Description
Object description
British gunner served with 269th Bty, 63rd (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 30th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Bde, 7th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 5/1939-6/1940; served with 269th Bty, 63rd (Northumbrian) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 30th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Bde, 7th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 6/1940-12/1941; served with 269th Bty, 63rd (Northumbrian) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, 1st Royal Marine Anti-Aircraft Bde and 24th Anti-Aircraft Bde, Ceylon Command on Ceylon, 7/1942-4/1944; private served with 1st Bn Royal Warwickshire Regt, 4th Indian Infantry Bde, 26th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 9/1944-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Hartlepool, GB, 1918-1939: family; social circumstances; father's military service in First World War; membership of Boy Scouts and Boys' Brigade; education and story of school trip; recreational activities; employment at sawmill, 1932-1936; insurance payments; employment as labourer at shipyard, 1936-1937 and at colliery, 1937-1939. Recollections of service with 269th Bty, 63rd (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, 5/1939-8/1939: background to recruitment to unit in Territorial Army.
REEL 2 Continues: procedure on recruitment; kitting out; nature of Seaham Harbour Drill Hall; basic training; composition of unit including officers and NCOs; role of gun crew on Ordnance 3.7 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun; nature of and operation of predictor; awareness of approach of Second World War, 8/1939; annual camp at Tenby, 8/1939, including firing practice at drogues, daily routine, living conditions and relations with civilians; mobilisation, 24/8/1939; move to Dunston Power Station, Gateshead, 8/1939-9/1939; unit equipment.
REEL 3 Continues: accommodation; opinion of Lewis Gun; guard duties; equipment issued; receiving news of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period as gunner with 63rd (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Regt and 63rd (Northumbrian) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 30th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Bde, 7th Anti-Aircraft Div at Tynemouth, GB, 9/1939-12/1941: pattern of movements; concrete defences; confinement to gun site; restrictions on firing; location of gun site; relations with civilians; co-operation with searchlight units; personal morale whilst firing on first German Air Force aircraft; introduction of radar and information received on predictor from radar operators; narrow escape during German Air Force raid on radar station; introduction of box barrages directed by radar and predictors; method of fusing Ordnance QF 4.5 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun shells; firing at German Air Force aircraft caught in searchlight beams.
REEL 4 Continues: question of shrapnel from anti-aircraft shells; stand to prior to launch of battleship; story illustrating fatigue; cleaning guns; ammunition storage; effects of noise and flash from guns; case of accidental shooting; arrival of young drafts; reaction to Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940; issue of rifles; story of collecting rags to clean guns illustrating relations with civilians; replacement by female personnel on anti-aircraft guns and reaction to prospect of overseas service; period awaiting unit's overseas posting at Leeds, 1/1942-5/1942. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Louis Pasteur from GB to Durban, South Africa, 5/1942-6/1942: punishment fatigues in kitchens; conditions; travelling in convoy; wearing lifejacket; recreational activities; route taken.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period at Durban, South Africa, 6/1942: reception from South African civilians; reaction to signs of Apartheid system. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Dunera from Durban, South Africa to Trincomalee, Ceylon, via Bombay, India, 6/1942-7/1942: initial impressions of Bombay; issue of tropical kit. Recollections of period as gunner with 63rd (Northumbrian) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, 1st Royal Marine Anti-Aircraft Bde and 24th Anti-Aircraft Bde, Ceylon Command in Ceylon, 7/1942-8/1944: establishing gun site at Colombo; recreational activities; relations with Ceylonese civilians; daily routine; gun drill and role on improved predictors; hutted accommodation; anti-malaria precautions; employment of Ceylonese servants; venereal disease and cholera problems; rations; story of NCO shooting wild boar; use of Ordnance QF 4.5 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun; radar equipment; use of anti-aircraft box barrages guided by radar; reaction to disbandment of unit and transfer to infantry, 8/1944. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Royal Warwickshire Regt at Delhi, India, 9/1944-11/1944: train journey to Dehli; letter and parcel contact with GB.
REEL 6 Continues: infantry training; barrack accommodation; weapons training including rifle grenades; relations with instructors. Recollections of period as private with Mortar Platoon, B Coy, 1st Bn Royal Warwickshire Regt, 4th Indian Infantry Bde, 26th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 11/1944-8/1945: jungle training and living conditions; move to Ramree Island, Burma; voyage on landing craft during Operation Dracula, the landings at Rangoon, Burma, 4/1945; opinion of Ordnance 3 Inch Mortars; use of mules; Japanese forces' evacuation of Rangoon, Burma; situation on occupying Rangoon, Burma, 5/1945; question of looting; relations with officers; role of Royal Artillery draft replacing long-service regulars; train journey inland; Imperial Japanese Army prisoner of war taken by battalion; return to India; reaction to VJ Day, 15/8/1945. Aspects of detachment to assist former British prisoners of war on voyage aboard HMT Dilwara from Singapore, Malaya to GB, 10/1945-11/1945: role in butchers.
REEL 7 Continues: treatment of former prisoners of war during voyage; improvements to conditions for former prisoners of war; recreational activities; reception in GB. Aspects of period as private with British Army in GB, 11/1945-4/1946: reception from family on leave; demobilisation. 4/1946. Post-war life and employment: return to work as putter in colliery; retraining as bricklayer; story of meeting Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1945; lack of contact with American service personnel during Second World War.
