Description
Object description
British trooper served with 1 Troop, B Sqdn, 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 29th British Infantry Bde Group in South Korea, 11/1950-12/1951; NCO served with 16th Flight, Army Air Corps in Aden, Federation of South Arabia, 1963-1964
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Uxbridge, GB, 1931-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in GB, 1939-1945: disruption to education during German Air Force bombing campaign; German Air Force bomb which landed in back garden in Blackpool; reasons for joining Boy's Battery, Royal Artillery at Woolwich, 1945. Recollections of operations as trooper with 1 Troop, B Sqdn, 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 29th British Infantry Bde Group in South Korea, 11/1950-12/1951: background to posting to Korea from 8th Royal Tank Regt; ignorance prior to posting of climate on Korean Peninsula; voyage aboard HMT Dunera from GB to South Korea, 10/1950-11/1950; disembarking at Pusan; composition of his crew; operating Centurion Tank in difficult terrain; Chinese People's Volunteer Army rocket attack on his Centurion Tank on Baldy position; sense of personal invulnerability; sight of 1st Bn Royal Northumberland Fusiliers casualties; listening to Battle of River Imjin on tank's radio, 4/1951; firing 140 rounds of ammunition on River Imjin, 4/1951; attitude of infantrymen and tank men towards each other.
REEL 2 Continues: disposition of tanks in hilly terrain; reaction to being under-fire whilst collecting rum ration; arrival of inexperienced officer; water rationing; loss of ammunition dump; frequency of bathing, summer 1951; question of not feeling he was killing any Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops with tank fire; depth of Chinese People's Volunteer Army tunnelling; attitude towards Chinese People's Volunteer Army troops; Chinese People's Volunteer Army concentration on Republic of Korea Army (ROK) troops; lack of training of Republic of Korea Army (ROK) troops; opinion of warfare; wireless sets used by armoured units; problems working wireless sets; handing over to 5th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards on leaving South Korea.
REEL 3 Continues: question of repairs to radio sets; interchangeability of trades in tanks; height of tank men; use of binoculars; traversing tank guns; importance of experienced tank crew; question of personal morale; attitude of Australian troops; supporting Royal Australian Regiment troops on Hill 199; encounter with Australian private on guard duty; amusing story about Australian combat rations; winter climate; United States Army troops' destruction of store depot prior to retreating.
REEL 4 Continues: acquisition of American anorak; contents of American K-ration pack; contracting malaria; United States Army nurse's attempts to make tea for British patients; encounter with United States Military Police Corps military policemen; further explanation of incident when NCO threw away officer's water; attitude towards officers; method of boiling water in 'Benghazi cooker'; United States Army method of heating tents.
REEL 5 Continues: bartering with United States Army troops; attitude of United States Army troops to their equipment; obtaining American carbine for four bottles of beer; jettisoning of weapons on voyage to GB; shortages in British Army; British attitude towards American rations; results of Lance Corporal Stan Hargreaves' letter writing; inadvisability of touching dead bodies; instances of booby-trapping of Chinese People's Volunteer Army dead; inadequacy of Chinese People's Volunteer Army clothing against winter climate, 1950-1951; memories of Korean interpreter; how Battle of River Imjin was preceded by girl shouting in English; nature of battle to soldiers; circumstances under which unit finally withdrawn from front line; attitude to obtaining his campaign medals; return to GB.
REEL 6 Continues: troops' attitude to address by Chief of the General Staff on return to GB; method of clearing troopship on arrival in GB and behaviour of HM Customs and Excise officials; attitude to sight of Chinese People's Volunteer Army mass infantry attacks; lack of sense of Chinese People's Volunteer Army as individuals; belief that Chinese could not win war; incident when Korean civilians walked through unit strongpoint; plight of Korean civilians especially children; unit's adoption of orphaned Korean child; leave in Japan; Australian Army troops' attitude to breaking rules; cleaning up on arrival in Japan.
REEL 7 Continues: description of fight with United States Army troops in Tokyo, Japan service club over race; attitude towards service in Korean War in contrast with service in Federation of Malaya and Aden, Federation of South Arabia. Aspects of period as NCO with 16th Reconnaissance Flight, Army Air Corps in Aden, Federation of South Arabia, 1962-1964: background to joining unit; formation of unit, 1962; story relating to level of efficiency and sense of urgency in British Army; theft of complete hangar by local civilians; attitude towards post-traumatic stress disorder in light of experiences in Korean War.
