Description
Object description
British civilian in West Derby, Liverpool, GB, 1939-1941; private and NCO served with 1st Bn Border Regt, 1st Glider Bde, 1st Airborne Div in GB, 1941-1942; officer served with 12th Bn Devonshire Regt and Parachute Regiment in GB, 1943-1944; served with Signal Platoon, Headquarters Coy, 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, India and Malaya, 12/1944-9/1945; seconded to B Division, Singapore Police Force in Singapore, Malaya, 9/1945-12/1945; served with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 23rd Indian Infantry Div on Java, Dutch East Indies, 12/1945-4/1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in West Derby, Liverpool, GB, 1922-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with Border Regiment in GB, 1941: medical selection in Liverpool; how he was mistaken for an officer by training sergeant; how he won prize for regimental history of Border Regiment. Aspects of period as civilian in West Derby, Liverpool in GB, 1940-1941: memories of anti-aircraft guns; bomb damage to his school; public morale and attitude towards Germans; membership of Home Guard; opinion of Prime Winston Churchill and William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw' radio broadcasts. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 1st Bn Borders Regt, 1st Glider Bde, 1st Airborne Div in GB, 1941-1942: conversion of unit to glider borne role, 10/1941; training in General Aircraft Hotspur Glider.
REEL 2 Continues: jazzy reveille at Barton Stacey Camp, 1942; attending War Office Selection Board (WOSB). Aspects of period as officer with 12th Bn Devonshire Regt in GB, 1943: officer training and commissioning; drill course with Guards instructors. Aspects of period as officer with Parachute Regt in GB, 1943-1944: reasons for volunteering for parachute regiment; parachute training at Airborne Forces Depot Hardwick Hall; encounter with former civilian persecutor; role handling difficult unit at Sheffield. Recollections of operations as officer with Signal Platoon, Headquarters Coy, 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 12/1944-5/1945: landing at Ostend, Belgium, 12/1944; orders to defend railway bridge at Namur, Belgium, 12/1944; German Air Force attack on bridge at Namur, Belgium, 12/1944; reconnaissance patrols, Belgium, 1/1945.
REEL 3 Continues: orders to attract fire from 7th Bn Parachute Regt; accident on Canadian mines in Rochefort area, Belgium, 1/1945; reaction to being in action for first time; cases of battle fatigue; how a collaborator barber's shop was taken over at Givet, Belgium; move to Baarlo on River Maas, Netherlands, 1/1945; laying and repairing Tele L lines; his delivery of papers to headquarters; making men run in snow to strengthen feet; impressions of American and German troops; return to GB to prepare for Operation Varsity, 2/1945; flying over River Rhine, Germany, 24/3/1945; method of getting reluctant parachutist out of aircraft, 24/3/1945.
REEL 4 Continues: his descent on damaged parachute, 24/3/1945; his accidental shooting at M22 Locust Airborne Tank of 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regt on landing, 24/3/1945; signals work on landing, 24/3/1945; hearing post-war German farmer's account of landings; use of Benzedrine tablets; skirmish at Erle, Germany, 3/1945; character of German resistance during advance into Germany; incident of experienced scout car driver panicking under fire; liberation of prisoner of war camp at Celle, Germany; incident of beating of German farmer by Polish forced labourers; friction with German farmer's daughter; amusing story illustrating relations with Guards Armoured Div.
REEL 5 Continues: protection of German women from Soviet Army at Wismar, Germany, 5/1945; fraternisation with Soviet Army at concert, Wismar, Germany, 5/1945; incident of strafing of column by Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons on route to Wismar, Germany, 5/1945; how war had effected him; return to GB. Aspects of period as officer with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in India and Malaya, 7/1945-9/1945: preparations for attack on Malaya at Kalian, India; reaction to dropping of atomic bomb on Japan, 8/1945; landing in Malaya in monsoon conditions, 9/1945. Aspects of period as officer on secondment to B Division, Singapore Police Force in Singapore, Malaya, 9/1945-12/1945: law and order situation; demoralised state of police force after Japanese occupation; disarming of Chinese gang; Communist 'Three Star' movement in Singapore; blackmailing of millionaire Run Run Shaw by gang.
REEL 6 Continues: handling of Run Run Shaw blackmail incident; turning down offer to become Run Run Shaw's bodyguard; police shooting incident; poisoning of British troops with bootleg Tiger Beer; attitude of Singaporeans to return of British rule; area covered by B Division. Aspects of period as officer with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 23rd Indian Infantry Div on Java, Dutch East Indies, 12/1945-4/1946: re-establishment of law and order in Batavia; move to Semarang; relations between Dutch and Javanese; use of Japanese troops to guard British main base; degree to which he took part in operations against insurgent Indonesians at Semarang; effect of church service on him; demobilisation and return to civilian life, 1946.
