Description
Object description
British private trained with Depot Northumberland Fusiliers in GB, 1942; private served with the Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1942- 1943; attended Commando Course in GB, 1943; private and NCO served with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB and France, 1943-1944; NCO served with Water Company in GB and Germany, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Newcastle-under-Lyme, GB, 1924-1942: memories of father; family; education; leisure activities; memories of mother; interest in sport and boy scouts; shop work.
REEL 2 Continues: work for tyre fitting company; details of pay; wheeling and dealing; outbreak of war; concerns of mother; first experience of drinking; air raids; memories of step father; leisure activities while teenager; choice of becoming a Bevin Boy or joining army; memories of mother; time in ATC; air raid precaution duties; war work; joined army at Gosforth; reception from army; medical.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of basic training with Northumberland Fusiliers depot in GB, 1942: money given to mother; issue of uniform and equipment; accommodation; latrines and washing facilities; sleeping arrangements; cleaning of hut and its constituent parts; inspections; kit inspections; loss of kit and thefts; friends; reactions to army life; bullying in hut; dealing with the bully; morning procedures; breakfast; raining undertaken; opinions of NCOs at Depot; story of hitting a sergeant; guardhouse; hearing with officer; advice given by officer; lasting effects of incident; story of near accident in bayonet training; age of NCOs.
REEL 4 Continues: issue of rifle; learning to clean weapon; rifle drill; bayonet training; physical training; route marches; VD lectures; care of feet; inoculations; morning break; dinner; afternoon duties; end of working day and tea; evening activities; washing and ironing of clothes; gambling; lights out; lectures; visit to Newcastle; bren gun training; details of pay; opinions of basic training; respect for officers; jankers; exams at end of training; posting to Royal Army Service Corps; refusal to donate to sergeant's gift; knowledge of Service Corps;. Aspects of period as private with Royal Army Service Corps in GB, 1942-1943: move to depot at Sheffield; vehicle training; reasons for not enjoying it.
REEL 5 Continues: lectures and fatigues; taught role of Royal Army Service Corps; driving tuition; maintenance of vehicles; opinion of officers and NCOs; opinion of Royal Army Service Corps; accommodation; relationship with civilians; church parades; volunteered and accepted for Commandos; leave. Aspects of period on Commandos course in GB, 1943: arrival at training centre; backgrounds of other troops; medical; accommodation; rations; opinion of American Marines; training; memories of one NCO; fitness of troops; medical facilities; cap badges and uniforms; accidents during mortar training; hardness of troops.
REEL 6 Continues: make-up of platoon; reveille; troops remembered; speed marching; weapons used and unarmed combat; river crossing; opinion for reasons for being driven to exhaustion; comradeship; assault courses; opinion of American and Canadian troops; background of British troops; night exercises; evening activities; squeamishness at sight of blood; swimming; hospitalisation for back injury; offer of job at depot; placement in Durham Light Infantry; short stop at Brancepeth Castle; joined 9th Bn at Saffron Walden. Aspects of period as private with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1943-1944: punished for missing transport; settling down in regiment; posting in C Coy; memories of Platoon Officer Jack Williams; memories of Sergeant Naylor; attitude towards army; memories of Sergeant Blenkinsopp; unit morale.
REEL 7 Continues: further memories of Sergeant Naylor; Bn spirit; accommodation; rations; summary of training and parachute course attended; marching at Light Infantry pace; relationship with civilians; demolition and mine lifting course; posting to S Coy; make-up of S Coy; posted to Eastbourne; accommodation; large manoeuvre; posting to Nightingale Wood; opinion that too young to realise what was ahead; D-Day preparations; contact with Americans; visits from high ranking officers; activities in wood; criminals brought in for D-Day; Bn morale; own morale; information given about what was ahead.
REEL 8 Continues: commanding officer; memories of officers; reactions of himself and troops to going abroad; journ-ey to Southampton; time in harbour on landing craft; boarding of craft; journey across channel. Aspects of operations as private and NCO with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in North West Europe, 1944: scenes on beach during approach; disembarkation from craft; movement up beach; bicycles issued; time landed; shelling on road; objective for day one; digging in near Sommervieu; rations; action on first night; reactions to situation; German troops faced.
REEL 9 Continues: reactions following morning to Sommervieu action; movement through countryside; sniper activity; examination of mines; German delaying tactics; state of POWs taken; role in unit; terrain; artillery support; contact with civilians; fatigue among troops; casualties; promotion to Sergeant; encouragement from officers before Lingevres; proximity of Germans; air and artillery support; movement across cornfield; firing from Germans; casualties; wounding of Jack Williams; evacuation of Williams; scenes in cornfield; decision to move out of cornfield; death of Colonel Woods; movement through hedgerow; casualties discovered; proximity to village.
REEL 10 Continues: taken prisoner; escorted to small copse; reaction to situation; treatment from and opinion of Germans; questioning from German officer; food given; morale of Germans; night in copse; Allied artillery barrage in morning; air activity; told they could not be moved and offer of surrender; preparations for surrender; movement back to British lines; surrender of Germans; opinion of why the Germans surrendered; rejoined Bn in rest area; reinforcements; story of releasing schu-mine from under an officer's foot.
REEL 11 Continues: state of troops following Lingevres; own reactions to events; opinion of training; checking houses in Tilly sur Seilles; types of mines found; freeing people from mines; indications of traps; new officers in unit; problems faced in the Bocage; story of Canadian jeep coming through their positions; fighting in the Bocage; snipers faced; German use of mortars; effect on nerves; treatment for horsefly bite; health in Normandy; supply of rations; importance of mail; dealing with Germans passing through positions; digging in at night; night patrols; memories of Hottot; terrain; mine clearance; death of Lew Turner; destruction of telemines; refusal of Corporal Woods to retrieve Turner's paybook.
REEL 12 Continues: activities in Bocage; slaying of mines; strafing from American planes; markers for planes; routine when opposition was met; artillery support; weather; German troops surrendering; German weapons faced; weapons carried by Bn; story of wounding from mine; injuries sustained; attempt to run away; treatment; arrival in GB; hospitalisation in Eastbourne and Dryburn; injuries to back and legs; period with holding coy. Aspects of period as NCO with Water Coy in GB and Germany, 1944-1946: water course; work on water supplies in Berlin; conditions in Berlin; black market; posting to Lubbeck; unit posted with; security and administration duties; relationship with civilians.
REEL 13 Continues: length of stay in Lubbeck; journey to GB; process of demobilisation in York; medical and pension; reflections on army life.