Description
Object description
British conscientious objector served with Friends' Ambulance Unit in GB, 1940-1942 and Ethiopia, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Wednesbury, West Midlands, 1919-1939: family; reason for development of socialist beliefs and interest in peace movement; story of joining Peace Pledge Union after leaving school in 1930s; reason for pacifist beliefs; attitude to war; reaction to use of poison gas by Mussolini in Abyssinia; question of awareness of Hitler's anti-Semitism; story of registering as a conscientious objector on outbreak of war, 9/1939; reaction of father and effect on family; various memories of other conscientious objectors; description of tribunal and reason for volunteering for medical work. Aspects of period with Friends' Ambulance Unit in GB, 1940-1942: story of joining Friends' Ambulance Unit, 1/1940; pacifist and religious beliefs; attitude to being called a coward; description of training at Bourneville; description of work in London hospitals, tube shelters and rest centres during Blitz; attitude of civilians to conscientious objectors with Friends' Ambulance Unit; effect of war on pacifist beliefs.
REEL 2 Continues: story of volunteering to work with Friends' Ambulance Unit in Ethiopia; reason for presence of Friends' Ambulance Unit in Ethiopia and role of British Government and Foreign Office; role of Haile Selassie in inviting Friends' Ambulance Unit to work in Ethiopia; description of training and preparations; story of learning Amharic language before departure from GB; description of kit and equipment; description of journey to Ethiopia, 1942.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period with Friends' Ambulance Unit in Ethiopia, 1942-1945: first impressions of Ethiopia; effect of Italian colonial rule; Italian influences in capital Addis Ababa; attitude of Ethiopians to Italian rule; opinion of Ethiopian administrative organisation; contacts with Ethiopian royal family; opinion of British liberation campaign; levels of medical care and role of Friends' Ambulance Unit; description of working conditions in Haile Selassie and Hammanuel hospitals and Tekla Haimanot clinic; improvements in public health organised by Friends' Ambulance Unit; types of diseases treated; system of payment for health care.
REEL 4 Continues: story of effectiveness of drugs M and B 693 in treatment of meningitis; state of health of members of Friends' Ambulance Unit; description of work at Tekla Haimanot clinic and in leprosy camp; communications between clinics; use of newsletter; importance of pacifist status and attitude of Ethiopians to Friends' Ambulance Unit; description of role as Deputy Commandant, 1944-1945; organisation of Friends' Ambulance Unit.
REEL 5 Continues: story of Jack Frazer's request to move nearer to military action; further description of role as Deputy Commandant; relations with Ethiopian authorities and military; reaction to news of D-Day landings, 6/1944; role of Friends' Ambulance Unit in prisons; story of withdrawal of Friends' Ambulance Unit from Ethiopia, 1944-1945; story of Richard Mounsey's post-war contacts with Ethiopia; reflections on period in Ethiopia. Post-war life and employment: problem of continuing with medical career; story of helping victims of earthquake in Andes; reaction to current events in Ethiopia; summary of pacifist beliefs; reflections on period of service with Friends' Ambulance Unit.