Kamsler, William David (Oral history)

British private served with 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt in GB and Normandy, 1943-7/1944; served as platoon runner and NCO with 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt in North West Europe, 7/1944-5/1945; NCO served with 1st Bn Suffolk Regt in Malaya, 1949-1950; served with 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1951-1952

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1925-1943: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German bombs which fell on Willesden Green; public morale; volunteering for army in Acton, 1943. Period of basic training in Warley Barracks, Brentwood, Essex. Period with 2nd Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt in GB, 1944: joining unit for D-Day training; pre-D-Day security on south coast; embarking aboard SS Neuralia in West India Docks for journey to Isle of Wight. embarkation. Recollections of D-Day landings with 2nd Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt, Normandy, 6/6/1944: embarkation onto landing craft; landings on Gold Beach; drowning of soldiers during landings; beach clearing role of unit; German use of box mines. Period working with DUKWs transferring ammunition from freighters to shore, 6/1944-7/1944. Recollections of operations with B Coy, 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt in North West Europe, 1944-1945: breaking up of 2nd Bn Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt and transfer to 4th Bn Wiltshire Regt; heavy casualties of unit on Hill 112; unit attack on Mount Pincon. REEL 2 Continues: role as platoon runner during Mount Pincon action, 7/1944; push towards Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944; reception of airborne survivors from Arnhem across the River Rhine; minor wounding in wrist from air burst in Elst area, Netherlands; promotion to corporal, autumn 1944; role as guard with unit in Belsen concentration camp, spring 1945. Recollections of period as NCO in intelligence section of 1st Bn Suffolk Regt, Sungei Bisi, Malaya, 1949-1950: role in intelligence section; patrolling in jungle; casualties inflicted by insurgents; ambush of train; attitude towards insurgents. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of period with intelligence section, 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1951-1952: reasons for volunteering for service in Korea; allocation to intelligence section; joining 1st Bn Middlesex Regt and subsequent transfer to 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry, spring 1951; evidence of scale of Chinese casualties after battle despite their removal of dead; US serviceman who tried to defect to Chinese; role in charge of Korean Military Police moving civilians from village, summer 1952; attitude towards Chinese; liaison with US forces.