Cooper, Scott (Oral history)

British NCO served with 87th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery in GB, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Libya, 1939-1943; served as officer with 53rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, RA in Egypt, Palestine and Dodecanese Islands, 1943; served as staff officer with General Headquarters, Cairo, Egypt, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Jarrow, 1912-1939: family background and social circumstances; story of seeing Zeppelin raid; education; recreations based on Presbyterian Church; Boys Brigade activities; training as teacher at Loughborough College; effects of General Strike, 1926; training and qualification as teacher at Loughborough College. REEL 2 Continues: work as teacher in Sunderland; stories of holiday in France, 7/1939; approach of war; assembling gasmasks. Recollections of service as gunner with P Bty, 87th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 5/1939-8/1939: background to recruitment; 3" AA gun drill; minimal uniform; role of 3" AA crew; role on promotion of bombardier; call up, 8/1939. Recollections of conditions of service lifestyle and daily routine at Dunkirk Farm, Birtley, 8/1939-9/1939: inexperience of NCOs; machine gun and sentry duties. REEL 3 Continues: conditions of service; news of imminent outbreak of war and lack of rifle during guard duty on headquarters in Birtley, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period at Dunston, South Shields, Middlesbrough area, Bingley, Shrewsbury and Wakefield, ca 9/1939-1/1942: move to collect draft of conscripts from South Shields; lack of experience on taking over as quartermaster sergeant; role ordering food rations; arrival of uniforms and kitting out troops; recall of ex-miners to collieries, 10/1939; training on Predictor; firing 3.7" anti-aircraft guns on range in Scotland, 11/1939; move to Northfield Gardens Drill Hall, South Shields, 12/1939; role with rear party on move to 4.5" AA gun positions around Middlesbrough, 1/1940; failing interview for possible commission due to lack of gun experience and consequent posting as No 1 on 4.5" gun. REEL 4 Continues: gun positions at Grangetown; introduction of radar; improvements to Predictor; story of shooting down German aircraft, 2/1941; various courses; movements; role of gun crew and opinion of 4.5" AA gun; conditions of service; moves to Bingley, Shrewsbury and Wakefield. Voyage out to Basra, Iraq, Lebanon, ca 1/1942-2/1942: conditions; route; South African civilian hospitality during visit ashore at Capetown, South Africa. Recollections of periods in Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Libya, 1942-1943: first impressions of Basra; diarrhoea and mirages during lorry journey across desert to Habbaniyah airfield; gun site on plateau above airfield. REEL 5 Continues: daily routine and variations in temperature; fly problem; health precautions; food rations; recreational visits to Baghdad; pay and bar prices; RAF facilities on airfield; move to Kirkuk; gun site in mountains; tent accommodation and conditions of service; conditions during drive through Transjordan and Palestine to Tripoli, Lebanon; story of constructing gun site; prickly pears; opinion of various officers; story of accidental fatal shooting by sentries; recreational visits to Beirut including brothels; question of VD problem. REEL 6 Continues: move into Western Desert; water supply; food rations; signs of prior fighting; arrival at Tobruk; role in charge of MT section; nature of MT vehicles; conditions of service and routine duties; khaki drill uniform; state of health; fly and scorpion problems; water supplies; latrines; sun compass; use of sun compass; cooking arrangements; changes in temperature; effects of rain; nature of desert. Period training as officer at Royal Artillery Base Depot, Almaza at Officer Cadet Training Unit, Acre, 1943: lack of theoretical training of instructors and NCOs. REEL 7 Continues: PT; drill; assault course; parade inspections; tactical exercises; recreational visits to Haifa and relationship with Jewish civilians; hut and kit inspections; question of cadets returned to unit; final assessment tests; giving lecture; relationship with NCO instructors; origins of cadets; passing out parade. Period as officer with 53rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt in Suez Canal Zone, Egypt and Palestine, 1943: learning to ride motorcycle and role during drive in convoy to Palestine; background to posting to detachment with 4 guns to Dodecanese Islands; move to Haifa. REEL 8 Continues: voyage to Castle Rosa. Recollections of period with gun detachment on Castle Rosa, Dodecanese Islands, 1942: ineffective Stuka raid on arrival; food rations; situation and units present on island; setting up 3.7" gun site; nature of Stuka and JU 88 air raids; opinion of Basuto gunners; pay arrangements; cemetery next to gun site; situation on German attack on Dodecanese Islands; role as duty officer; evacuation of island and rejoining unit; problem with sore wrist and hospitalisation; acting as convoy officer. Recollections of period as staff officer at General Headquarters, Cairo, Egypt, 1944-1945: duties in historical records section. REEL 9 Continues: composition of section; story illustrating duties; assessment of value of Special Operations Executive; story of prior issue of combined operations insignia, 1943; conditions of service, lifestyle and relationship with Egyptian civilians; return to GB, 10/1945. Demobilisation, 2/1946. Post-war career: return to work as teacher; recruitment and service with 463 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, RA in Sunderland, 1947, including reactions to women personnel in mixed unit, annual camps, promotion to major commanding P Bty; success in competitions and disbandment of unit; service as training major with Mobile Defence Force; rescue role of unit in event of nuclear war; posting as training major with Northumbrian Bty; background to leaving unit, ca 1966; question of developments in radar, 3.7" guns and shell fuses; effects of war service.