Description
Object description
British NCO served with 6th (Pioneer) Bn King's Own Royal Regt (Lancaster), 218th Independent Infantry Bde (Home) in GB, 1940-1941; served with 9th Bn Border Regt in GB and India, 1941-1943; served with 1st Bn Royal Berkshire Regt (Princess Charlotte of Wales's), 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in India and Arakan, Burma, 1943; served with 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Merthyr Tydfil and London, GB, 1912-1939: family circumstances; education; memories of General Strike, 5/1926; nature of Depression, 1930-1933; character of entrepreneaurship during Depression; efforts to find work in London; employment in landscape gardening; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period with 6th (Pioneer) Bn King's Own Royal Regt (Lancaster), 218th Independent Infantry Bde (Home) and 9th Border Regt in GB, 1940-1942: call-up for military service, 1940; amusing story of burnt army porridge.
REEL 2 Continues: incident of violinist who used a pick for the first time; bayonet practice; coastal defence at Hornsea and Withernsea, 1940-1941; move to Cheddar; construction of beach defences at Penzance, 1941; attitude to not being engaged on active duty; fraternising with civilians in Cheddar; married comrade who insisted on volunteering with him; posting to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea to join 9th Bn Border Regt; attitude towards officers; disposal of army issue long johns. Recollections of voyage aboard HMT Orcades from GB to India via South Africa, 1942: allocation of accommodation below waterline; attempt to come to terms with hammocks; forcible washing of soldier; contracting malaria at Freetown, Sierra Leone.
REEL 3 Continues: period in sick bay of ship; story of getting word to his father in Johannesburg from Durban, South Africa; contact with father; reaction to stay in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa; reaction of troops to conditions on board ship at Cape Town, South Africa; voyage to Bombay. Recollections of period with 9th Border Regt in India, 1942-1943: initial impressions of Bombay; first railway journey across India; rejoining battalion at Fort William, Calcutta; initial contact with 'Calcutta Welsh'; effect of monsoon rains on Calcutta; sight of waste in River Hooghly; hospitality of Indian civilians.
REEL 4 Continues: insect life in Fort William, Calcutta; comrade who received medical treatment for foot problem; leave period in Darjeeling. Recollections of operations as NCO with 1st Bn Royal Berkshire Regt (Princess Charlotte of Wales's), 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in Arakan, Burma and India, 1943: posting to unit in Arakan, Burma; jittering tactics employed by Imperial Japanese Army ; retreat in face of Imperial Japanese Army advance; withdrawal; contracting paralysis; meeting cousin in eastern India; move to Ahmednagar, India; loss of money belt at Ahmednagar, India.
REEL 5 Continues: obtaining American rations on train journey. Aspects of period as NCO with 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India, 1943: rejoining battalion in Assam; contact with Welsh missionaries; how battalion joined 17th Indian Infantry Div; narrow escape during training; collapse from malaria in Assam; attitude towards physical training instructors; move of unit to Dimapur; period of hospitalisation at Dimapur; memories of comrade 'Taffy'. Recollections of operations as NCO with Headquarters Coy, 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 1943-1944: hazards of road journey on Tiddim Road, India; prevalence of rats; appearance of Imphal Plain, India; character of the Chocolate Staircase, Burma; arrival at unit on Kennedy Peak, Burma.
REEL 6 Continues: view from battalion positions; problems negotiating slopes; method of opening bully beef tins; reaction to encounter with Burmese civilians; sight of Gurkha's corpse on track; guarding engineers detailed to blow bridge; amusing story of quarter-master sergeant's Christmas cake business; eating mule which broke a leg; battalion casualties on Kennedy Peak, Burma; building of Tyler's Mission, 12/1943; effect of quinine; visit for X-ray at casualty clearing station; unit's escape from Japanese encirclement, 3/1944; exhaustion from walking down Chocolate Staircase, Burma.
REEL 7 Continues: nature of withdrawal into India; receiving burn to arm from mortar shell; receiving rations from United States Army Air Force, 3/1944; recapture of camp containing supplies. Aspects of period as NCO with 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India, 1944: treatment of battalion by British Indian Army troops; recuperation of unit from exhaustion, 4/1944; attempts to maintain morale; making punjis as punishment; start of monsoon; reporting to Imphal with toothache; appearance of Imphal Plain during monsoon, attitude of troops to officers. Aspects of operations as NCO with 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div at Potsangbam, India, 5/1944-6/1944: nature of actions at Potsangbam; looking after wounded comrade in no-man's land.
REEL 8 Continues: advance under Imperial Japanese Army artillery fire; end of Potsangbam battle. Aspects of period in reserve as NCO with 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div in India, 1944: leave in Kashmir after 6/1944; delights of English cuisine during leave. Recollections of operations as NCO with with 9th Bn Border Regt, 48th Indian Infantry Bde, 17th Indian Infantry Div in Burma, 1945: weather conditions during advance through Central Burma; services provided by Women's Auxiliary Service (Burma); opinion of General William Slim; advance across River Irrawaddy to Meiktila; fate of Japanese prisoner of war; nature of close-quarter fighting; washing away of bridge at Pegu during monsoon; treatment of Japanese prisoner of war at Pegu; hearing news of atomic bombing of Japan, 8/1945; character of Japanese prisoners of war taken after VJ Day, 15/8/1945.
REEL 9 Continues: conversation with Imperial Japanese Army officer after VJ Day; physical condition he was in at end of Second World War; attitude to having served with 9th Bn Border Regt in Second World War; question of soldiers' bravery.