Interview with Thomas Cooke

British clerk served with 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regt, 69th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Indian Div in GB and France, 9/1939-12/1940; NCO served as secretary to Governor of Gibraltar at Gibraltar, 1941-1942; officer with Royal Army Service Corps in GB and France, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1920-1939: family; education; employment. Recollections of period as clerk with 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regt, 69th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB and France, 9/1939-5/1940: volunteering for Territorial Army, 7/1939; reporting for duty, 2/9/1939; reaction to amount of British Army pay; issue of uniform and equipment, 2/9/1939; listening to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; gas panic. night 3/9/1939; motorcycle mission to Headquarters, 69th Infantry Bde at Beverley; Bren Gun training; first pay parade; becoming clerk; dealing with excess petrol consumption problem; arrangements for fire outbreaks in barracks; coping with cold winter, 1939-1940; chaotic church parade; move to Bridlington, 1/1940; story to illustrate army concern for soldiers' health; collection of recruits from Darlington; indenting store for move to France, 1940; effect of inoculations; writing off of Universal Carrier, 4/1940; journey from Kingston on Hull to Le Havre, France, 4/1940; cost of tobacco. REEL 2 Continues: journey to Bapaume, France; accidental shooting of French car. Recollections of operations as clerk with 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regt, 69th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Indian Div in France, 5/1940: German Air Force attack, 10/5/1940; move to Douai; loss of vehicle to battalion of Green Howards (Alexandra Princes of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment); natures of rumours and alert over German airborne attack; German shelling of positions; attachment to French Army unit; German artillery shelling of French Army unit; French Army withdrawal; journey to La Bassée; relations with French civilians; attaching himself to 1/7th Bn Queen's Royal Regt (West Surrey); role artillery spotting; sight of Junkers Ju 87 Stuka attacks; move to Neuve Chapelle; cancelling of counter attack at Neuve Chapelle; attempts to shoot down German Air Force reconnaissance aircraft. REEL 3 Continues: start of retreat to Dunkirk, France; opinion of role of Corps of Military Police personnel; arrival at Bray-Dunes; German Air Force Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber attacks rescue by trawler; grounding of trawler on Goodwin Sands, North Sea; arrival at Ramsgate, GB; dispersal of troops. Aspects of period as clerk with 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regt, 69th Infantry Bde, 23rd (Northumbrian) Indian Div in GB, 1940: arrival in Worcester, 6/1940; effect of aircraft sounds; attitude of officer to Dunkirk Evacuation survivors; application for transfer to Royal Army Service Corps; coastal defence duties at Studland Bay; German Air Force attack on Studland Bay area; discovery of German bodies in English Channel; relaxation in 'The Jolly Sailor' Public House in Poole; posting to Royal Army Service Corps. REEL 4 Continues: Recollection of period as secretary to Governor of Gibraltar, 1941-1942: background to embarkation in GB, 1/1941; his arrival and reception by Anthony Quayle; starting work for the governor General Sir Clive Liddell; duties; arrival of Lord Gort; appointment of Captain Cedric Holland as Lord Gort's Chief of Staff, 7/1941; personalities he met; story of death of friend from Kingston upon Hull in Mediterranean; cheering of warships into Gibraltar after sinking of the Bismarck, 5/1941; telling Lord Gort about news of Pearl Harbor, 7/12/1941; arrival of HMS Penelope; Very Important Persons (VIPs) who visited Gibraltar including Spanish General Agustín Muñoz Grandes; application for commission in Royal Army Service Corps, 1942; Italian Navy frogmen attacks. REEL 5 Continues: story of mishap which occurred to General Władysław Sikorski in Consolidated Catalina Flying Boat; problems of aircraft landing at Gibraltar; voyage aboard HMT Llanstephen Castle from Gibraltar to GB. Aspects of period of officer training with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1942: attending pre-OCTU course at Clifton College; training course at Southend-on-Sea; battle course in Snowdonia; role of officer in British Army. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1942-1944: posting to Guards Armoured Div at Warminster; posting to Royal Army Service Corps motor boat company; chance of flight in United States Army Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress; posting to No 516 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps at Bishop Auckland; vehicles issued; move to Walton-on-the-Naze, 2/1944; arrest of Royal Army Service Corps troops for theft; work loading ships in Southampton, 5/1944-6/1944. REEL 6 Continues: arrival of new company commander; story of how his batman stole a vehicle, 6/1944; transporting nitro-glycerine to Normandy, France, 9/6/1944; evacuation with illness from Normandy, France, 11/6/1944; posting to Bordon Camp after recovery. Recollections of period as officer with Royal Army Service Corps in France, 1944-1945: crossing to Dieppe, 10/1944; relations with civilians in Dieppe; move to Amiens; his mishap with horse in Amiens; relations with civilians in Amiens; reaction of French civilians to news of German Ardennes Offensive, 12/1944; transfer to 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer; abortive attempt to transfer him to infantry; posting to Melun near Paris; effect of United States Army rations; attempts to control United States Army use of brothel; differing British Army and United States Army policies to brothels, 1945.