Description
Object description
British fusilier served with 1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers, 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in GB, India and Burma, 1940-1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bristol and Cardiff, GB, 1919-1939: family and education including move to Cardiff; employment including attempt of employers to obtain Reserved Occupation status for him. Aspects of enlistment and training with Gloucestershire Regiment in GB, 1939-1940: reaction to call-up for military service; initial attempt to join Royal Air Force; reaction of family to his call-up; service of brother in Royal Air Force; journey to Horfield Barracks; background of fellow recruits;; reception on arrival; sleeping arrangements; fitness; settling into military life; issue of uniform; cleaning of equipment; opinion and supply of rations; drill; pattern of weapons training including proficiency, firing on ranges and checking Bren Gun for stoppages; attitude towards prospect of commissioning; role and opinion of drill; duration of basic training; field craft training; recruits struggling with training.
REEL 2 Continues: receiving war news; recreational activities and friends made in unit; NCOs and officers; evening activities; visit from King George VI; postings around Bristol including accommodation in Eastville Park, climate; period in County Cricket Ground. Aspects of period on draft to Gloucestershire Regiment in France and GB, 1940: posting to France; journey to Cherbourg; contact with French civilians and defence duties at airfield; return to Leeds, GB; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; medical; reception from civilians; story of unhygienic soldier; importance of hygiene. Aspects of period as fusilier with 1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers, 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in GB, 6/1940-4/1942: reaction to posting to Royal Welch Fusiliers; coastal defence duties at Bridlington including details of defences and living conditions; posting to and role of motorcycle platoon; training undertaken; story of hurricane lamp found during patrol.
REEL 3 Continues: use of motorcycles in platoon; communications; postings to Bridlington and Cheltenham; spread of battalion; background to posting with Intelligence Section, Headquarters Company; intelligence training undertaken; role with section; background and memories of officers; evening activities; accommodation; degree of knowledge of overseas posting; journey to Glasgow. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Empress of Canada from Glasgow, GB, to Bombay, India, 4/1942-7/1942: accommodation on board; route taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone; activities in Cape Town and Wynberg, South Africa; stopover at Durban, South Africa; semaphore training; illiteracy among troops; observation duties.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as private with 1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers, 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Bde in India 1942-1944: posting to Ahmednager; accommodation; health problems among troops; knowledge of wider situation; duties with local police; visits to Bombay; relations with British and Parsi civilians; involvement in parades including at Lord Louis Mountbatten's headquarters in Bombay; prior recollection of visit from Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Cheltenham, GB; voyage from Bombay to Calcutta; coping with climate; rations. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers, 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in Arakan, Burma, 1/1944-3/1944: journey to Arakan; battalion role in Arakan; St David's Day celebrations, 1/3/1944; description of battalion headquarters; map made of Akyab Island and use for planning proposed amphibious assault; invasion training; reason for cancellation of assault on Akyab Island, 1/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: situation and terrain at Donbaik, 3/1944; plans for and attempts to destroy Imperial Japanese Army positions; reasons for failure; nature of infantry attack on Imperial Japanese Army positions including own role; air support; planning of attack at Donbaik, 3/1944; recovery of casualties; health problems. Recollections of operations as private with 1st Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers, 8th Infantry Bde, 2nd Infantry Div in India and Burma, 4/1944-1/1945: train journey to Dimapur, India, 4/1944; contacts made with Japanese forces between Dimapur and Kohima, India; terrain; sleeping arrangements; movement of advance; role with battalion; situation in Kohima, India, 4/1944; involvement in Battle of Kohima, 4/1944-6/1944; communications and water rations.
REEL 6 Continues: visiting mobile bath unit; coping with psychological stress and situation; water supplies and purification; crossing of River Chindwin, 12/1944; advance southwards into Burma, 1/1945. Reflections on military service in Burma and India, 1942-1945: hospitalisation after bomb detonated in close proximity to him and medical downgrading, 1/1945; attachment to Royal Engineers unit; further medical downgrading; work with former prisoners of war at convalescent depot in Arakkonam, India, 1945; attitude towards Japanese; example of Japanese attitude to war; Japanese forces' tactics; details of Japanese booby-traps; later return to Burma; instances of friendly fire from Royal Air Force and Royal Artillery during Burma Campaign; story of fight over rations; morale; equipment carried; problems with weapons at Donbaik, Arakan, Burma, 3/1944; reason for keeping map case and binoculars hidden.
REEL 7 Continues: problems with continual headaches; details of pension received; further details of work at convalescent depot in Arakkonam, India, 1945; flight in Douglas Dakota from India to GB, 12./1944 including description of interior of aircraft; duties on return to GB; reaction to end of Second World War, 15/8/1945. Aspects of post-war life and employment: demobilisation in York, 2/1946; family; settling into civilian life; civilian employment including story of fight over involvement with Army Cadet Force; membership of Army Cadet Force. Reflections on military service in Second World War: attitude to promotion; souvenirs brought home from overseas.
REEL 8 Continues: church attendance; memories of chaplain; opinion of medical staff; attitude to promotion; physical and psychological effects of war experience; fitness; lessons learned from military service; opinion of conscientious objectors; opinion of troops from other nations; question of reason for fighting; details of military pay; work of wife; contact with old comrades; process and opinion of medal awards; entertainments including visits by concert party.
