Interview with James Walter Lawrence

British private served with 70th Bn Suffolk Regt in GB, 1941-1942; served with 6th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 74th Indian Infantry Bde, 25th Indian Infantry Div in Arakan, Burma, 1944; served with 2nd Bn Suffolk Regt and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in India, 1944-1946; NCO served with B Coy, 1st Bn Suffolk Regt in Cyprus, 1956-1959

REEL 1 Background in Ipswich, GB, 1925-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as civilian in Ipswich and Trimley St Martin, GB, 1939-1941: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; membership of Trimley St Martin Local Defence Volunteers, 6/1940-7/1940; loss of destroyer HMS Gipsy on mine in North Sea, 21/11/1939; arming of Trimley St Martin Local Defence Volunteers with pick-axe handles; store of Molotov Cocktails; question of belief in German landing at Shingle Street, 1940; German Air Force bomb which fell on park in Ipswich, 1941; civilians attitude to shot down German Air Force pilot in Stoke, 1941. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 70th Bn Suffolk Regt in GB, 1941-1942: enlistment in battalion, 8/1941; nature of basic training at Bury St Edmunds; attitude to basic training and pay received; stoppages from pay; imposition of punishment duties; question of benefits of basic training; airfield defence duties, 1942; posting to 8th Bn Suffolk Regt, 1942. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Highland Chieftain and HMT Stirling Castle via Sierra Leone and South Africa, 1943: six day leave in Freetown, Sierra Leone; German submarine alarm off South Africa; reception from Perla Siedle Gibson, the 'Lady in White' in Durban, South Africa; living conditions on ship; six weeks ashore in South Africa; transfer to HMT Stirling Castle for voyage from South Africa to India. Aspects of period on draft with British Army in India, 1943-1944: arrival in Bombay, 6/1943; origin of phrase 'Deolali tap'; equipment repairing in Deolali. Recollections of operation as private with 6th Bn Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Arakan, Burma, 1944: posting to battalion at Maungdaw; Imperial Japanese Army tactics to locate unit positions; laying ambushes for Japanese forces; story of receiving back injuries in Imperial Japanese Army ambush, 7/1944; hospitalisation for injuries, 1944. Aspects of period as NCO with 2nd Bn Suffolk Regt and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in India, 1944-1946 posting to 2nd Suffolk Regt and medical downgrading due to back injuries at Imphal, India, 1944. REEL 3 Continues: prior recollection of reasons for being held back in Deolali, India, 1943; attachment to No 4 Wing Workshops, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Deolali, India, 1944-1945; reasons for return to Deolali, 1944; promotion to sergeant; handling riots in Bombay, 8/1946 including spraying rioters with blue dye; prior recollection of treatment of captured Indian National Army personnel in Arakan, Burma, 1944. Aspects of period as NCO with Suffolk Regiment and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in GB, 1947-1956: demobilisation and signing on as regular, GB, 1947; role as training sergeant with Suffolk Regiment and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in GB, 1947-1950; how family bereavement prevented his serving in South Korea. REEL 4 Continues: story of later refusal to hand in Suffolk Regiment buttons on formation of Anglian Regiment, 8/1959. Recollections of operations as NCO with B Coy, 1st Bn Suffolk Regt in Cyprus, 1956-1959: role as platoon sergeant with B Coy at Xeros, 1956; control of pack dogs; success of battalion in killing National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters insurgent Markos Drakos, Solea Valley, 18/1/1957; commanding officer's preventing unit from use warning wires; problems of sleeping in orange groves; financial penalties of firing accidental shots; move from Xeros to Kairos; question of damage done on searches; capture of six National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters insurgents in farmhouse; opening fire after wire was cut at police station in Morphou; opinion of Cyprus Police; attitude to service in Cyprus.