Interview with Russell Frederick Edwards

British fusilier served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 8/1952-8/1953; served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) at Fâyid, Canal Zone, Egypt and Khartoum, Sudan, 1953-1954

REEL 1 Background in Guildford, GB, 1933-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Guildford, GB, 1939-1945: sight of German VI Flying Bomb passing over town, 1944; aircraft crashing into Stoke Park; effects of rationing; brief evacuation to Stratford-upon-Avon, 1939; reaction of Stratford-upon-Avon schoolchildren towards arrival of evacuees; sight of aerial combat; victory celebrations, 1945. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in Guildford, 1951: call-up for National Service; punishment received for not shaving; question of why discipline was necessary during basic training; reaction to being conscripted. Aspects of period as fusilier with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Iserlohn, Germany, 1952: reaction to posting to South Korea; reasons why he was on loan from 1st Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey). Recollections of operations as fusilier with Headquarters, B Coy, 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 8/1952- 8/1953: voyage from GB to South Korea including sunbathing lessons; initial impressions of South Korea; opinion of Korean people. REEL 2 Continues: role as company clerk; move into front line on Hill 159, 9/1952; use of 'chuffers' for cooking; living in bunkers; personal cleanliness in front line; incident of soldier shooting rats with Sten Gun; problems of bodily functions in front line; patrolling on Hill 159; standing patrol on edge of minefield; service on The Hook; signs hung on barbed wire by Chinese People's Volunteer Army; fate of some of unit's patrols; effect of Chinese People's Volunteer Army propaganda; leave in Tokyo, Japan and Inchon; morale in front line and comradeship in military. REEL 3 Continues: patrolling and reasons why his own experience was limited; explanation for phrase 'bullshit baffles brains'; lucky nature of unit during service in Korean War; strengthening of bunkers by Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers; reaction to ceasefire in 1953; lack of sleep in front line; attitude to having served in Korean War; Willys Jeep accident; narrow escape from artillery shelling on Hill 227. Aspects of period as fusilier with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Fâyid, Canal Zone, Egypt and Khartoum, Sudan, 1953-1954: degree of danger involved with duties and fight between battalion and 1st Bn Durham Light Infantry; period in Khartoum area, Sudan, 1954. Aspects of service with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 8/1952-8/1953: combating cold with rum; freezing of Japanese beer in winter.