Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 11/1950-4/1951; prisoner of war in Bean and Mining Camps, Suan, Pak's Palace Interrogation Centre, Pyongyang and No 2 Camp, Pyoktong, North Korea, 1951-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1928-1950: family; education. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 12/1950-4/1951: attitude towards Korean War; reception on arrival in Pusan, 12/1950; attitude of South Koreans to United Nations troops; role as signals officer during capture of Hill 327, 2/1951; cold weather conditions and effects of cold on equipment; positive effect of American General Matthew Ridgway taking command of United Nations forces; lack of United Nations control; taking up positions on River Imjin, 4/1951; taking over as commanding officer of 8 Platoon, C Coy; composition of 8 Platoon. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde during the Battle of the Imjin River, Korea, 4/1951: patrol towards River Imjin; calling down artillery fire onto Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) crossing of River Imjin; opposition to Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) crossing and withdrawal.
REEL 2 Continues: question of number of Chinese casualties; question of personal morale during engagement; reaction to engagement; disposition of other companies; amalgamation of remnants of B and C Coys and how he was made second-in-command; taking positions to south of Solma-ri; physical condition after three nights without sleep, 24/4/1951; 'Battle of the Bugles'; Chinese assault on L-shaped ridge of Solma-Ri, 25/4/1951; orders to break out of encirclement; attempted break-out, 25/4/1951. Aspects of capture and trek as prisoner of war into North Korea, 4/1951-5/1951: capture by Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA); initial Chinese treatment of prisoners of war; eating Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) combat rations known as 'bug dust'; opinion of troops of Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA).
REEL 3 Continues: question of escape on trek north; account of first escape attempt and recapture; treatment by North Koreans who recaptured him; period in North Korean jail with North Korean Christians. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Bean and Mining Camps, Suan and Pak's Palace Interrogation Centre, Pyongyang, North Korea, 5/1951-1/1952: attempt of Chinese to get prisoners of war to make radio broadcast; decline in prisoner of war morale; second escape attempt and recapture; punishment in stockade in Bean Camp; contrast in attitude between white and black American prisoners of war; contracting gangrene through being tied up and how maggots ate gangrene.
REEL 4 Continues: medical and physical condition in camp; move to Pak's Palace Interrogation Centre, Pyongyang; demands made on prisoners of war; interrogation by 'The Professor'; role with American prisoner of war Loris B Miller as cooks for work party; teaching Korean NCOs English with South African Lieutenant Chris Lombard; different attitude of North Korean and Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) towards officer status of prisoners of war; orders to evacuate Pak's Palace Interrogation Centre; conditions in 'Traitor's Row'; memories of American prisoner of war Sergeant George Morah; death rate from dysentery and 'give-up-itis'. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in No 2 Camp, Pyoktong, North Korea, 1952-1953: move to camp on River Yalu, 1/1952; gradual recovery and timber unloading duties, summer 1952; improvement in conditions, winter 1952-1953; availability of literature.
REEL 5 Continues: nature of literature; state of health during last year in captivity; Captain Anthony Farrar-Hockley's show performed in camp; coded messages to War Office; plan to escape which never came off; delayed release as 'reactionary'; viewing film of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation; question of insistence on trying to escape; effects of prisoner of war experience and of talking to family after captivity.
