Gunton, Desmond Michael Keith (Oral history)

British officer served with 1st Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 10/1951-9/1952; served with 2nd Malaysian Rangers, Malaysian Army in Malaysia, 1965-1966

REEL 1 Recollections of period as private and officer cadet with Royal Norfolk Regiment in GB, 1947-1951: enlistment as private, 1947; attending Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Camberley; commissioning into Royal Norfolk Regiment, 2/1951; courses; role as anti-tank platoon commander; composition of unit; question of lack of training. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 10/1951-9/1952: voyage aboard HMT Empire Orwell from GB to South Korea, 9/1951; story of anti-tank platoon gunners overshooting onto British positions; transfer to command No 1 Platoon, A Coy and composition of platoon; terrain and climate; training; nature of fighting; briefing; front line defences; patrolling activities; story of being wounded during reconnaissance patrol, 7/1952; deployment of British units on Hills 355 and 354; wire defences and booby traps; accidental napalm attack on British positions by United States Air Force aircraft; sight of napalm bombs being dropped; reconnaissance patrols. REEL 2 Continues: crossing River Samichon; opinion of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops; casualties; story of thawing out of soldier's corpse; Chinese artillery fire; Chinese People's Volunteer Army attacks on Hills 355 and 354; hotel facilities during leave period in Tokyo, Japan; washing; rat problem; rations; contact with American troops; cigarette and drink rations; daylight attack on Chinese People's Volunteer Army ambush position; unit morale; state of trenches vacated by French Canadian troops; opinion of American, Chinese and North Korean troops; question of sense of purpose in service in Korean War; contact with GB. REEL 3 Continues: use of South Korean porters and story of them carrying anti-tank guns; relations with Korean civilians; story of being deafened by New Zealand Artillery guns; state of unit's health. Recollection of period as officer with 2nd Malaysian Rangers, Malaysian Army in Malaysia, 1965-1966: secondment to unit; move to Sebatik Island, Borneo, 1966; organisation and deployment of unit; nature of operations; amusing story of chasing butterflies; story of monkeys alarming patrol; fauna; composition of unit; opinion of troops; return to Malaysia, 1966. Recollections of German Air Force raids and V1 Flying Bomb attacks, GB, 1940-1944: narrow escape from German V1 Flying Bomb explosion at Christ Hospital School, Horsham, 1944; anti-aircraft fire at Stockton; question of the effects of war on schoolboys.