Interview with Maurice Crowther

British gunner served with 286th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Bty, 91st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 31st and 39th Anti-Aircraft Bdes, 7th, 2nd and 10th Anti-Aircraft Divs in GB, 9/1939-12/1941; served with 16th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Bty, 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, British Troops in Egypt in Egypt, 3/1942-1/1944; private served with 2/7th Bn Queens Royal Regt, 169th (London) Infantry Bde, 56th (London) Infantry Div in Egypt and Italy, 2/1944-9/1944; served with Army Post Office in Naples, Italy, 10/1944-9/1946

REEL 1 Background in Bradford, GB, 1915-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as gunner with 286th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Bty, 91st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 31st and 39th Anti-Aircraft Bdes, 7th, 2nd and 10th Anti-Aircraft Divs in GB, 9/1939-12/1941: reasons for joining Territorial Army; training as range finder; equipping unit with Ordnance QF 3.7 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun at Goole; role with Humber Gun Zone, 1939-1940; sight of bomb damage in Kingston upon Hull; move of unit to Walthamstow, 10/1940; move of unit to Norwich; posting to War Office in London after radar course in Kingston upon Hull, 12/1941. Recollections of period as gunner with 16th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Bty, 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, British Troops in Egypt in Egypt, 3/1942-1/1944: voyage aboard HMT Otranto from GB to Egypt, 1/1942-3/1942; arrival at Cairo, 3/1942; posting to unit at Kasfareet; state of soldiers suffering from shell shock; relations with Egyptians. REEL 2 Continues: quality of Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) and Egyptian beer; taking over of anti-aircraft sites by South African troops; preparations to send anti-aircraft to defend Turkish cities, 1942-1943. Aspects of period as private with 2/7th Bn Queens Royal Regt, 169th (London) Infantry Bde, 56th (London) Infantry Div in Egypt and Italy, 2/1944-9/1944: joining unit at Cowley Camp, Egypt, 2/1944; move to camp at Vasto, Italy, 8/1944; conserving machine gun ammunition; contracting jaundice at Rimini; evacuation to Bari; diet he was given for jaundice; reaction to impending Greek Civil War. Recollection of period as private with Army Post Office in Naples, Italy, 10/1944-9/1946: volunteering for post office work, 10/1944; life in Naples; contrast in resources between American and British forces; state of Italian civilians in Naples; demobilisation in Woking, GB, 10/1946 including attempt of 'spiv' to buy his suit; attitude to having served in Second World War.