Whitney, Ernest Charles (Oral history)

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Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
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Description

Object description

British private served with 1st Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey) in GB, Hong Kong, China, Malta and India, 1925-1939; private and NCO served with 1/7th Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey), 131st Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in GB and North Africa, 9/1939-11/1942; served with Pioneer Corps at No 11 Prisoner of War Camp, Latrun in Palestine, 1943; served with Headquarters, Pioneer Corps at Sarafand Camp, Palestine, 1943-1946

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Croydon, GB, 1907-1925: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey) Regiment Depot, Stoughton Barracks, Guildford in GB, 1925-1926: reasons for enlistment, 12/1925; incident of receiving punishment after dental treatment during basic training, early 1926; comradeship in army. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey) in Hong Kong and Canton, China, 1927-1928: voyage aboard HMT Nevasa from GB to Hong Kong, 1927; initial impressions of Hong Kong; reduction in privates' pay; soldiers homes' in Hong Kong; behaviour of troops in Hong Kong and relations with Chinese civilians; resentment to Lady Astor's remarks about soldiers; deployment of detachment to Shamian Island; sight of wounded Chinese in cages in Canton; participation in anti-piracy patrols. REEL 2 Continues: purchasing of new uniforms prior to departure from Hong Kong to Malta. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey) on Malta, 1928-1930: duties; character of Street of Steps in Valletta; marriages between troops and local Maltese women; duties with Central Signals Station in the Castile; preference for service in Malta as opposed to Hong Kong. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey) in Tientsin, China, 1930-1934: coping with cold; advantages of service in Tientsin; on detachment as guard with British Embassy in Peking; ending of training on Great Wall after Japanese invasion of Manchuria, 1931; attitude towards Japanese. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey) in India, 1934-1939: stationing in Kandahar Lines, Quetta; Quetta earthquake, 31/5/1935. REEL 3 Continues: devastation witness after Quetta earthquake; concentration on sporting activities at Allahabad, 1935-1939; return to GB, 2/1939. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 1/7th Bn Queen's Royal Regt, (West Surrey), 131st Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in GB, 1939-1942: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; absence of bombing in Guildford area, 1940-1941. Aspects of operations as NCO with 1/7th Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey), 131st Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in North Africa, 7/1942-11/1942: voyage from GB to Egypt via Cape Town, South Africa, 5/1942-7/1942; living conditions in Western Desert; visit by General Bernard Montgomery; sight of Axis prisoners of war near Tripoli, Libya, 11/1942. Aspects of period as NCO with Pioneer Corps at No 11 Prisoner of War Camp, Latrun, Palestine, 1943: posting to camp, 1943. REEL 4 Continues: character of camp; story of thwarting of escape attempt by Italian prisoner of war; treatment of prisoners of war. Aspects of period as NCO with Headquarters, Pioneer Corps at Sarafand Camp, Palestine, 1943-1946: arranging for Italian ex-prisoners of war to work for British Army in Palestine; penetration by Irgun Zvai Leum insurgents into Sarafand Camp dressed as paratroopers, 7/3/1946; attitude to service in Palestine and return to GB; story of nearly receiving overseas posting at end of service in GB, 11/1946.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Interwar (content), Second World War (content), Interwar (association), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Whitney, Ernest Charles (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1992-03-12
Dimensions: whole: Duration 110, Number Of Items 4
Catalogue number: 12499

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Whitney, Ernest Charles (Oral history)

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