Interview with John Smith

British NCO served with Corps of Royal Military Police in GB and Hong Kong, 1949-1951; served with with 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde Provost Section and Commonwealth Division Provost Coy, Corps of Royal Military Police in South Korea, 1951-1952

REEL 1 Background in Liverpool and Huyton, GB, 1930-1939: family circumstances; education. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Huyton, GB, 1940-1941: overcrowded situation in family home with victims during German Air Force bombing of Liverpool, 5/1941; effect of war on education; lack of privation; joining Army Cadets at Prescott, 1943; presence of Italian prisoners of war in area. Aspects of training with Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) in GB, 1948: joining unit, 4/1948; basic training at Fort George; waiting on in officers' mess of Highland Bde. Aspects of period as NCO with Corps of Royal Military Police in GB and Hong Kong, 1948-1951: recruitment and training in Blackford, GB, 12/1948; posting to 170th Provost Coy; patrol duties in Glasgow and Edinburgh; role of military policeman. REEL 2 Continues: posting to Hong Kong, 1949; voyage aboard HMT Lancashire from GB to Hong Kong, 8/1949-9/1949; duties in Hong Kong, 1949-1951; posting to South Korea, 4/1951. Recollections of period as NCO with 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde Provost Section and Commonwealth Division Provost Coy, Corps of Royal Military Police in South Korea, 1951-1952: code-words for venereal disease victims on board USS Montrose, 4/1951; arrival at Inchon; handling Chinese prisoners of war; traffic control; priority given to ammunition over wounded; methods employed to keep routes open; security danger from prostitutes; lack of refugees on roads, 1951-1952. REEL 3 Continues: change of unit title from 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde Provost Section to Commonwealth Division Provost Coy; contact with Canadian personnel and United States Army troops; contact with fifteen year old Chinese prisoner of war; leave in Tokyo, Japan, 11/1951 including experience of methods employed by United States Military Police Corps; employment of Korean houseboy; contact with Korean civilians; attitude to having served in Korean and visit to South Korea in 1985. Aspects of period as NCO with 170th Provost Coy, Corps of Royal Military Police in East Anglia, GB, 1953: rescue work on Canvey Island; work of Salvation Army. Recollections of period as policeman with Merseyside Police during Toxteth Riots in Liverpool, 7/1981: duties; opinion that horses should have been used for crowd control; organisation behind riots; targets of rioters; orders to police to keep a low profile.