Description
Object description
British private served with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt in GB, 10/1940-1/1941; served with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt in Burma, India and GB, 1941-1944; sapper served with Royal Engineers in GB, 1944-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Isleworth, GB, 1920-1940: father's military service with Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment); family; education; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; employment and father's employment, 1939-1940. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks, Bristol, GB, 6/1940-10/1940: call-up for military service and medical examination; journey to Bristol and reception on arrival at Horfield Barracks; opinion of rations; accommodation; complaint made about not granted leave; drill; weapons training; route marches; question of recruits struggling to cope; field craft training; question of pride in regiment; relations with parents; kit inspections; evening activities.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to period prior to being allowed out of barracks; illiterate recruits; training and exercises; posting to Badminton House. Aspects of period as private with 2nd Bn Gloucestershire Regt in GB, 10/1940-1/1941: accommodation and sleeping arrangements; memories of NCO; winter weather; memories of Queen Mary; supply of rations; collection of fuel; keeping warm; Christmas, 25/12/1940; memories of the 10th Duke of Beaufort; duties; presence of weapons in park at Badmington House; opinion of posting; leisure activities; embarkation leave, 1/1941, including knowledge of destination; activities during invasion scare, 9/1940. Aspects of period in voyage aboard HMT Johan van Oldenbarnevelt from GB to India, 2/1941-3/1941: accommodation; knowledge of destination; activities on board; shore leave in Durban, South Africa including reaction to race relations there; impressions on arrival of Bombay, India, 3/1941. Aspects of journey from Bombay, India to Mingaladon, Burma, 3/1941: train journey from Bombay to Calcutta, India; role of reinforcements; nature of voyage from Calcutta, India to Rangoon, Burma; impressions of Rangoon, Burma. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt in Burma, 3/1941-1/1942: posting in Mingaladon; discipline and daily routine; attempt to join transport; joining of mule section; care and handling of mules.
REEL 3 Continues: story of losing mule and return to infantry; climate; anti-malaria precautions; inoculations before embarkation; pattern of training; fitness; dengue fever and other health problems; Japanese Army Air Service raid, 25/12/1941. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, Line of Communication Troops, Burma Command in Burma, 2/1942-5/1942 evacuation from Mingaladon, Burma; arrival and destruction of British 7th Armoured Bde tanks; terrain on road to Mandalay; background to wounding; nature of subsequent withdrawal through Burma to India, Aspects of hospitalisation in India, 1942-1943: hospitalisation at Shillong and Hyderabad including medical treatment; recreational activities during convalescence; prior recollections of sporting activities at Gloucestershire Regiment Regimental Depot, Horfield Barracks, Bristol and period at Reservoir Camp, Robinswood Hill prior to embarkation in GB, 1940-1941; medical classification; leave in Calcutta; guard duties on return to duty; civil disturbances.
REEL 4 Continues: degree of knowledge of war against Japanese; Fifth Column activity in India. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt, Line of Communication Troops, Burma Command in Burma, 2/1942-4/1942: relations with civilians in Burma; nature of talk from Major-General Harold Alexander at Yenangyaung; Japanese forces treatment of prisoners of war during withdrawal from Burma; length of withdrawal; contact with civilians; knowledge of war in Rangoon; nature of withdrawal along Mingaladon-Mandalay road including composition of platoon and weapons carried; attack Imperial Japanese Army troops on River Irrawaddy; disorganisation of withdrawal; skirmishes fought and relationship with 2nd Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry; Imperial Japanese Army tactics including ambush; reaction to killing first Imperial Japanese Army soldier camouflage, uniform worn and weapons carried by Imperial Japanese Army troops; weapons arrival at Mandalay; arrival of reinforcements.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of Major-General Harold Alexander; arrival at Mandalay, 4/1942; health problems and medical evacuation to India, 4/1942; physical state on arrival in Mandalay, 4/1942; supply of rations during withdrawal; medical evacuation and treatment of casualties, 4/1942; question of psychological stress amongst troops; friendly fire incidents; degree of contact with officers and chaplain; mail received; state of turnout in Mandalay, 4/1942; air activity; problems with Japanese forces' training; falling ill during retreat; question of fear of being taken prisoner of war. Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt in India, 1943: return to battalion; role of battalion; question of being a 'Forgotten Army'; memories of Major James Carne; role of posting; psychological and physical effects of war service; voyage to GB, 12/1943; arrival at Greenock and posting at Reservoir Camp, Robinswood Hill, GB; leave; background to medical degrading.
REEL 6 Continues: posting to Bicester on medical degrading. Aspects of period as sapper with Royal Engineers in GB, 1944-1946: duties on military railway; discipline; relations with comrades and attitude to non-fighting troops; brother's military service; railway service including goods carried and visits to signal box; duties; end of Second World War, 1945; railway training for undertaken at Grendon Underwood; process of demobilisation and pride in regiment. Post-war life and service: civilian employment; lessons learned from military service; recreational activities; pension; question of continuing service in British Army; marriage and family.
REEL 7 Continues: Reflections on military service: learning about sex and venereal disease; background to call-up for military service; visit to regimental museum, army number and cap badge; physical effects of military service; health problems; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; attitude to Japanese including shooting of Japanese prisoners of war; opinion of treatment of veterans.