevelaer, the end of the war (May 1945), the rest of the diary taken up with movements round Germany and Belgium driving ammo, rations and mail, mainly round Osnabrück, with some home leave, returning to Hamm and Herne, Germany (October 1945); two Small Boots diaries for 1946, with few and very brief entries, mainly detailing movements from UK to Germany and back, and round Germany, with no entries after July, throughout all the diaries he seems generally 'browned off'. Together with: a ts notice to staff of Cooper & Co.'s Stores Ltd, giving details of money and gifts sent to men and women of the Liverpool organisation serving in the forces by the CKC, with extracts from letters of four staff members thanking them for the parcels, and a balance sheet of money in the account for providing gifts for the previous year (2pp, January 1945); a Christmas greeting card from the CKC, Coopers (1p); his Soldier's Service and Pay Book (AB 64); a receipt for the Splendid-Hotel in Bone; a War Office booklet 'Notes for Drivers Operating German, French, or Italian Vehicles, 1944' (January 1944); two War Office Identification Cards for Mechanical Transport Drivers (AF A2038) (June 1944 and November 1945); two War Department Driving Permits (AF A2038) (June 1944 and November 1945); a newspaper clipping about Liverpool's Salute the Soldier week raising over 17 million pounds, second only to London; a copy of General Dwight D Eisenhower's D-day statement to 'Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!' (June 1944); four photographs of J H Broom in uniform (1944-1945); two YMCA 1 Franc tokens, Algeria 1943; three improvised monthly Cigarette and Chocolate Ration Cards for Broom and two others while with 11 VRD RAOC (May to June 1944); examples of Allied currency for Algeria (one 5 Franc note) and Germany (one 50 pfennig and one 1 Mark note), a British Military one shilling note, and three pre-war Rentenmark notes (two 1 Mark and one 2 Mark). Also included are First World War papers and postcards of his father, John Broom, 6th Battalion King's (Liverpool) Regiment, 4th Battalion Border Regiment, and 316th Protection Company, Royal Defence Corps, including: his Will (February 1915); a page from a diary covering his movements February to March 1915, crossing to France and then to Belgium; a Field Service Postcard (October 1915); a Pass (AF B295) (October 1917); 24 picture postcards of France, mostly from the series 'Guerre 1914-1916' showing scenes of Arras, as well as of Le Treport, and Amiens; a ms letter (4pp) written to him by his parents in Liverpool (25 March 1917); his Character Certificate (AF B2067) (November 1917); and his Discharge Certificate (AF E511) due to his being no longer fit for war service (November 1917).
Content description
Papers, diaries, photos, and other items relating to John Harold Broom, as a driver in Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), and Enemy Ammunition Disposal Control Unit Mobile Section (EADCUMS), including: Pocket Diary for 1942 (120pp) with brief entries while he was with 148th Independent Infantry Brigade Company, and 293rd Company, RASC, based in Northern Ireland, mentioning the freezing cold weather and men passing out on parade, guard, workshop, and maintenance duties, inspections, trips in to Belfast, weapon training, taking over as a Driving Instructor (February – March 1942), promotion to Lance Corporal, some details of the men he was training, his 21st birthday, leave, having his tonsils removed (May 1942), recuperating in MEC Bangor, moving to 6th ACC in Crawfordsburn (June), posting on detachment to Clandeboye, with few entries from July, leave; a Universal Diary for 1943 (62pp), with brief entries, while at Pangbourne (January 1943), drilling a squad, guard duty, dances, cinema trips, issued with tropical kit (April 1943), boarding SS ORMONDE, the journey to Algeria, arriving in Algiers (23 April 1943), driving to Bone (May 1943), working hard in the harbour, duties, millage covered, trips to Tunis and others, coming down sick on a tank course in Bone and time in 5 General Hospital (October 1943), with mentions of the heat, flies, opinions of his work, pay and expenses, snakes and jackals; a Universal Diary for 1944 (66pp), covering his posting to No 4 Section, boarding a US troopship at Oran (April 1944), sailing to the UK, arriving in Lancaster, coming down with a bout of malaria, time in 11 Vehicle Reserve Depot (VRD) RAOC, brief entries relating to route marches, moving to a camp in Surrey (June 1944), another bout of Malaria (July - August 1944), home leave, moving to a convalescent camp in Taunton, brief entries regarding treatment until moving to a convalescent unit in Chester, moving to 'K' camp RAOC MOB Centre, Donnington (November 1944), leave, posting to 55th Infantry Division OFP, Danehill, Sussex (December 1944), with details of his work, movements, and leisure time; a Quikref Diary for 1945 (66pp), with details of being posted to Ostend (April 1945), posting to No 10 Enemy Ammunition Disposal Control Unit Mobile Section (EADCUMS), moving to Xanten, Germany, driving ammo between Goch and Kevelaer, the end of the war (May 1945), the rest of the diary taken up with movements round Germany and Belgium driving ammo, rations and mail, mainly round Osnabrück, with some home leave, returning to Hamm and Herne, Germany (October 1945); two Small Boots diaries for 1946, with few and very brief entries, mainly detailing movements from UK to Germany and back, and round Germany, with no entries after July, throughout all the diaries he seems generally 'browned off'. Together with: a ts notice to staff of Cooper & Co.'s Stores Ltd, giving details of money and gifts sent to men and women of the Liverpool organisation serving in the forces by the CKC, with extracts from letters of four staff members thanking them for the parcels, and a balance sheet of money in the account for providing gifts for the previous year (2pp, January 1945); a Christmas greeting card from the CKC, Coopers (1p); his Soldier's Service and Pay Book (AB 64); a receipt for the Splendid-Hotel in Bone; a War Office booklet 'Notes for Drivers Operating German, French, or Italian Vehicles, 1944' (January 1944); two War Office Identification Cards for Mechanical Transport Drivers (AF A2038) (June 1944 and November 1945); two War Department Driving Permits (AF A2038) (June 1944 and November 1945); a newspaper clipping about Liverpool's Salute the Soldier week raising over 17 million pounds, second only to London; a copy of General Dwight D Eisenhower's D-day statement to 'Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!' (June 1944); four photographs of J H Broom in uniform (1944-1945); two YMCA 1 Franc tokens, Algeria 1943; three improvised monthly Cigarette and Chocolate Ration Cards for Broom and two others while with 11 VRD RAOC (May to June 1944); examples of Allied currency for Algeria (one 5 Franc note) and Germany (one 50 pfennig and one 1 Mark note), a British Military one shilling note, and three pre-war Rentenmark notes (two 1 Mark and one 2 Mark). Also included are First World War papers and postcards of his father, John Broom, 6th Battalion King's (Liverpool) Regiment, 4th Battalion Border Regiment, and 316th Protection Company, Royal Defence Corps, including: his Will (February 1915); a page from a diary covering his movements February to March 1915, crossing to France and then to Belgium; a Field Service Postcard (October 1915); a Pass (AF B295) (October 1917); 24 picture postcards of France, mostly from the series 'Guerre 1914-1916' showing scenes of Arras, as well as of Le Treport, and Amiens; a ms letter (4pp) written to him by his parents in Liverpool (25 March 1917); his Character Certificate (AF B2067) (November 1917); and his Discharge Certificate (AF E511) due to his being no longer fit for war service (November 1917).
History note
Cataloguer SJO