Bungard, Kenneth (Oral history)

British civilian served with Auxiliary Fire Service in Chertsey, GB, 1940-1941; seaman trained at HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB and HMS Pembroke, Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham in GB, 1942; served on shore duties at HMS Goshawk, Royal Naval Air Station Pairco, Trinidad, 1942-1944; served as crew member towing Mulberry Harbour caisson in GB coastal waters and to Normandy, France, 5/1944-6/1944; served aboard HMS Zenith, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in Arctic and Germany, 12/1944-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Northampton and Chertsey, GB, 1923-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as fireman with Auxiliary Fire Service in Chertsey, GB, 1940-1941: degree of bombing in Chertsey area; volunteering for Auxiliary Fire Service; incident where his unit burnt down Brook Hall; evacuees his family took in; attitude towards German Air Force. Aspects of enlistment and training as seaman at HMS Ganges, Shotley, GB, 1942: volunteering for Royal Navy; climbing training mast; technique used for teaching swimming; punishment for infraction of discipline during gun training; use of spittoons; admonishment for walking on quarterdeck; effect of training on his skills and attitude; Royal Navy attitude towards rank and hierarchy. Aspects of training as seaman at HMS Pembroke, Royal Naval Barracks Chatham, GB, 1942: move to Chatham; conditions and duties in barracks; opinion of Hotchkiss Machine Gun. REEL 2 Continues: case of attempted theft in barracks; description of terms 'barracks stanchions' and 'just men'; method of avoiding trouble in barracks; excessive punishments for trivial offences; practical jokes amongst seamen. Aspects of period as seaman at HMS Goshawk, Royal Naval Air Station Piarco, Trinidad, British West Indies, 1942-1944: drafting to Fleet Air Arm base; electrical work on aircraft; attitude towards relations between blacks and whites; incident in which Trinidadian civilian saved him for punishment; relations with Trinidadian civilians; membership of serviceman choir; memories of Winifred Atwell; attitude to serving in Trinidad; effect of war on Trinidad; attitude of civilians to Second World War; voyage aboard SS Novelist from Trinidad to GB early 1944. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as seaman crewing Mulberry Harbour caissons in GB coastal waters and to Normandy, France, 5/1944-6/1944: reasons for volunteering for special duty; initial impressions of Mulberry Harbour; towing caissons from Sheerness to Dungeness and Selsey; failure of some of caissons because of theft of building materials; speed which caissons could travel at across English Channel; danger of German E-boat attack; actions on arrival off Normandy; conditions for crew of caisson; use of emergency rations; lack of consideration of authorities for caisson crews; reasons for decision to desert in Woking; loss of caissons; experiences on leaking caisson at Arromanches; number of trips made to Normandy; lack of facilities for crew of caissons; codename for operation; methods of returning to GB after delivering caissons; difference between British and American methods of operation. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMS Zenith, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in Arctic and Germany, 12/1944-5/1945: drafting to ship, 12/1944; conditions at Scapa Flow, 12/1944. REEL 4 Continues: start of Arctic convoy, 12/1944; his action station on Bofors Gun; injury to leg from hatch cover; state of ship on return to River Clyde, 1/1945; problems of using shower facilities on board; relations between officers and ratings; visit to Travemünde, Germany immediately after VE Day, 5/1945; tea party and entertainment for very young children on board ship; devastation in Kiel, Germany; attitude towards Germans; attitude to having served with Royal Navy in Second World War; story of compass defect which put HMS Zenith into minefield off Gibraltar, 1945.