Description
Object description
British schoolchild in Bath, GB, 1939-1945; private served with 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's), 6th Infantry Bde, British Army of the Rhine in Germany, 1948-1949; NCO with 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's), Malaya Command in Federation of Malaya, 11/1952-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bath, GB, 1932-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Bath, GB, 1939-1945: German Air Force Baedeker raids on city, 25/4/1942-27/4/1942; entertainment provided for orphans by United States Army; attitude of children in Bath towards Second World War; recycling for war effort and helping unload food supplies; use of Morrison Shelter; sheltering in Fuller's Earth drift mine on second night of German Air Force Baedeker raids and work clearing rubble after raid, 26/4/1942-27/4/1942; holes made by showers of stones during air raids; places in city hit by German Air Force bombs, 25/4/1942-27/4/1942; public reaction to German Air Force raids; location of drift mine used as shelter; supplements to rations; personal morale during German Air Force raids; two bombs which fell on Odd Down, 25/4/1942-27/4/1942; rings made by children from perspex removed from crashed aircraft.
REEL 2 Continues: collecting shrapnel; parties given for children by United States Army; sight of troop movements; incident of civilian who bought army blanket from deserter for twenty cigarettes; relations with German prisoners of war in area, 1943-1944; 'Dig for Victory' campaign; black market activity; community sprit in Second World War; degree to which education was affected by war; relations between London evacuees and local Bath schoolchildren; standard of behaviour of children during Second World War; teasing of Home Guard teacher, Harry Truman by his class children; Home Guard tank traps. Aspects of enlistment and training as boy soldier with British Army in GB, 1947-1948: background to volunteering as boy soldier, 1947.
REEL 3 Continues: skills tests; etiquette required of boy soldiers; training with King's Shropshire Light Infantry at Cove, GB, 1947-1948; move to Light Infantry Brigade Training Centre at Bordon Camp, 1948. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's), 6th Infantry Bde, British Army of the Rhine in Germany, 1948-1949: nature of manoeuvres; relations with German civilians; incident of British soldier punching German youth on bus, Münster, 1949. Aspects of period as NCO with Somerset Light Infantry Regimental Depot in Taunton, GB, 1951-1952: role of company buglers; opinion of job as regimental policeman; promotion to corporal; medical operation for varicose veins in order to serve with 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's) in Federation of Malaya. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Dilwara from GB to Federation of Malaya, 10/1952: training aboard ship; lectures and preparation for conditions in Federation of Malaya. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's), Malaya Command in Federation Malaya, 1952-1953: training at Jungle Warfare School, Kota Tinggi; purifying drinking water; methods troops employed to make themselves comfortable in jungle; weapons used.
REEL 4 Continues: methods of moving in jungle; precautions against two patrols opening fire on each other; procedure for standing guard during night; impression of 1st Bn Suffolk Regt at Kota Tinggi; opinion of patrolling jungle in daytime; avoiding use of tracks; fauna in jungle; jaundice attack and medical treatment; recuperation in 'Little England' in Cameron Highlands; initial role of Bugler Platoon as messengers in scout cars; strategic hamlet system; leave system; jungle patrols he went on; role instructing Gurkha buglers; opinion of Gurkhas and reunion with Gurkha buglers in GB, 1958; Iban trackers tattoos; discovery of equipment dump left by Imperial Japanese Army.
REEL 5 Continues: use of Imperial Japanese Army arms and equipment by Malayan National Liberation Army insurgents; level of unit casualties; attitude towards Malayan National Liberation Army insurgents; personal morale; accidental shooting of soldier and court martial of soldier who committed it; relations with civilians in Federation of Malaya, 1952-1953; belief that Malayan National Liberation Army could not achieve victory; attitude to leaving Federation of Malaya, 7/1953. Aspects of service with British Army, 1953: effect of influx of conscripts on comradeship on British Army; discontent with military service and how it was changing; question of unjust promotion in British Army.
REEL 6 Continues: questioning of role he was given weapons training, 8/1953; story of how his wife bought him out of British Army, 1953; opinion of change in attitude to discipline in British Army, 1953.