Interview with Peter Bruce Saunders

British civilian schoolchild in Paddington, London and evacuee in Chepstow, GB, 9/1939-8/1945; NCO served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 8/1952-8/1953

REEL 1 Background in Paddington, London, GB, 1932-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as evacuee from Paddington, London to Chepstow, 1939-1940: degree of German Air Force bombing in Chepstow area; problems between evacuees and local schoolchildren. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Paddington, London, GB, 1940-1945: German Air Force attacks on area; use bombsites as playgrounds; looting of toyshop by children; use of air raid shelters; public morale; use of British Restaurants; queueing for apples; opinion of food in British Restaurants; showing Canadian Army servicewomen around London; travelling around Midlands with Royal Air Force Regiment band; inmates of London Lock Hospital, Westminster; victory celebrations, 1945; incident when German Air Force incendiary bomb fell on family home; later story of cutting down of trees in Hyde Park and foraging for wood, winter 1947. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1950-1951: basic training at Shorncliffe Camp; breaking heel during assault course. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 5th Infantry Bde in Iserlohn, Germany, 1951-1952: opinion of service in Germany; training schemes; relations with German civilians; reaction to posting to South Korea, 1952. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as NCO with 1 Platoon, A Coy, 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 8/1952-8/1953: voyage aboard HMT Empire Orwell from GB to South Korea, 7/1952; guarding American beer storehouse on arrival in Pusan, 6/1952; defective railway bridge; nature of stories told to battalion advance party by 1st Bn King's Own Scottish Borderers; leadership of platoon; carrying No 88 Radio Set on patrol at Yong Dong; clearing of The Hook battlefield, 5/1953; dangers of Ronson Position on The Hook; incident when he was shelled whilst using latrine; attitude to morning stand-to; weather conditions; use of tins of self-heating soup; coping with cold weather conditions; nature of bathing facilities; danger of 'Manchurian Fever'; contracting malaria; incident of being hit by ricochet during Chinese People's Volunteer Army ambush. REEL 3 Continues: retrieving corpses of dead troops; smell of corpses; work done on The Hook after battle, 5/1953; Operation Pimlico near Hill 210, 25/11/1952; opinion of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops; sight of emerging Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops from fox holes on ceasefire day; Chinese People's Volunteer Army sniper who concealed himself under a parachute; Chinese People's Volunteer Army troop's activities on ceasefire day; attempt to lay barbed wire in paddy field on ceasefire line, 1953; work of Korean female porters, 1953; passion for fresh milk after service in Korean War; Korean civilians' use of A-frames; use of Korean porters; Korean Augmentation Troops Commonwealth (KATCOMs) attached to unit; selling beer to other United Nations' troops; accidental bombing of unit by United States Air Force; question of effects of service in Korean War; attitude to having served in Korean War. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period as NCO with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Canal Zone, Egypt, 1953-1954: role and duties; attitude of Egyptian civilians towards British troops; guarding Ladysmith Camp from servicemen trying to contact servicewomen, 12/1953; reasons for leaving British Army, 1954.