Interview with David Milner Woodford

British officer served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 1953; served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Canal Zone, Egypt and Sudan, 1953-1955; served as staff officer with Berlin Infantry Bde in Berlin, Germany, 1956-1958; served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Kenya, 1958; served as staff officer with British Forces in Cyprus in Cyprus, 1974-1976; commanded 3rd Bn Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 1970-1972; commanded 3rd Infantry Bde, Headquarters Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland, 1976-1977

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Kenya, 1930-1948: family circumstances; education; effects of Second World War on daily life; effects of Second World War on Africans. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 1952: opinion of basic training at Guards Depot, Caterham; amusing story of being sent from Guards Depot, Caterham to officer training unit; reasons for joining 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt). Recollections of operations as platoon commander with 12 Platoon, D Coy, 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt), 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in South Korea, 1953: conditions aboard troopship on voyage from GB to South Korea; reception at battalion on The Hook; initial impressions of platoon; reaction to use of Lee-Enfield No 4 Rifle Mk I; story of private who was a good soldier in the line but always in trouble out of the line; type of operations engaged in; effect of calling in support from Royal New Zealand Artillery; removal of dead bodies from barbed wire. REEL 2 Continues: opinion of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops; emerging of Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops on Armistice Day and reaction of 3rd Bn Royal Australian Regt, 27/7/1953; use of Korean porters; attachment of South Korean troops to battalion; living conditions; importance of Tilly Lamps; behaviour of orderly; degree of contact with United Nation allies especially Australians; degree to which political aspect of war mattered; reaction to armistice. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Canal Zone, Egypt, 1953-1954: accommodation; attitude of Egyptians; unpopularity of posting. Aspects of period with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Sudan, 1955: situation in Sudan; story of army doctor who attended civilian boy with snake bite. Aspects of period as staff officer in Berlin, Germany, 1956-1958: job as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to Major-General Francis Rome, Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin; contact with Soviets. REEL 3 Continues: memories of spy George Blake and Mayor Willy Brandt; contact with Nazi prisoners in Spandau Prison. Aspects of period as officer with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) in Kenya, 1958: lack of anticipation of Independence; basing near Gil Gil; contact with civilians who had experienced Kenyan Emergency. Aspects of period as staff officer with British Forces in Cyprus in Cyprus, 1972-1975: flight of Archbishop Makarios III during coup, 7/1974; Nikos Sampson reaction to coup; refugees entering British bases; problems encountered with job. Recollections of period as commanding 3rd Bn Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Northern Ireland, 1970-1972: role as commanding officer; lack of system for military forces serving in province, 1970; attacks on battalion personnel in William Street, Londonderry, 1972; operations against Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). REEL 4 Continues: nature of anti-insurgent operations; execution of Operation Motorman, 8/1972. Aspects of period commanding 3rd Infantry Bde, Headquarters, Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland, 1976-1977: operational areas; attitude to permanent vehicle checkpoints, 1976; opinion of Ulster Defence Regiment; introduction of Special Air Service to operations; stabilisation of situation by 1977.