Description
Object description
British schoolchild in Liverpool GB, 1940-1941; private served with 2nd Bn King's Regt (Liverpool) in Greece, Libya and Cyprus, 2/1946-12/1947; served with 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles, 29th British Infantry Bde in Korea, 11/1950-4/1951; prisoner of war in Camp 9, Pyongyang, Camp 12 (Peace Camp), Pyongyang and Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, 1951-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of operations as private with 8 Platoon, C Coy, 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles, 29th British Infantry Bde in South Korea, 11/1950-4/1951: arrival in Pusan, 11/1950; how he came to be in Royal Ulster Rifles; train journey to Suwon; road block at Seoul; guarding of pontoon bridge during onset of winter; sleeping arrangements in snow; arrival in Pyongyang, North Korea; news of Chinese intervention, 11/1950; United Nations retreat southwards, winter, 1950-1951; strafing attack on unit by United States Air Force aircraft; United States Army troops abandonment of ammunition to Chinese, 12/1950; digging defensive positions; Korean refugees heading south; digging in on Han River; preparations of defences; move of unit into reserve. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles, 29th British Infantry Bde during the Battle of the Imjin River, South Korea, 22/4/1951-25/4/1951: start of battle, 22/4/1951; reaction to orders to withdraw from good positions; wounding by machine-gun burst from United Nations' lines; water given him by Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldier; capture and medical treatment for wounds. Aspects of period as prisoner of war on march from River Imjin, South Korea into North Korea, 4/1951-5/1951: United States Air Force attack on captured Centurion Tank.
REEL 2 Continues: condition of walking wounded; opinion of some prisoners of war volunteering to carry Chinese packs instead of helping wounded; lack of rations given to prisoners of war on march north; cigarettes given to prisoners of war; Chinese methods of avoiding United States Air Force attacks; end of Chinese lenient treatment policy and handing over to North Korean police; fraternisation with University of Pyongyang students; attempt by captors to humiliate prisoners of war in front of Korean civilians; hail of apples from Korean children; bartering his pen for bread; American prisoners of war attitude to sharing; personal hygiene problems on march north; sight of North Korean Police headquarters in hillside; threat of North Korean Police to shoot prisoners of war; placing of prisoners of war deliberately in danger of United States Air Force attacks during periods of forced labour; Chinese rescue of prisoners of war from ill treatment by North Korean Police; intervention of North Korean Army officer to stop ill treatment of prisoners of war; refusal of prisoners of war to go to Camp 12 (Peace Camp).
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Camp 0, Pyongyang, Camp 12 (Peace Camp), Pyongyang and Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, 1951-1953: bad conditions in Camp 9, Pyongyang nicknamed 'Rubbish Heap Camp'; reaction to arrival at Camp 12 (Peace Camp); feeding and indoctrination routine at Camp 12 (Peace Camp); effects of United States Air Force attacks on Camp 12 (Peace Camp); loss of bible; Chinese turning camp into 'show camp' for benefit of visitors; Chinese ploy to get prisoners of war out of North Korean hands; effects of returning to normal food in Camp 5, Pyoktong, 1953; failure of acupuncture treatment; contrast between Chinese and North Korean treatment of prisoners of war; release 1953; handling of former prisoners of war by United States Army in South Korea and Japan; nature of Communist propaganda and handling it; opinion of Koreans and Chinese. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Liverpool, GB, 1940-1941: types of bombs used by German Air Force.
REEL 4 Continues: destruction in city and docks; work as paperboy; flight of population into countryside; public morale; attitude towards Germans. Recollections of period as private with 2nd Bn King's Regt (Liverpool) in Greece, Cyprus and Libya, 1946-1947: role of unit in Greece, 2/1946-8/1946; move to Cyprus to quell rioting by Jewish illegal immigrants at Famagusta; supervising large numbers of German prisoners of war in Tobruk, Libya, 6/1947-12/1947; character of German prisoners of war and how they rebuilt Tobruk, Libya; character of Jewish illegal immigrants held at Faragusta, Cyprus, 1946-1947; peaceful nature of battalion's service in Greece; story of occasion when he was stopped and searched by Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) during water collecting duties, Greece, 1946; attitude of Greek civilians to presence of British Army; display of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) corpses to civilians by Greek Government forces, 1946.