Interview with Arthur Walter Frederick Foreman

British private served with 1st Airlanding Bde, 1st Airborne Div in GB, North Africa and Italy, 1943

REEL 1 Background in Battersea, London, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; reasons for enlistment in Territorial Army. Aspects of period with Royal Army Ordnance Corps in GB, 1939-1941: opinon of disorganisation of British Army, 9/1939; guard duties at Finchley Golf Club; move to Paull near Kingston upon Hull; role of unit guarding approaches to Kingston upon Hull; role retrieving servicemen's corpses from River Humber shoreline at Paull; listening to William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw' radio broadcasts; narrow escape from German Air Force bomb at Paull; role as despatch rider; postings in GB, 1940-1941. Aspects of training as private with 1st Airlanding Bde in GB, 1941-1943: background to joining unit at Velindre; move to Barton Stacey, near Andover. REEL 2 Continues: infantry training at Barton Stacey; training with General Aircraft Hotspur Glider at RAF Netheravon; canisters used for transporting equipment; story of refusing Prime Minister Winston Churchill a ride in his motorcycle trailer at RAF Netheravon, 1942; use of infra-red night goggles at Farnborough, 1942; parachute course at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway; opinion of role of Salvation Army at Tatton Park; disregard of rank amongst trainees at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway; reaction of Women's Auxiliary Air Force parachute packers to parachute failures; incident when his parachute only partially opened; competition between American and British paratroopers; training casualties at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway; accident he had as despatch rider. REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as private with 1st Airlanding Bde, 1st Airborne Div in North Africa, 1943: arrival in Oran, French Algeria, 16/5/1943; hospitality of United States Army on Mascara Plain; crossing Atlas Mountains into Tunisia; release of tension at Souss; reasons for not taking part in landings on Sicily, Italy landings; impressions of French Foreign Legion. Recollections of operations with 1st Airlanding Bde, 1st Airborne Div in Italy, 9/1943-12/1943: crossing to Taranto, 16/9/1943-17/9/1943; advance northwards from Taranto; retrieving bodies from Taranto Harbour, 9/1943; use of Guzzi Motorcycle; leaving Italy, 10/12/1943; state of Italian civilians; destruction of Canadian Army tanks by United States Army Air Force aircraft. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as private with 1st Airlanding Bde, 1st Airborne Div in GB, 12/1943-4/1944: return to GB, 12/1943; reasons for being medically downgraded; psychological effects of injuries, 1/1944; nature of meeting with commanding officer when he was sent out of 1st Airborne Div, 4/1944; transport work he was involved after, 4/1944. Reflections on effects of service with 1st Airborne Div in Second World War: character of psychiatric interviews he had at Netley Abbey; pension received for psycho-neurosis after demobilisation; medical problems attributed to wartime service; reaction to memories of Second World War.