Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 15th Infantry Bde, 5th Infantry Div in Italy, 1/1944-4/1944; served with 7th Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), 61st Lorried Infantry Bde, 1st Armoured Div in Italy, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of work with Anzio Museum, Anzio, Italy, 1998: cabinet devoted to HMS Spartan; role in tracing survivors of operations at Anzio; ceremony at Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Anzio War Cemetery; ceremony on site of sinking of HMS Spartan off Anzio and wreath laying by widow of Petty Officer John Stitt who died in the sinking, 29/4/1944. Background in Walthamstow, GB, 1925-1942; education; recreational activities; German Air Force bombing of family home; desire to join British Army and problem of being underage; family and father's employment; employment prior to enlistment in British Army; memories of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period of training as rifleman with Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) in GB, 1942-1943; basic training in York; amusing story of being told to shave every day.
REEL 2 Continues: medical examination; move to Retford Barracks for further training; weapons training and learning to drive; route marches; problems with learning Morse Code; amusing story of avoiding guard duty on birthday; learning to drive Dingo Scout Car; kit inspections; accommodation; daily routine; marching and drilling; description of kit and uniform; attitude to military life and discipline; sporting and recreational activities; rates of pay and shortage of money; Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) entertainments and canteen.
REEL 3 Continues: rifle practise on range; training on mortars and description of training exercise; bayonet practise; later use of mortar at Anzio, Italy; gas and signals training; lectures in camouflage techniques and history of Rifle Brigade; preparations for overseas posting; story of sending photograph to family from Naples, Italy; voyage from Liverpool, GB to Naples, Italy; arrival in and description of Naples, 12/1943; transfer 1st Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1/1944.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period of operations as private with 1st Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in Italy, 1/1944-4/1944: military build-up in Naples; sight of Mount Vesuvius erupting; involvement in operations on Gustav Line; opinion of American role in operations at Anzio; journey from Monte Cassino area to Anzio; under fire from German railway gun 'Anzio Annie'; landings at Anzio and passage through town; nature of fighting from trenches; question of proximity of Rome.
REEL 5 Continues: religious services in the field; collecting wounded on battlefield and consequent loss of religious beliefs; story of life being saved by fellow serviceman who died in attempt; wounding by land mine; nature of wounds; return to Allied lines and problem of forgetting password; treatment in first aid post and transfer to field hospital for medical operations; convalescence in Salerno; transfer to 7th Bn Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own). Aspects of period as private with 7th Bn Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), 61st Lorried Infantry Bde, 1st Armoured Div in Italy, 1944-1945: role as batman to brigade officers and description of duties; marriage to local Italian girl; memories of VE Day, 8/5/1945; demobilisation and return to civilian life.
