Interview with Anthony Ronald Bale

British schoolchild in Sheffield, GB, 1939-1945; NCO served with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Infantry Bde in Hong Kong, 9/1949-5/1951; served with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Div , 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 5/1951-9/1952

REEL 1 Background in Murree, India and Sheffield, GB, 1930-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Sheffield, GB, 1939-1945: collecting shrapnel; German Air Force attacks on city; public morale; sense of community; mother's opposition to evacuation; victory celebration street party, VE Day, 8/5/1945; delight at end of blackout. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1947-1948: nature of basic training with General Service Corps at Ranby Camp, Retford; transfer to 1st B King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry at Farnborough. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry in GB, 1948-1949: love of drill under Regimental Sergeant-Major Rocky Knight; hearing ghostly horses; reprimand he got from Governor of Tower of London for sounding Last Post towards Tower Bridge. Aspects of period as NCO with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Infantry Bde in Hong Kong, 9/1949-5/1951: posting to New Territories; memories of friend, Corporal Pinkerton; daily life; hospitalisation for tinea; ineffectiveness of anti-refugee patrol; voyage aboard USS Montrose from Hong Kong to South Korea, 5/1951. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 5/1951-10/1951: arrival by landing craft at Inchon, 5/1951; initial role as commanding officer's escort; question of relations between officers and men; request to be moved to D Coy; opinion of company commander Second Lieutenant Borwick and his later act of bravery on Hill 227; joining D Coy in front line; advance north to 38th Parallel; bayonet charge during taking of Hill 210; role of 10 Platoon; attitude towards Chinese People's Volunteer Army. Recollections of operations a NCO with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div during Operation Commando in South Korea, 2/10/1951-15/10/1951: D Coy's role. REEL 3 Continues: unit's occupation of Hill 227; Chinese People's Volunteer Army battalion attack on D Coy; reaction to artillery shells fired from Chinese People's Volunteer Army self-propelled guns and tanks; fighting on Hill 227; Chinese People's Volunteer Army whistles made from C ration tins; how A Coy relieved D Coy on Hill 227; D Coy retaking Hill 227 after they had been pushed off; Chinese People's Volunteer Army counter-attack on Hill 227; orders for 10 Platoon to take peak of Hill 227 when it was fired upon by own tanks. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 10/1951-9/1952: methods of getting warnings of approach of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops to wire; pulling back of unit into reserve and how he was made rations sergeant in B Echelon; relations with Indian Field hospital; cold of Korean winter and effects on weapons; use of parkas and problems with hearing on guard duty; opinion of quality of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops; reaction to being in front line; Christmas presents left on barbed wire by Chinese People's Volunteer Army; undermining of unit's positions by Chinese People's Volunteer Army; Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops' use of grenades; use of garlic by Korean porters; difference between A and B Echelons; role as rations sergeant; rumours about 1st Bn Royal Norfolk Regt; reaction of unit to going back into line after short period in reserve; greater number of men used by American units; contrast between fighting qualities of United States Army and United States Marine Corps; discipline in unit; return of unit to their former positions in line; opinion of National Service conscripts; physical reaction under artillery fire and personal morale on patrols; listening patrols. REEL 5 Continues: nature of patrolling; ineffectiveness of Chinese propaganda; apprehension of being taken prisoner by Chinese People's Volunteer Army; photographs soldiers kept with them; the 'Ah di Dong' song and 'We're a Shower of Bastards' song; period of leave in Tokyo, Japan including opinion of Ebisu Camp, patronising Ginza Beer Hall, Ebisu and behaviour of troops on leave; construction of trenches in South Korea; story of comrade and his use of grenades; use of C rations; contact with home; disinterest in course of war; initial casualties of 1st Bn Durham Light Infantry when they relieved battalion. REEL 6 Continues: leaving and reaction to leaving South Korea, 9/1952; question of why he left British Army and refusal to sign on despite being offered position of bugle-major.