Interview with Joseph Tomlinson

British sapper served with 1st Parachute Sqdn, Royal Engineers, 1st Airborne Div in GB and Norway, 1944-1945; served as NCO with 9th Airborne Sqdn, Royal Engineers in Palestine, 1945-1948

REEL 1 Background in Chesterfield, GB, 1925-1943: family; social circumstances; education; recreational activities and membership of Boy Scouts; employment as apprentice lather operator in light engineering factory, 1939-1943; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; question of effects of war on factory; role as messenger with Air Raid Precautions Unit; air raid shelter; blackout; rationing; absence of German Air Force raids. Aspects of enlistment with British Army in GB, 7/1943: background to volunteering for military service at Boythorpe Road Drill Hall, Chesterfield, 7/1943: question of underage status; medical; mother's reaction to enlistment. Aspects of basic training with General Service Corps at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow, 7/1943-8/1943: reception; kitting out; barrack room; kit inspections; drill; weapons training; physical training; relations with instructors, recruits and officers; rations; canteen; visits to Glasgow and relations with civilians. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as sapper with 3rd Training Regt, Royal Engineer at Irving Moor Camp, GB, 8/1943-12/1943: volunteering for airborne forces; constructing Bailey Bridges; weapons training; knots and lashing; explosives training; laying and lifting minefields; use of entrenching tools; pontoon bridges; volunteering for airborne forces and posting to 1st Parachute Sqdn, Royal Engineers at Wragby, 1944. Aspects of parachute training at Airborne Forces Regimental Depot at Hardwick Hall and No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway, GB, 1944: physical training course; learning to roll on landing; first static line parachute jumps from balloons and Douglas Dakota; jumping with kitbag. REEL 3 Continues: procedures on landing in trees or sea; personal morale and question of soldiers Returned to Unit; passing out parade; postings with 1st Parachute Sqdn, Royal Engineers in GB, 1944-1945. Aspects of operations with 1st Parachute Sqdn, Royal Engineers, 1st Airborne Div at Stavangar, Norway, 5/1945: landing in United States Army Air Force aircraft; burying British casualties killed in Operation Freshman, 11/1942; making German prisoners of war clear minefields; relations with Norwegian civilians; souvenirs taken on return to GB. Recollections of operations as NCO with 9th Airborne Sqdn, Royal Engineers, 6th Airborne Div in Palestine, 1945-1948: reaction to posting and status as regular soldier; voyage aboard HMT Arundel Castle from GB to Palestine; prior disbandment of 1st Parachute Sqdn, Royal Engineers in Norway; initial impressions of Haifa; tented accommodation at Gaza; treatment of German Jewish refugees arriving from ships at Haifa; searching for weapons in Arab and Jewish villages; attitude towards Arab and Jewish civilians; looting and situation after explosion at King David Hotel, Jerusalem, 22/7/1946; shooting at cars that refused to stop whilst on road block duty. REEL 4 Continues: visiting brothels in Haifa and question of venereal disease precautions; threat of reprisals following murder of Lieutenant Desmond Kennedy and subsequent execution of Jewish insurgent; use of wire booby-traps across road; procedure on coming under fire from Jewish insurgents; period in Egypt following end of British Mandate; voyage from Egypt to GB; military service on return to GB, 1948-1949, including duties as military policeman, question of extending military service and demobilisation, 1949. Post-service career: finishing apprenticeship as lathe operative in Chesterfield; employment as inspector in engineering factory; question of acclimatisation to civilian lifestyle; effects of war service; membership of Parachute Regiment Association.