Interview with Graham Charles Scopes

British driver served with Essex Yeomanry in GB, 1939-1943; NCO served with 1 Platoon, A Coy, 2nd Bn Parachute Regt, 1st Parachute Bde, 1st Aiborne Div during Operation Market Garden at Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944; prisoner of war in Germany, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Aldershot and Frinton-on-Sea, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second world War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as driver with Essex Yeomanry in GB, 1939-1943: nature of unit; role as driver; guard duties in Southern England; effect on national morale of military setbacks; listening to radio broadcasts by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw'; opinion of unit. Aspects of training with Parachute Regiment in GB, 1943: reasons for volunteering for parachute training, early 1943; parachute training at Airborne Forces Depot, Hardwick Hall and No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway; accident to Polish paratrooper who lost his nerve at RAF Ringway. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1 Platoon, A Coy, 2nd Bn, Parachute Regt during Operation Market Garden at Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944: pre-operation briefings; loading of aircraft; parachute landing; advance towards Arnhem Bridge; reception from Dutch civilians; commandeering house overlooking bridge; house-to-house fighting on second day; wounding in left shoulder during house-to-house fighting; nature of house-to-house fighting; question of personal morale in action. REEL 2 Continues: opinion of performance of unit during fighting; surrendering of wounded by Major John Frost. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Germany, 1944-1945: medical treatment received from Germans; question of treatment he received from Germans; convalescent home treatment, 10/1944; move to Stalag Luft III, Sagan; conditions in Stalag Luft III, Sagan; march westwards away from advancing Soviet forces, 1/1945; period in prisoner of war camp in Western Germany; liberation by United States Army troops, 4/1945; processing of ex-prisoners of war in GB and aid received from Wimpey and Company; medical treatment received in GB, 1945; question of psychological effects of participation in Battle of Arnhem, Netherlands; attitude towards Germans; attitude to having served in Second World War; nature of facilities in convalescent home in Germany, 10/1944.