Description
Object description
British medical orderly and NCO served with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Motor Infantry Div in GB, France and Belgium, 1/1939-6/1940; served with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB, North Africa, Cyprus, Iraq, Italy and North West Europe, 6//1940-11/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Newcastle upon Tyne, GB, 1911-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as medical orderly with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Motor Infantry Div in GB, 1/1939-1/1940: reasons for joining Territorial Army, 1/1939; organisation of unit; basic medical training including use of Thomas splints and tourniquets; ambulances used; summer camp at Catterick; reaction to mobilisation and outbreak of war, 9/1939; billeting in school in Newcastle upon Tyne, 9/1939-11/1939; conditions of service; opinion of NCOs and officers; question of unit contacts with Northumberland Fusiliers; move to Shipton under Wychwood, 11/1939-1/1940. Aspects of period as medical orderly with 149th Field Ambulance, 50th (Northumbrian) Motor Infantry Div in France, 1/1940-5/1940: move to Cherbourg, 27/1/1940.
REEL 2 Continues: training period, 1/1940-5/1940; reaction to German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka attacks; refugees on road; retreat to Dunkirk; situation on beaches at Dunkirk; question of inadequacy of medical arrangements for types of wounds encountered; slit trenches; disposition of unit during action; under artillery fire; treating troops for minor ailments and question of venereal disease; relations with troops and opinion of Royal Air Force during retreat. Aspects of period as NCO with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-5/1941: promotion to lance corporal; improvements in medical technology. Aspects of period as NCO with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in Egypt, Cyprus and Egypt, 1941-1942: voyage from GB to Egypt, 5/1941-6/1941; period in Cyprus, 7/1941-11/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: arrival in Iraq, 11/1941; effects of cold in Iraq, 11/1941-2/1942. Recollections of operations as NCO with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in North Africa, 2/1942-7/1943: move to Gazala, Libya; activities of 'Jock Columns'; use of underground positions; breakout from Knightsbridge Box, 6/1942; two day period as prisoner of war; officer's initiative in acquiring canteen supplies; promotion to sergeant and responsibilities; design and construction of penthouse hospitals; visit from General Bernard Montgomery; rations; setting up penthouse hospital prior to Battle of El Alamein, 10/1942; artillery bombardment; treatment of casualties during Battle of El Alamein, 10/1942; use of plaster casts on wounds.
REEL 4 Continues: behaviour of casualties; symptoms of shell shock; method of receiving and preparing casualties for treatment; situation at Mareth Line, Tunisia, 3/1943-4/1943; move to Alexandria, Egypt, 4/1943; training in Alexandria, Egypt, 4/1943-7/1943; relations with company officer; leave. Aspects of operations as NCO with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div on Sicily, Italy, 7/1943: briefing; beach landing, 10/7/1943; action at Primosole Bridge, 15/7/1943; reaction of brigade troops being sent other units in Italy. Aspects of period as NCO with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB, 1943-1944: return to GB, 11/1943; jettisoning of souvenirs into harbour; move of unit to Newmarket area; in sealed camp prior to D-Day, 5/1944-6/1944. Recollections of operations as NCO with 149th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 6/1944-11/1944: visit of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and other Very Important Persons (VIPs) after embarkation at Southampton Docks, 4/6/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: crossing English Channel, D-Day, 6/6/1944; interrogation by German after brief capture in barn and release on approach of British patrol, D-Day, Normandy, France, 6/6/1944; pattern of advance into Netherlands; crossing Nijmegen Bridge in Netherlands; reasons for award of Military Medal; receiving Military Medal from General Brian Horrocks; reasons for disbandment of 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in Belgium, 11/1944. Aspects of posting to 22nd Field Dressing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps in Denmark, 1945; demobilisation, 15/10/1945; effects of service during Second World War.
