Interview with Roy Charles Hamlyn

British civilian in Newton Abbot, GB, 1939-1942; driver served with No 282 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945; NCO served with No 101 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps in Palestine, 1945-1947

REEL 1 Background in Newton Abbot, GB, 1924-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as civilian in Newton Abbot, GB, 1939-1942: German Air Force attack on train in Newton Abbot Railway Station, 1940; personal morale during German Air Force attacks on town; membership of Newton Abbot Home Guard; temptations of warm malt store during Home Guard guard duty; question of possibility of German invasion; rumour of German invasion attempts; contact with service personnel in area; attitude towards German prisoners of war in area. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1942: call-up for military service, 1942; basic training at Colchester Garrison, 10/1942; nature of discipline; character of fellow recruits. REEL 2 Continues; story of going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) to see soccer match in Bradford. Recollection of period as driver with No 282 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1943-1944: training on amphibious DUKWs at Towyn, 1943; testing DUKWS in River Mersey; waterproofing Foden DG6/12 10 Ton 6x4 Trucks and Bedford QL 3 Ton General Service Trucks at Chandler's Ford training period at St Donat's Castle, 1943, prior recollection of signals training at Colchester Garrison, 1942; mishap when he was given charge of swimming pool at St Donat's Castle; attachment to 3rd Canadian Infantry Div; attitude of British troops to North American troops; reasons for Canadian enlistment in armed forces; question of French Canadians wanting revenge for Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, France, 19/8/1942 and how later in Normandy he had to move bodies of Germans who had their throats cut at Bernières-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, 6/6/1944; briefing for D-Day; concentration of troops in Southampton area. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections operations as driver with No 282 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps, 3rd Canadian Infantry Div on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, D-Day, 6/6/1944: problems for vehicles with depth of water on Juno Beach; role driving Foden DG6/12 10 Ton 6x4 Truck ashore; loose mines menacing beach; ammunition carried on vehicles; reaction of French farmer to destruction of grain field; role of picking up bodies from beaches; psychological effect of sight of small size of beach head on map; handling of bodies from beaches; question of respect between German and British Army troops; identification of Germans with throats cuts as East European forced labour, 6/6/1944. Aspects of pre-D-Day troop concentration in GB, 1944: sleeping in haystack; reaction to sight of sick King George on inspection; final messages home; calling off of invasion, 5/6/1944. REEL 4 Continues: question of whether he landed on D-Day, 6/6/1944 or D+1, 7/6/1944. Recollections of operations as driver with No 282 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps in North West Europe, 1944-1945: story of soldier who stole bottle of gin from officers' mess, summer 1944; incident of unit officer with shell shock; NCO who was bookie in civilian life who opened Derby 'book'; push through Caen, Normandy, France; crossing River Seine, France on pontoon bridge, 8/1944; stretching of Allied lines of communication, 8/1944-9/1944; post-war friendship with ex-German Army troops; attachment to 51st (Highland) Infantry Div during German Ardennes Offensive, 12/1944; attachment to 2nd Canadian Infantry Div for advance into Germany. Recollections of period as NCO with No 101 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps, 3rd Infantry Div, Palestine Command in Palestine, 1945-1947: posting of company to Sarafand; death of troops from typhoid at Atlit Camp; searches of beaches for illegal immigrants, near Haifa; condition of illegal immigrants arriving in Palestine. REEL 5 Continues: illegal immigrant patrols; ambush of six vehicles on road to Nablus, 1946; interrogation he and Driver Kominski received from British Intelligence after Kominski's lorry captured by Zionists, 1946; role looking after newly arrived officers; story of prank played on soldier nervous about Zionist attack; prior recollection of method of discipline adopted by 51st (Highland) Infantry Div; personal morale and question of vulnerability in Palestine; friendship with Jewish farmer who owned grove in which bodies of two British Sergeants Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice were found hanged and booby trapped at Even Yehuda, 31/7/1947; attitude to leaving Palestine at time of demobilisation, 1947. Recollections of formation of Devon Branch of Normandy Veterans Association in GB, 1980's: story of founder who fantasised about being a Normandy veteran and about wealthy backers he got for association. REEL 6 Continues: attitude to having taken part in Second World War; question of own memories being accurate; nature of charitable work of Normandy Veterans Association and backing it gets from comedian Jim Davidson; attitude to boasting about war reminiscences.