Interview with Frederick Dent

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Description

Object description

British Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner served aboard William H.Daniels in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1/1941-9/1941; served aboard SS Holmpark in North Atlantic, 10/1941-2/1942; served aboard SS Methilhill in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 7/1942-1/1943; served aboard SS City of Adelaide in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, 4/1943-11/1943; served aboard SS Fort Nakasley in Arctic, 12/1943-2/1944; served aboard MV Australia Star in North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific, 3/1944-5/1945; served aboard MV Seirstad in Pacific, 6/1945-8/1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1920-1940: family; education; memories of German Air Force bombing. Aspects of period as private with East Yorkshire Regiment and training as gunner with Royal Maritime Artillery in GB, 1940: joining British Army, 8/1940; attitude towards basic training at East Yorkshire Regiment Regimental Depot, Victoria Barracks, Beverley; volunteering to become a Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner, 12/1940; naval gunnery training with Maritime Royal Artillery. Aspects of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS William H Daniels in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 1/1941-9/1941: drafting to ship; role of ship at South Shields. Aspects of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Holmpark in North Atlantic, 10/1941-2/1942: drafting to ship in Kingston upon Hull, 10/1941; role as Lewis Gun operator; German submarine attack on convoy. Aspects of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard HMT Samaria on voyage from GB to India, 4/1942-7/1942: sight of Liverpool, GB after German Air Force bombing, 4/1942; convoy from GB to French Madagascar; opinion of the Oerlikon 20mm Cannon; type of ammunition used; explanation of term 'Winston Special' in relations to convoys. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Methilhill in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 7/1942-1/1943: drafting to ship, 7/1942; dangers on coastal convoy work; opinion of United Defence M42 Marlin Gun; operation of anti-aircraft rockets. Aspects of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS City of Adelaide in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, 4/1943-11/1943: drafting to ship, 4/1943: drafting to ship, 7/1943; voyage to Cape Bon, Tunisia; unloading war materials at Bandor Shapur, Iraq; German submarine attacks on convoy. Recollections of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard SS Fort Nakasley in Arctic, 12/1943-2/1944: drafting to ship, 12/1943; issue of cold weather clothing; conditions at Loch Ewe, GB; German forces' shadowing and attack on convoy; stressful nature of Arctic convoys; problems with cold weather; memories of Battle of North Cape and sinking of German battleship Scharnhorst, 26/12/1943. REEL 3 Continues: ashore near Archangel, Soviet Union; impressions of Soviet civilians; reasons for ignoring pilfering of food cargoes by Soviet civilians; cargo taken to Soviet Union; move to Murmansk, Soviet Union and return to GB. Recollections of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard MV Australia Star in North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific, 3/1944-5/1945: drafting to ship, 3/1944; opinion of ship; method of crossing North and South Atlantic to Argentina; treatment by Argentinean civilians in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1944; contact with German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee survivors in Buenos Aires, Argentina; voyage from GB to Australia; concern over United States Navy troopship tailing ship; gift of meat to Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunners in Sydney, Australia; collision with Panamanian cargo vessel SS Hindoo in Caribbean Sea, 9/9/1944; effects of British Army manpower crisis, 1/1945; attending court of enquiry in New York, United States of America about sinking of SS Hindoo in Caribbean, 9/9/1944. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of operations as Maritime Royal Artillery Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunner aboard MV Seirstad in Pacific, 6/1945-8/1945: drafting to ship, 6/1945; duties in Pacific and eastern seaboard of United States of America. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from United States of America to GB, 9/1945: fire duties aboard; assembling of Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship (DEMS) gunners in Scotland, GB, 1945. Aspects of period as gunner with Royal Artillery in Germany, 1945-1946: duties; role as carpenter at Cuxhaven; attitude of Germans towards allying with GB against Soviet Union; prior recollection of man who went to sleep on watch aboard MV Australia Star.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Dent, Frederick (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2002-01-14
Dimensions: whole: Duration 105, Number Of Items 4
Catalogue number: 22116

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Interview with Frederick Dent

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