Hickey, Robert Patrick (Oral history)

British officer served as medical officer with Royal Army Medical Corps in Germany, 1945-1950; served as medical officer with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 1950-1951; prisoner of war in North Korea, 1951-1953

REEL 1 Background in India and GB, 1922-1945: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; public morale during German Air Force attacks on Birmingham and London; call-up into British Army, 1945. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Army Medical Corps in Germany, 1945-1950: smell of bombed Hamburg, 1945; nature of non-fraternisation with Germans order; problems of dealing with venereal disease (VD) and lack of penicillin supplies; attachments to 2nd Bn Irish Guards and Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) in Hamburg, 1945-1950; nature of service life. Aspects of call-up as reservist with Royal Army Medical Corps for Korean War in GB, 1950: reaction to reservist service; degree of readiness of Gloucestershire Regt. Aspects of period as medical officer with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 1950-1951: initial impressions of Pusan; action on Gloster Hill, 2/1951 including treatment of Chinese casualties, near shooting of cameraman Cyril Page; nature of Chinese casualties; treating civilian casualties and types of medical problems encountered. Recollections of operations as medical officer with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde during the Battle of the Imjin River, Korea, 4/1951: move from Regimental Aid Post (RAP) to Gloster Hill; attack on Chinese cycle unit; failure of United States Air Force to drop supplies accurately. REEL 2 Continues: United States Air Force air strike on D Coy's hill; Drum-major Philip Buss' bugle calls; asking unmarried men to stay with wounded; attempt by Chinese soldier to kill Hickey with Type 50 sub-machine gun known as 'burp' gun; capture. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in North Korea, 1951-1953: Chinese soldier who ate chemical from 'Tommy Cooker'; rifling of medical supplies; ban on him doctoring; escape attempt; Chinese People's Volunteer Army organisation; Chinese order on how to treat Koreans; how Chinese People's Volunteer Army operated as soldiers in groups of three; recapture; beating by Korean women; hole in the ground punishment; drawing a mythical British Army barracks for Chinese captors; prisoners of war building of own accommodation; issue of 'Mao' suit; living conditions; prisoner of war winter clothing; fuel supply; dentistry he performed in camp; Chinese wasting of penicillin supply; disincentive to go sick; lack of vitamins in prisoner of war diet; contents of prisoner of war diet; prisoner of war diseases. REEL 3 Continues: state of health of prisoners of war; reception of Chinese conveying news of George VI's death, 2/1952; entertainment provided; lack of overt homosexuality; low libido of prisoners of war; degree of prisoner of war access to Korean women; Korean culture; attempts to write home in code; liberation, 1953; examination of prisoners of war health; lack of psychological casualties among prisoners of war; religion; character of Chinese indoctrination; quality of Chinese administration of prisoner of war camps; position of North Koreans under Communism; opinions of Communism; left-wing westerners who visited prisoner of war camps including Alan Winnington; contrast between Chinese and North Korean treatment of prisoners of war.