Interview with Jack Alan Tate

British civilian in Great Yarmouth, GB, 9/1939-11/1942; signaller served with Royal Navy in GB, United States of America, 11/1942-5/1944; served aboard HMS Thane in Pacific, South and North Atlantic, 6/1944-12/1944; served aboard LCH 101 in Far East, 4/1945-12/1945

REEL 1 Background in Great Yarmouth, GB, 1925-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as civilian in Great Yarmouth, GB, 9/1939-11/1942: evacuation of civilians; German Air Force bomb which fell on family home; firewatching duties; friends killed in German Air Force attacks; work as cycle messenger with Air Raid Precautions; public morale; German Air Force bombs which fell on Women's Royal Naval Service personnel's accommodation and Auxiliary Territorial Service headquarters; German German Air Force aircraft brought down in sea; sight of German prisoners of war in area; presence of Italian prisoners of war and Allied service personnel in area. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy in GB, 1942-1943: volunteering for service with Royal Navy, 11/1942; opinion of training received at HMS Ganges, Shotley; previous experience with Sea Cadets; attending signals course at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness; nature of living conditions in HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness. Aspects of voyage aboard HMS Glenroy from GB to United States, 1943-1944: living conditions on board; period on shore duties on arrival in United States of America and Canada, 1944. Recollections of period as signalman aboard HMS Thane in Pacific, South and North Atlantic, 6/1944-10/1944: drafting to escort carrier; voyage from Vancouver, Canada to Panama Canal, 6/1944; signalling work aboard; his action stations; relations with officers and attitude of British Indian Army officers towards naval ratings. REEL 2 Continues: near mutiny over food; diphtheria scare; murder of shipmate ashore in District 6, Cape Town, South Africa, 9/1944; delivery of aircraft at Cape Town, South Africa, 9/1944; flood damage to 'Bundles for Britain'; voyage to Port Said, Egypt to delivery Grumman Hellcats and return, 11/1944-12/1944; atmosphere aboard escort carrier. Aspects of voyage aboard HMS Glenroy from GB to India, 2/1945-3/1945: joining ship at Greenock, GB, 2/1945; opinion of Aden, Aden Protectorate. Recollections of operations as signalman aboard with LCH 101 in Far East, 4/1945-12/1945: drafting to Landing Craft Headquarters (LCH), 4/1945; move to Arakan, for landings at Rangoon, Burma; relations between British Indian Army troops landed by sea and Fourteenth Army troops at Rangoon, 5/1945; preparations for Operation Zipper, the proposed landings in Malaya; attitude to cancellation of Operation Zipper; arrival in Singapore, Malaya; role in rescuing British former prisoners of war during Operation Mastodon at Saigon, French Indochina, 9/1945: grenade attacks and gunfire in Saigon, French Indochina, 9/1945; relations between British and French. REEL 3 Continues: change in relations between Vietnamese populace and British; behaviour of Imperial Japanese Army troops; condition of former prisoners of war. Aspects of period as signalman with Royal Navy, 1945-1946: drafting to HMS Nith, 26/12/1945; rescue of British evader of Japanese in Sarawak, 30/12/1945; conditions ashore in Kuching, Sarawak, 1946; voyage aboard SS Samrich to Singapore, Malaya, 5/1946; effect of 'sippers' aboard HMS London, 6/1946; attitude to having served in Royal Navy.