Description
Object description
British conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1941; served with Friends' Ambulance Unit in GB and Germany, 1941-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1919-1939: family and childhood in Kidderminster; employment in solicitor's office, 1933-1939; story of hearing word 'conchie' for first time in connection with First World War; attitude to possible outbreak of war during 1930s; awareness of anti-war groups; pacifist influences. Aspects of period as conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1941: story of registering as a conscientious objector, 11/1939; reason for leaving employment and working picking sugar beet on local farm; attitude of family to pacifist views; opinion of treatment at Tribunal; reaction of family to joining Friends' Ambulance Unit, 10/1941; relations with other conscientious objectors in Wolverhampton; initial awareness of Friends' Ambulance Unit.
REEL 2 Continues: reason for applying to join Friends' Ambulance Unit, 1939; problem of delay in being accepted; description of work as Co-Operative Society milkman; examples of hostility from local community towards pacifist beliefs; story of friend killed in action serving with armed forces; civil defence work including during German Air Force raid on Coventry, 11/1940; story of attending Tribunal in Birmingham. Recollections of period as conscientious objector with Friends' Ambulance Unit in GB, 1941-1945: joining Friends' Ambulance Unit, p, 10/1941; attitude to class in organisation of Friends' Ambulance Unit and problem of exclusion due to working class background.
REEL 3 Continues: question of connection between class and pacifism; interview with Friends' Ambulance Unit and opinion of interview board; attitude to experience in training camp; opinion of Brandon Cadbury; acceptance of pacifism within Friends' Ambulance Unit; effect of war on pacifist views; definition of 'violence' in connection with pacifism; problem of increasing complexity of peace and war issues during service with Friends' Ambulance Unit; relations between British Army and conscientious objectors; work as hospital orderly at All Saints Hospital, Bromsgrove, Buckland Hospital, Dover and Birmingham Accident Hospital, Birmingham.
REEL 4 Continues: clerical work at Headquarters, Friends' Ambulance Unit, Gordon Square, London; funding of Friends' Ambulance Unit; personal financial situation; wartime daily life in London; work in the Overseas Office; story of Horace Alexander joining Friends' Ambulance Unit, 1943; opinion of Gerald Gardiner and work with Friends' Ambulance Unit; role of Friends' Ambulance Unit in Europe. Aspects of period as conscientious objector with Friends' Ambulance Unit in Germany, 1945-1946: work helping with repatriation of Soviet Displaced Persons at Soltau and Tangermünde on the River Elbe; attitude to treatment of Soviet Displaced Persons; opinion of Soviet Army troops.
REEL 5 Continues: description of arrival by train of Soviet Displaced Persons and repatriation process; story about Ukrainian nurses; work with Displaced Persons at Wentorf bei Hamburg and Glinde; social and political situation in post-war Germany; living conditions of German civilians and attitude to Friends' Ambulance Unit; working with future wife Phyllis 'Pip' Stringer in Section 133, British Military Government, Germany; role of Friends' Ambulance Unit in improving relations between German civilians and Allied occupation forces in Ruhr area; role of German churches and pastors under Nazi regime; work in youth clubs; continuing signs of support for Nazis.
REEL 6 Continues: story of pro-Nazi factory manager; attitude of Friends' Ambulance Unit to close relations between some British officers and pro-Nazi elements; further comments on work in youth clubs; opinion of contribution of Friends' Ambulance Unit to relief effort in Germany; role of women in Friends' Ambulance Unit; marriage to Friends' Ambulance Unit co-worker Phyllis 'Pip' Stringer. Aspects of post-war life in GB: further education at University of Manchester; opinion of the Workers' Educational Association; attitude to wife's education; story of problem with ex-sergeant-major at first teaching post; opinion of treatment of conscientious objectors during Second World War; anti-war stance over Gulf War, 1990-1991; opinion of role of United Nations.