Description
Object description
British schoolchild in Mottingham, GB, 1939-1945; private served with 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Canal Zone, Egypt and Sudan, 1947-1949; NCO served with 1st Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 27th Commonwealth Infantry Bde in North and South Korea, 9/1950-5/1951
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Walworth, London, GB, 1929-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Mottingham, GB, 1939-1945: individual German bombs and land mines which fell on estate; story of father mistaking German V1 Flying Bombs for shot down aircraft; German V2 Rocket strike on Chislehurst; state of public morale; belief in British victory; attitude towards German Air Force aircrews; level of crime; lack of vandalism by children; effect of Second World War on his education; victory celebrations, 1945; United States Army Air Force presence in area. Aspects of period as seaman with Merchant Navy, 1945-1946: voyages undertaken; reasons for leaving Merchant Navy, 1946. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with British Army in GB, 1947: conscription, 2/1947; basic training with Regimental Depot, Devonshire Regiment at Topsham Barracks, Exeter, 1947; placing in regiment by Personnel Staff Officer (PSO); posting to 2nd Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) at Shorncliffe Barracks; refusal to do anti-squatters guard; attempt to bribe NCO to get on draft to Germany. Aspects of period as fusilier with 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) and as Ex-Regimentally Employed Headquarters Staff in Canal Zone, Egypt and Sudan, 1947-1949: move to Canal Zone, 10/1947; transfer to 2nd Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt); position as Ex-Regimentally Employed Headquarters Staff.
REEL 2 Continues: joining mixed unit as quartermaster storeman; leaving British Army to go on Z Army Reserve, 5/1949; difference between conscript and national servicemen and his position as conscript; civilian employment on leaving British Army, GB. 1949-1950. Aspects of volunteering for service with British Army, 8/1950: enlistment into Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment); volunteering for service in Korean War. Aspects of journey from GB to South Korea via Japan, 9/1950: marching out of Shorncliffe Barracks in field service marching order, GB; flight from GB to Japan. Recollections of operations with 1st Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 27th Commonwealth Infantry Bde in North and South Korea, 9/1950-5/1951: arrival in Pusan and move to Taegu, South Korea, 9/1950; search for stragglers from Korean People's Army; push into North Korea, 9/1950-10/1950; initial reaction to being under-fire; opinion of Platoon Sergeant John Humphries; American paratroopers attempt to rescue prisoners of war being taken north; Australian forces' 'Battle of the Orchards' and battalion's role in taking North Korean prisoners of war; use of American assault boats to cross River Taedong, North Korea; attempt of Korean People's Army T-34 Tanks to shell battalion with armour piercing shells; loss of company commander of C Coy; orders to battalion for uphill bayonet charge; contrast in feelings from 1950 to 1998 about shooting a North Korean soldier on Queen's Hill, North Korea; push towards River Yalu, North Korea.
REEL 3 Continues: People's Republic of China's intervention in Korean War, 19/10/1950; 27th Commonwealth Infantry Bde's withdrawal to Pakchong, North Korea; attempt of Chinese People's Volunteer Army to envelop brigade; ease with which Pakchong, North Korea was retaken from Chinese People's Volunteer Army; withdrawal towards Kunu-ri, North Korea and encounter with Turkish Army troops; dropping out on line of Australian Army soldier with unsuitable overboots; use of lorries to help brigade out of Kunu-ri, North Korea; equipment carried on march; orders for unit to help extricate United States Army troops from Kunu-ri, North Korea; sight of 2nd Infantry Div, United States Army's set back, Kunu-ri Pass, North Korea; under Chinese People's Volunteer Army machine gun fire in re-entrant in hills; first encounter with 29th British Infantry Bde near Pyongyang, North Korea and why 27th Commonwealth Infantry Bde called them 'The Phantoms', arrival at 'Shanty Town', Ujongbu, South Korea, Christmas 12/1950; comforts supplied by Bennie Lifts of Vauxhall, London; retreat south through Seoul to Yoju, South Korea; arrival of General Matthew Ridgway and changes he instigated; advance of United Nations' troops during Operation Killer, 2/1951; capture of hill at Chipyong-ni, South Korea, 2/1951; Chinese People's Volunteer Army offensive tactics; Chinese People's Volunteer Army's mass attack on unit at Shumni, 2/1951.
REEL 4 Continues: praise of New Zealand Artillery support received during action at Chipyong-ni, South Korea; how Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Man took over from Brigadier Basil Coad; action where United States Army combat team cut to pieces, Chipyong-ni, South Korea, 2/1951; push from Kapyong to Fish Hills area, north of Seoul, South Korea; news of relief by 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 4/1951; breaking of 6th Republic of Korea Div in face of Chinese People's Volunteer Army Spring Offensive, 4/1951; reaction to C Coy having to replace fleeing Republic of Korea troops; reaction of 16th Field Regt, New Zealand Artillery to appearance of battalion, 4/1951; role of Australian Army troops in halting Chinese People's Volunteer Army Spring Offensive at Kapyong, South Korea, 4/1951; laying barbed wire on hills before arrival of 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 5/1951; leaving South Korea, 5/1951; foraging for food during advance into North Korea, 9/1950-10/1950; standard United States Army rations; lack of bread; availability of alcohol; leave in Tokyo, Japan, winter 1950-1951.
REEL 5 Continues: organisation of leave in Japan; family feeling amongst soldiers; Chinese propaganda leaflets and their effect; plight of Korean civilians; inadequate equipment provided to 27th Commonwealth Infantry Bde during Korean winter, 1950-1951; survival priorities during winter and problems of heating up food; question of why he felt sorry for American General Douglas MacArthur; nature of digging in; lice which affected troops; problems securing water supply; deworming of troops.