Description
Object description
British boy soldier with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt and Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks in Bristol, GB, 1939-1942; private served with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Independent Infantry Bde in GB, 1/1943-2/1944; served with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB and Normandy, France, 2/1944-8/1944; served with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Infantry Bde, 49th (West Riding) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1944; private and NCO served with 1st and 2nd Bns Gloucestershire Regt in West Indies and GB, 1947-1952
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Cheltenham, GB, 1924-1939: family; education; recreational activities; process of joining British Army. Aspects of period as boy soldier with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt at Plymouth, GB, 1939: reception on joining battalion at Plymouth; boy soldiers serving with battalion; daily routine; army education; memories of Bandmaster Sergeant Francis Gumley; pride in regiment; instrument played and band practice; restrictions on life; mother's reaction to his enlistment; opinion of Gloucestershire Regiment; pattern of training; march to summer camp; discipline and punishments; sports. Aspects of period as boy soldier with Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks in Bristol, GB, 1939-1942: reaction to move to regimental depot; reception on arrival; heating; relations with comrades; question of homosexuality; venereal diseases lectures and cleanliness; church parades; contact with British and French Army troops returning from Dunkirk Evacuation; German Air Force raids on Bristol; subsequent changes to service; posting to Gloucester, 1942; leave in Cheltenham; posting to Colchester Garrison, 1942; activities with band including leisure activities and visits to Badminton House.
REEL 2 Continues: changes to band; reaction to end of boy service, 11/1942; pattern of subsequent basic training at Colchester Garrison, 11/1942-1/1943. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Independent Infantry Bde in GB, 1/1943-2/1944: activities of unit; opinion of Winchester; discipline; memories of officers; exercises including casualties; activities of battalion. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in GB, 2/1944-6/1944: training for invasion of Normandy, France; presence of veterans in battalion; moves to Isle of Wight and Middlesbrough; participation in Exercise Eagle; knowledge of battalion's role on D-Day; details of invasion training; preparations during period in sealed camp at Brockenhurst; embarkation aboard landing craft at Lymington. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Infantry Bde, 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944-8/1944: crossing English Channel including approach to coast of Normandy, landing and movement inland, D-Day, 6/6/1944; positions taken outside Bayeux; capture of town including reception from civilians; story of German Army horse and cart; advance to Tilly-sur-Seulles, 6/1944; problems with terrain; nature of attack on Tilly-sur-Seulles, 11/6/1944 including involvement dealing with casualties as stretcher-bearer; reaction to situation.
REEL 3 Continues: medical assistance given to casualties; proximity to front line; fighting patrol; withdrawal from and later capture of Tilly-sur-Seulles, 6/1944; composition of and evacuation of casualties to Regimental Aid Post; battalion's capture of village; under German multi-barrelled mortar fire; rest period in Bayeux including attending George Formby concert; deployment after rest period; discussion of troops suffering from psychological stress and causing self-inflicted wounds; opinion of Soviet and German Army troops; opinion of senior British officer including General Bernard Montgomery; advance through Falaise Gap, 8/1944; attachment of brigade to 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Div during 8/1944; nature of attack on Thury-Harcourt including evacuation of casualties. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt, 56th Infantry Bde, 49th (West Riding) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-5/1945: joining 49th (West Riding) Infantry Div, 20/8/1944 for advance to Le Havre, France; briefings for attack on and Royal Air Force bombing of Le Havre, France, 9/1944; nature of attack on Le Havre, France, 10/9/1944-12/9/1944; memories of Jack Harnett; rations; question of looting; cover taken from artillery shelling; nature of actions in Belgium, 9/1944; guard duties.
REEL 4 Continues: advance through Belgium and action in Nispen, Netherlands, 9/1944; help given to civilian Dutch doctor; nature of attacks on Roosendaal and Oud Gastel, Netherlands, 9/1944 story of getting separated from battalion; story of 20th Birthday, 20/11/1944; state of Dutch civilians; description of monument in Oud Gastel, Netherlands; advance to Nijmegen and The Island, Netherlands; story of wounding and hospitalisation; involvement in Ardennes Offensive and second wounding, Belgium, 12/1944; arrival at hospital; further details of periods of hospitalisation; reactions to wounding; capture of German prisoners of war at Arnhem, Netherlands, 4/1945; relationship between fighting troops; captured Soviet troops serving with German Army; scenes in Arnhem, Netherlands, 4/1945; problems with Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; opinion of German Army troops; lack of interest in politics; motivation for fighting; reaction to news of end of Second World War in Europe, 8/5/1944 and reactions. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt in Germany, 1945-1947: sight of Displaced Persons; state of German towns; relations with German civilians.
REEL 5 Continues: battalion role in Germany; German children in Soest; knowledge of concentration camps including typhus precautions; Jewish troops serving in battalion; reaction to Holocaust; state of Berlin; Soviet treatment of German civilians and own troops; duties; period at Colchester Garrison, GB en route to join 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt in India, 1947; journey to and period in Calcutta, India; leave in GB; return to battalion band; question of talking about experiences. Aspects of period as private and NCO with 2nd and 1st Bns Gloucestershire Regt in West Indies, 1948-1950: details of reformed band; rest camp at St Anne's Bay in Jamaica; duties; turnover of troops; army education including opinion of and relations with National Service conscripts; bandmaster; reaction to receiving warnings about Noel Coward; situation in Jamaica including relations with civilians; background to move to British Honduras, 1948; relations with civilians; desire for independence in country; situation in British Honduras; journey into Belize City; visit to Cayman Islands; journey to and opinion of Bermuda; activities on Bermuda.
REEL 6 Continues: arrival on Bermuda; details of garrison including deployment of battalion; relations with civilians; rugby and band activities; uses of pay; story of cocktail party attended; army education. Aspects of period as NCO with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, GB, 1950-1952: posting in Colchester Garrison; commitment to army service; prior recollection of hospitalisation in Jamaica with shrapnel wound from wartime service; extension to service; posting to Gloucester; details of broadcasts made by band; desire to fight in Korean War; pride in regiment; details of posting in Warminster; promotion to lance sergeant; opinion of service; reaction demobilisation and final engagement; family members serving Gloucestershire Regiment; employment with police on leaving military service. Reflections on military service: relations with officers and opinion of NCOs; memories of chaplain; religion; opinion of training including route marches; importance of cleanliness in North West Europe; rations; water rations; clothing; details of United States Army and Canadian Army; degree of knowledge of wider war; censorship of mail; reception on return home.
REEL 7 Continues: leisure activities including leave in Brussels, Belgium; knowledge of wider war; army language; story of reinforcement from Royal Air Force; opinion of conscientious objectors; reaction to participation in war; demobilisation; psychological effects of war service; further details of post-service civilian employment; relations with family; period on Army Reserve; opinion of treatment of ex-servicemen and military widows; gratuity; lessons learned from military service.
