Description
Object description
British officer served as medical officer with 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 1950-1951; prisoner of war in Camp 2, Pyoktong, North Korea, 1951-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Leeds and Wembley, GB, 1920-1947: family; education; medical training; reasons for taking short service commission with British Army in 1947. Recollections of period as medical officer with 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea and Japan, 11/1950-4/1951: recall as army reservist in GB, 8/1950; arrival in Pusan, South Korea, 11/1950; withdrawal to Japan to prevent Centurion Tanks being captured; period in Japan before returning to Korea, early 1951. Recollections of the Battle of the Imjin River, South Korea, 22/4/1951-25/4/1951: advance north of River Imjin, 4/1951; attempt to retrieve wounded personnel of 1st Bn Royal Northumberland Fusiliers; ambush by Chinese People's Volunteer Army and capture; initial treatment by Chinese captors. Aspects of prisoner of war march into North Korea, 4/1951-5/1951: march northwards towards North Korea; reasons for refusal by Chinese to recognise him as doctor; diet on march; medical problems including wet beri-beri; reaction of prisoners of war to Communist indoctrination; 'bug dust' diet; relations with Chinese interrogator; United Nations' air attacks during march north; opinion of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Camp 2, Pyoktong, North Korea, 1951-1953: nature of camp; medical work carried out among fellow prisoners of war and how Communist equality ideology thwarted his effectiveness as a physician; problems of obtaining Vitamin B; attitude of prisoners of war to need for delousing; case of United States Marine Corp pilot suffering from anorexia nervosa; difficulty American prisoners of war had in coping with dirty conditions; depression and psychological cases among American prisoners of war; arrival of letters from GB; receiving coded letter mentioning escape attempt; character of Chinese interrogator; methods of indoctrination employed by Chinese; literature provided by captors; American prisoner of war collaborator who informed on escape preparations.
REEL 3 Continues: unlikelihood of successful escape attempts; missed opportunity of joining United Nations' patrol operating behind Communist lines; news received by prisoners of war; Chinese promises that prisoners of war would die in Korea; reaction to Chinese propaganda; prisoner of war organisation in camp; British prisoner of war tactics and Amerian prisoner of war objections to them; attitude of Chinese towards Turkish prisoners of war and refusal of Turks to show respect for Chinese authorities; self-criticism session; solitary confinement punishment; gradual improvement in diet; treatment of Lieutenant-Colonel James Carne; personal morale; liberation, 1953; question of long-term effects of captivity; coping with boredom during period as prisoner of war.