Easten, Donald Friswell (Oral history)

British officer served with Honourable Artillery Company, GB, 1938-1939; served with 4th Bn Royal West Kent Regt and as liaison officer to 44th Div headquarters in GB and Egypt, 1940-1942; served as company commander with D Coy, 4th Bn Royal West Kent Regt in India and Burma, 1943-1944

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1918-1938: family and education. Period with Territorial Army, 1938-1939: joining Honourable Artillery Company as private, 2/1938; nature of drill. Reaction to declaration of war, 3/9/1939. Period with 4th Bn Royal West Kent Regt, GB, 1940: joining unit, 5/1940; coastal defence duties, Dover Castle; view of troops returning from Dunkirk; nature of Kent and Sussex defences. Period as liaison officer with headquarters of 44th Division, GB and Western Desert, 1940-1942: memories of divisional commanding officer General Percival in GB; role as observer during Battle of Alam Halfa, 1942; opinion of German artillery; problems of role as liaison officer; escorting Prime Minister Winston Churchill through minefield, summer, 1942; return to 4th Bn Royal West Kent Regt, 11/1942. Transfer of 4th Bn Royal West Kent Regt from Western Desert to Baghdad via Palestine, 1942. Recollections of operations with 4th Bn Royal West Kent Regt, 161 Bde, 5th Indian Div in India and Burma, 1943-1944: nature of jungle training, Ranchi; India; recruitment areas of battalion; role as company commander of D Coy; opinion of bravery of Japanese troops in Arakan. REEL 2 Continues: problems of seeing Japanese in Arakan; casualties in D Coy; attack on Japanese positions 'The Tunnels', on island of Maungdaw, Arakan; withdrawal and flight of unit to Dimapur, India; work of US airman 'Slide-rule' in loading air transport; conditions in Arakan Recollections of period with 4th Bn RWK during siege of Kohima, 1944: move of unit from Dimapur to Kohima; unit's role in defence of Kohima; memories of Lance Corporal John Harman's action at Kohima 9/4/1944, for which he was awarded posthumous Victoria Cross. REEL 3 Continues: terrain around Kohima; incident when Easten and engineer officer [John Wright] used gun cotton to deal with Japanese in brick ovens; nature of Japanese attacks; wounding and evacuation; supply of water and ammunition to unit; effect of fear of being taken prisoner; morale of D Coy; state of British casualties; contact between besieged troops and outside world; relief of 4 Bn RWK by Punjabi troops and sight of Kohima after siege; question of sleep during siege; comradeship of those under siege; knowledge gained of Japanese troops; accuracy of parachute drops into Kohima. Question of effects of war.