Description
Object description
British officer served with Support Coy, 1st Bn Duke of Wellington's Regt (West Riding), 29th British Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 1952-1953; served with 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, 16th Independent Parachute Bde Group in Canal Zone, Egypt, 1954, Cyprus, 1956-1957 and during Operation Musketeer at Suez, Egypt, 11/1957; served as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, West Africa Command in Nigeria, 1957-1959; entered Ampleforth Abbey as monk, 9/1960
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Belfast, Northern Ireland and GB, 1931-1952: family; education; reasons for joining British Army, 1949; opinion of British Empire; period as cadet with Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Camberley, GB, 1950. Opinion of Yorkshire men and regiments. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Empire Fowey from GB to South Korea, 1952: background to posting to South Korea; reaction to posting to South Korea; nature of voyage; effect of posting on former Chindit veterans as ship neared South Korea; question of reputation of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops.
REEL 2 Continues: question of failure to brief soldiers about what situation they would facing with reference to service in Cyprus. Recollections of operations as officer with Support Coy, 1st Bn Duke of Wellington Regt (West Riding), 29th British Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1952-1953: reception in Pusan; move to Seoul; initial impressions of Korea; positions on The Hook; Chinese People's Volunteer Army attack and United Nations' counter-attack on The Hook, 5/1953; reaction to use of Napalm; construction of barbed wire defences; repelling of Chinese People's Volunteer Army attack on The Hook, 5/1953; wounding and evacuation to Seoul, 6/1953; events of last few hours before ceasefire, 7/1953; attitude of Republic of Korea (ROK) troops towards Communist troops; contrast between United States Marine Corps and United States Army personnel; attitude towards Chinese troops of People's Volunteer Army (PVA); effect of Chinese psychological warfare on British Army troops; layout of barbed wire on The Hook.
REEL 3 Continues: nature of wire-laying; effects of United Nations' psychological warfare; patrolling; coping with cold in trenches; effects of monsoon rains on conditions in trenches; rats; use of Parka Jackets; opinion of equipment used; physical demands of digging in; dealing with mortar casualties in dugouts; role of conscripts in unit; work of ex-South Wales miners in unit.
REEL 4 Continues: comforts received by troops from GB; alcohol ration; rest and recreation in Tokyo and Kure, Japan; contrast in motivation between regulars and National Service conscripts; award of Military Cross; singing songs in reserve; Chinese People's Volunteer Army 'human wave' tactics; Chinese prisoners taken and their will to die; treatment of Chinese prisoners of war; clearing up after ceasefire, 6/1953. Aspects of period with 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, 16th Independent Parachute Bde Group, Canal Zone, Egypt, 1954: training with Parachute Regt in GB, 1953; situation in Canal Zone; unit casualties; Egyptian hostility as unit left.
REEL 5 Continues: attitude to service in Canal Zone; return to Talavera Barracks, Aldershot, GB, 1955. Recollections of operations with 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, 16th Independent Parachute Bde Group in Cyprus, 2/1956-10/1956: attending survival course at Bardufoss, Norway, winter 1955-1956; move to Cyprus, 2/1956; discovery of National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters (EOKA) personnel in Kyrenia Mountains; attitude of Greek Cypriot civilians towards unit; theft by troops from civilians and how thieves were dealt with. Recollections of operations with 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, 16th Independent Parachute Bde Group during Operation Musketeer at Suez, Egypt, 11/1956: contact with French airborne troops; shortage of aircraft for parachute drop; move to Suez by sea from Famagusta, Cyprus.
REEL 6 Continues: effect on unit morale of Hugh Gaitskill's speech attacking Operation Musketeer; sight of Port Said landing zone; his role during disembarkation; push inland from Port Said; return with 2nd Bn Parachute Regt to Cyprus, 11/1956-2/1957 including degree of personal danger; leave in GB, 2/1957-4/1957. Recollections of period as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to General Officer Commander-in-Chief West Africa Command in Nigeria, 1957-1959: securing post as Aide-de-Camp (ADC), 5/1957; preparing structures for Independence; accommodation in Lagos; visits he made to Sierra Leone and the Cameroon.
REEL 7 Continues: social life and activities; Kaduna Durbar, 1959; character of commanding general; Major Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi's predictions of the sweeping away of British forms of government on Independence; character of troops in the Nigeria Regt, Royal West African Frontier Force; attitude of Nigerian politicians to British presence; record of West Africans troops in Burma, 1944-1945; effects of British rule in Nigeria; factors of change in Nigeria after 1945.
REEL 8 Continues: Reflections on civilian life, 1930-1960: nature of life in British Empire, 1930-1960; history of mother's family the McGonigalls; reasons for leaving British Army and becoming a monk in Ampleforth Abbey, 9/60; memories of German Air Force attacks on Belfast, Northern Ireland, 4/1941-5/1941; question of his experience of violence on his decision to become a monk.
REEL 9 Continues: opinion of British Army's provision of medical facilities for troops; further family history; decision to become monk.
