Winter, William Arthur (Oral history)

British NCO served as nursing orderly with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to No 1 Independent Coy in GB and Norway, 2/1940-8/1940 and No 9 Commando in GB, 1940-1941; served with 38th British General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps in Hatfield, GB and Bangalore, India, 1941-1943; served with 5th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 5th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1944-1945; served with 2nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 2nd Infantry Bde, 1st Infantry Div in Palestine, 1946-1948; served with 2nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 2nd Infantry Bde in Greece, 1948-1949

REEL 1 Background in India and GB, GB, 1913-1936: family; education; employment as trainee pharmacist; reasons for enlistment in British Army, 1936. Aspects of period as medical orderly with Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, 1936-1938: reasons for joining Royal Army Medical Corps; training at Aldershot; money he made as hut orderly; posting as dispenser to Military Hospital Netley, 1937-1938. Aspects of period as nursing ordeley with Royal Army Medical Corps at Military Hospital Mtafa, Malta, 1939-1940: qualification as Nursing Orderly, Class 1; request for posting back to GB. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to No 1 Independent Coy in GB, 2/1940-4/1940: move to Martock, 2/1940; arrival of troops from Highland Light Infantry; move to Gourock, 3/1940. Recollections of operations as NCO with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to No 1 Independent Coy in Norway, 4/1940-6/1940: arrival at Mo i Rana; aid given by civilians to unload medical stores; tactics employed against Germans near Mo i Rana; commandeering of private cars to send casualties to Bodo; retreat to Bodo and evacuation by destroyer; transfer to HMS Arethusa off Norway; question of lack of backup for unit in Norway, 4/1940-6/1940. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Army Medical Corps attached to No 9 Commando in GB, 1940-1941: news of disbanding of Independent Coys, 8/1940; volunteering for commandos; training at Spean Bridge; leaving unit, 1941. Apects of period as NCO with 38th British General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps in Bangalore, India, 1942-1943: duties with hospital at Hatfield, GB prior to embarkation; voyage from GB to India, 1941-1942; attitude to role in charge of venereal disease (VD) ward; ineffectiveness of treatment for syphilis; problems with commanding officer; reasons for posting away from unit. Recollections of operations as NCO with 5th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 5th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in India, 1944: move to Dimapur to meet Japanese assault on Kohima, 4/1944; attachment of field ambulance to 2nd Bn Dorsetshire Regt at Hospital Hill, Kohima, 1944; making beds for casualties to protect them from shell and mortar fire; importance to morale of casualties of having white sheets; issue of weapons to medical personnel. REEL 3 Continues: encirclement of Kohima by Japanese; taking a Japanese soldier prisoner who thumbed lift; sight of fighting on Tennis Court and work of British Lee/Grang Tank; clearing Japanese bunkers with bamboo poles; sight of dead bodies on battlefield; opinion of Chaplain Gus Claxton; how Nagas provided piece of granite for war memorial. Recollections of operations as NCO with 5th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 5th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in Burma, 1944-1945: period of leave in Calcutta, India including smashing up of cinema by British troops for showing film 'Objective Burma' (1945) starring Errol Flynn; sight of Bailey Bridge across River Chindwin; rate of advance through Burma; treatment of malaria cases; Stinson L-5 Sentinal aircraft used to evacuate casualties; nature of fighting through the monsoon; lack of Japanese opposition on Central Plain; work of Royal Engineers in bridging River Irrawaddy; award of Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for casualty evacuation, 1945. Aspects of return to GB, 8/1945: meeting with wife at Waterloo Railway Station, 8/1945; story of being refused drink on VJ Day in King William IV Public House, St Albans, 15/8/1945. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 2nd Infantry Bde, 1st Infantry Div in Palestine, 1947-1948: posting to unit at Rehorath; removing equipment from military hospital in Jerusalem at end of Mandate, 5/1948; ambush of convoy and journey to Egypt, 5/1948; treatment of casualties; degree of danger; question of Royal Army Medical Corps personnel carrying weapons. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Field Ambulance, 2nd Infantry Bde in Salonika, Greece, 1948-1949: lack of disturbances in Salonika; relations with Greek civilians; level of thefts from military; lack of sympathy with Communists in Salonika.