Description
Object description
Indian seaman served as a signalman with Combined Operations in India and Burma, 1944-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Hubli, India, 1926-1944: family; rural nature of district; education; Indian and Portuguese background; opinion of GB; reaction to threat of war; initial of impressions of war. Aspects of enlistment and training with in Royal Indian Navy in India, 1944: parent's reaction to his volunteering; reasons for choosing Royal Indian Navy; enlistment, 7/1944; written selection for signals; medical; basic training in Bombay, 7/1944; rations; volunteering for Combined Operations; amphibious training; story relating to telephone conversation with commanding officer. Recollection of period as signalman with Combined Operations in Burma, 1944-1945: service off coast of Burma; story of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attack on convoy; make up of crew; contrast between regular and reserve officers; reaction to being in action; duties; opinion of Japanese forces; situation at Akyab; story of air raid during Bob Hope concert; his role during operation; story of meeting Lord Louis Mountbatten; move to Ramree Island; view of air attack on island; opinion of Japanese defenders; opinion of British officers; terrain on Ramree Island; Imperial Japanese Army Air Force air raid on Ramree Island. Aspects of training with Combined Operations in Egypt, 1945: move to Egypt to train on landing craft; story relating to racial prejudice in Egypt; opinion of Egyptian towns and local populace. Aspects of period as signalman with Royal Indian Navy in India, 1945-1947: transfer to corvette HMIS Mahratta; story of commanding officer granting compassionate leave; discharge, 6/1947; sailors being given option to join either Indian or Pakistan navies.
REEL 2 Continues: partition. Aspects of post-war life and career: background to enrolling in college through ex-servicemen's scheme; post-war career; question of effects of war; question of treatment of ex-servicemen in India; opinion of Commonwealth and royalty; question of offer settlement of Anglo-Indians in GB, 1947; question of racial tolerance.