Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in North and South Korea, 11/1950-4/1951; prisoner of war in No 1 Camp, Choksong, North Korea, 1951-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Salisbury, GB, 1931-1949: family; education; degree of German Air Force bombing in Salisbury area; trapping rabbits to supplement family rations; reaction to call-up to British Army for National Service, 1949. Aspects of training as private with 1st Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's) and 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt in GB and Germany, 1949-1950: basic training at Bulford Camp, GB; joining 1st Bn Wiltshire Regt (Duke of Edinburgh's) in Germany, then transfer to 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt at Colchester Garrison, GB; battle training at Thetford, GB; advice received from regular soldiers. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Empire Windrush from GB to South Korea, 10/1950-11/1950 including conditions on board. Recollections of operations as private with B Coy, 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde in North and South Korea, 11/1950-4/1951: reception on arrival in Pusan, South Korea, 1950; popularity of Lieutenant-Colonel James Carne within battalion; role guarding steam engine on journey from Pusan to Suwon, South Korea; press ganging of civilians for Republic of Korea army at Suwon, South Korea; hunting for insurgents in South Korea; reaction of unit when deer broke cover on hillside; experience on guard duty near Seoul, South Korea, 11/1950; advance towards Pyongyang, North Korea, 11/1950; effect of people's Republic of China's entry into war, 10/1950.
REEL 2 Continues: orders to form rearguard near Pyongyang, North Korea, American troops' scrapping of vehicles; blizzard conditions and reservists' sense of grievance during retreat towards Pyongyang, North Korea; retreat through Pyongyang, North Korea; battalion's objection to treatment of refugees by American military personnel; dangers of trying to keep warm in winter; story of how shoe-shine boys gave unit brown boots, 12/1950; celebrating Christmas, 25/12/1950; how Chinese People's Volunteer Army caught up with 29th British Infantry Bde at Sibyong-ni, South Korea; Chinese People's Volunteer Army method of attacking tanks; 1st Bn Royal Ulster Rifles casualties whilst acting as rearguard for battalion, 1/1951; visits of General Matthew Ridgway to battalion; start of advance north; attack by A and C Coys on Hill 327, South Korea; sight of first British dead; capture of Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldier on Hill 327, South Korea.
REEL 3 Continues: work of 'winkle-picking' section; ineffectiveness of American Bazooka against armour; weapons captured from Chinese People's Volunteer Army; use of artificial moonlight; reconnaissance patrol in snow; taking positions along River Imjin near Solma-ri, South Korea, 4/1951; capture of Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldier; sight of North American Harvard aircraft attacking Chinese People's Volunteer Army positions; his role in prisoner-snatching patrol; wounding of officer during patrol; comforts received by battalion from GB.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of operations as private with B Coy, 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 29th British Infantry Bde during Battle of the Imjin River, South Korea, 22/4/1951-25/4/1951: start of Chinese People's Volunteer Army attack and their use of white Very lights to mark capture of positions; Chinese People's Volunteer Army mass attack on B Coy; question of usefulness of British intelligence regarding Chinese People's Volunteer Army's weaponry; opening fire on circle of Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldiers being directed by commissar; wounding in head and locating sniper who wounded him; loss of comrades in trench; Chinese People's Volunteer Army casualties inflicted with Bren Gun; shrinking of B Coy's perimeter and abandoning Bren Gun positions; officer's use of pistol against Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops; 'everyman for himself' order; sight of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops outflanking manoeuvre; capture by Chinese People's Volunteer Army; question of behaviour of Chinese People's Volunteer Army front line troops and removal to rear.
REEL 5 Continues: Recollections of prisoner of war trek into North Korea, 1951: narrow escape during United States Air Force attack, 4/1951; Chinese confiscation of prisoner of war property; relations between prisoners of war and captors; sight of Chinese People's Volunteer Army walking wounded, 4/1951; threat of air bursts whilst crossing River Imjin, South Korea, 4/1951; contents of first prisoner of war meal; Chinese People's Volunteer Army policy of night marching; prisoners of war contracting dysentery from drinking from paddy fields; avoiding United States Air Force patrols; acquiring tobacco leaves from carts.
REEL 6 Continues: developing relationship between prisoners of war and captors; how prisoners of war carried captors' packs; how Chinese stopped prisoners of war singing 'Onward Christian Soldiers'. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in No 1 Camp, Choksong, North Korea, 1951-1953: arrival in camp; ill treatment of American prisoners of war by North Koreans; camp diet; production of steamed bread; removal of officers and sergeants from camp; death rate among American prisoners of war; demand by British prisoners of war to be able to help American prisoners of war; gradual rise in American prisoner of war moral fibre; ease with which prisoners of war could escape from camp but impossibility of getting away; Chinese attempt to indoctrinate prisoners of war; influence of Chinese interpreter Chu; onset of winter, 1951-1952; attempts to organise entertainment; prisoners of war aversion to being treated in Chinese hospital.
REEL 7 Continues: lack of dental provision and nature of tooth extractions; collection of firewood from hills; his dart-making skill; foraging for vitamin-rich fruit in hills; sufferings of prisoners of war from night blindness; lice and fly infestations; incident of prisoner of war coughing up intestinal worm; use of soya milk; production of alcohol and Chinese destruction of prisoners of war supplies; prisoners of war use of cannabis and story of how he was drugged by Korean peasant; arrival in camp of livestock as rations; Chinese 'lenient policy' towards prisoners of war; construction of timber cart; Korean peasant's consumption of dogs and collection of pig entrails.
REEL 8 Continues: hanging of dogs to whiten meat; Western visitors to camp; germ warfare exhibition; visit by journalists Alan Winnington and Wilfred Burchett; question of effect of news of peace talks on prisoner of war morale; improvement of ablution facilities; reception of Alan Winnington and Wilfred Burchett; reaction to signing of armistice; exchange of sick prisoners of war; leaving camp. Recollections of prisoner of war exchange procedure in North/South Korea, 1953: lorry journey during storm from River Yalu to Panmunjom, South Korea; lorry accident during journey; eve of liberation in Kaesong, North Korea; processing of prisoners of war at Panmunjom, South Korea.
REEL 9 Continues: Continues: transporting of ex-prisoners of war to Kure, Japan and onto GB. Reflections on service in Korean War: reasons why he would go through his Korean War experience again; question of effects of service in Korean War, including loss of sight in left eye; story of adoption of orphan boy, Kim by unit and how he was re-united with him in 1980s; Chinese method of indoctrination and teasing of Chu the interpreter.