Interview with William Gordon Graham

British officer served with 1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 4th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1942-1945; civilian journalist and publisher in India, 1946-1956

REEL 1 Background in Glasgow, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1940-1941: problems enlisting in British Army, 1939-1940; officer cadet training at No 165Officer Cadet Training Unit, Dunbar, 1940-1941. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 4th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in GB, 1941-1942: contrasts between regular and wartime officers; accommodation with mine owner in Thorne; coastal defence duties at Filey. Recollections of period as officer with 1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 4th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in India, 1942-1944: voyage from GB to Bombay, 4/1942-6/1942; arrival in Bombay, 6/1942; contact with Indian civilians; anti-British comment by Sikh watch-maker in Bombay, 6/1942; reaction to aiding civil power at Guntur, 8/1942; effect on British military thinking of Japanese tactics, 1942; role with commando platoon and contact with civilian attitudes in Western Ghats. REEL 2 Continues: ideas about United States of America, 1942; effect of Indian situation on his ideas about Empire; attitude towards Quit India Movement; explanation for delay of unit not going into action, 1943-1944. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 4th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div at Kohima, India, 1944: role as platoon commander; composition of platoon; flight from Jorhat to Kohima to join unit; reaction to jungle warfare; patrolling; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army troops; pro-British attitude of Naga hill people; opening of road to Imphal; condition of troops after Kohima fighting. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Queen's Own Bn Cameron Highlanders, 4th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in Burma, 1944-1945: role of non-British elements in Allied armies; condition of Imperial Japanese Army troops in Tamu area; attitude of troops towards Imperial Japanese Army troops; problems of crossing River Irrawaddy; problems of attacking Japanese forces during advance, 1945; attitude to having served with 1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in Second World War. Recollections of period as journalist and publisher in India, 1945-1956: Independence celebrations, 8/1947; character of austerity in GB, late 1940s; job as free-lance newspaper correspondent and then book importer; attitude to political course India was following; reaction to attending riots; pro-British attitude of Parsees in Bombay; attitude to communal basis of Pakistan state.