Description
Object description
British private served with 9th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 220th Independent Infantry Bde, (Home) in GB, 6/1940-1/1941; served with 6th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 53rd Infantry Bde, 18th Infantry Div in GB and Malaya, 1/1941-2/1942; prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Burma-Thailand Railway and Nong Pladuk Camp, Nakom Paton Camp, Harbour Camp, Bangkok and Ubon Camp in Thailand, 2/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Southwold, GB, 1920-1940: family circumstances; education; employment as apprentice compositor at printing works, 1934-1940; reactions to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; membership of Boy Scouts activities including providing accommodation for evacuee children, beach patrols and reporting to Coast Guard, liaision duties with police during air raid alarms, gas mask training and assisting police during weapons amnesty.
REEL 2 Continues: story of George Orwell burying time capsule on Southwold Common, 1930; question of air raid precautions and German Air Force raids; story of ships running aground and salvage washed ashore on beach; beach defences; fishing activities; ruse to get off sales from public house; failed attempt to volunteer for Royal Navy. Aspects of enlistment and training at Royal Norfolk Regiment Regimental Depot, Britannia Barracks, Norwich, GB, 5/1940-6/1940: medical and call-up to Royal Norfolk Regiment, 5/1940; reception; cases of stealing by regular soldiers; introductory lecture; vaccinations; kitting out; morning routine; rations; drill; physical training and cross-country runs; home sickness.
REEL 3 Continues: relations with recruits and friendship with Private Benny Howlett; question of stealing, bullying and swearing; relations with instructors; prior ability to shoot; absence of weapons training; guard duty; selection as signaller; signal training in Morse Code, heliograph, and wireless procedure; impact of Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940. Recollections of period as private with 9th Bn, Royal Norfolk Regt, 220th Independent Infantry Bde (Home) in GB, 6/1940-1/1941: nature as holding unit; guard duties; problem with Hotchkiss Machine Gun jamming during German Air Force raid at RAF Bircham Newton; opinion of officers and NCOs; rum ration; route marches; absence of weapons training.
REEL 4 Continues: tactical exercises; operations of Fleet Air Arm Fairey Albacore aircraft over North Sea; hutted accommodation at RAF Bircham Newton; relations with Royal Air Force personnel; question of German Air Force raids; move into billets at Dersingham; story of soldiers poaching whilst on guard duties at Sandringham; move to RAF Marham; accommodation in married quarters; guard duties; stories of German Air Force bombing attack and false alarm whilst guarding bomb and torpedo stores; failed attempt to clear snow from airstrip; death of Polish rugby international in air crash; question of loss of status as signaller. Recollections of period with A Coy, 6th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 53rd Infantry Bde, 18th Infantry Div at Northwich and Knowsley Park, Prescot, GB, 1/1941-10/1941: initial impressions of battalion; story of punishment for loading live ammunition during exercise; training.
REEL 5 Continues: rifle training and winning competition; Bren Gun, bayonet and hand grenade training; story of street fighting exercise in Carlisle during exercises in Kendal area; bivouacs; exercise with Churchill Tanks on Ilkley Moor; camp washing facilities and latrines at Knowlsey Park; role guarding docks from looters and extinguishing incendiaries during German Air Force attacks on Liverpool; state of civilian morale; nature of German Air Force attacks and personal morale; letting looters escape; putting out incendiary bombs; drinking habits in public houses and dance halls during visits to St Helens.
REEL 6 Continues: embarkation leave in Southwold; posting to Signal Section, Headquarters Coy; preparations for embarkation and train journey to Gourock. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Duchess of Athol from Gourock, GB to Halifax, Canada, 10/1941-11/1941: hammocks; daily captain's inspection; question of seasickness; escort; nicknaming of ship 'Rolling Duchess'; escort provided by United States Navy; period at Halifax, Canada, 11/1941. Aspects of voyage aboard USS Mount Vernon from Halifax, Canada to Cape Town South Africa, 11/1941-12/1941: messdeck and rations; physical training; question of destination; visit to Trinidad; news of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 12/1941; route and question of issue of tropical kit.
REEL 7 Continues: Aspects of period at Cape Town, South Africa, 12/1941: reaction to treatment of black civilians; hospitality of South African civilians; visit to shanty town; fights between British forces and United States Navy personnel in bars; visit to Table Mountain. Recollections of voyage aboard USS Mount Vernon from Cape Town, South Africa to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-1/1942: separation from convoy; shore leave at Mombasa, Kenya, 12/1941; bartering with natives at Maldives; abortive attacks by Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service aircraft during storms on approach to Singapore, Malaya; disembarkation and march to Selatar Camp, 13/1/1942; attitude of Singapore civilians to possibility of Japanese attack. Recollections of operations as private with 6th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 53rd Infantry Bde, 18th Infantry Div in Malaya, 1/1942-2/1942: posting back to A Coy; advance in motorised convoy to Batu Pahat; nature of bivouac camp; story of Australian Imperial Forces troops shooting suspected Fifth Columnist; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service air attack; story of attack on hills occupied by Imperial Japanese Army including lack of experience, isolation and taking cover.
REEL 8 Continues: story of attack on hills occupied by Imperial Japanese Army troops including orders to retreat; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attacks; situation and nature of fighting; crossing bridge under Imperial Japanese Army artillery fire; retreat towards Singapore; fatigue; crossing swamps towards coast; evacuation by boat to Singapore, 2/1942. Recollections of operations as private with 6th Bn Royal Norfolk Regt, 53rd Infantry Bde, 18th Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942: reformation of unit; arrival of bulk of 18th Infantry Div; move to area near The Causeway; effects of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attacks; story of taking cover in slit trench during Imperial Japanese Army artillery fire; defensive positions; listening patrols; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army troops; question of presence of Fifth Column snipers; situation; British artillery fire; Japanese forces' attack on Australian Imperial Force defensive positions; retreat under Imperial Japanese Army mortar fire to RAF Seletar.
REEL 9 Continues: defensive positions at RAF Seletar; retreat across airfield under Imperial Japanese Army machine gun fire; question of food and water supplies; positions in Chinese cemetery; necessity of drinking oil polluted water; reaction to news of surrender, 15/2/1942; period following surrender remaining in defensive positions; mass rendezvous of British forces; disarmament; nature of footwear worn by Imperial Japanese Army troops; march to Changi; sympathetic attitude of Chinese civilians. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 1942: nature of barracks; food; absence of overcrowding; effects of wet and dry beri beri; improvements to food and issue of rice 'polishings'; concert party activities; importance of humour in maintaining morale.
REEL 10 Continues: relations amongst prisoners of war; cases of men breaking out of barracks to barter with Chinese civilians and obtain medical supplies for hospital; Japanese captors use of Sikh guards of Indian National Army; cure of dry beri beri with rice 'polishings'; role of British officers in organisation of camp; working parties in docks and conduct of Japanese guards; clothes; Japanese authorities executions of Chinese civilians; culture of Imperial Japanese Army; working party building bridge at Japanese shrine and nature of their religious beliefs; personal morale; personal equipment; lack of concept of time and ignorance of progress of war; question of Japanese captors' statements prior to sending working parties into Thailand. Aspects of train journey from Singapore, Malaya to Ban Pong, Thailand, 10/1942: conditions in goods trucks.
REEL 11 Continues: heat and lack of latrine facilities; water and food; slow progress of train; superior conditions for officers; cold conditions at night; terrain. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 10/1942-1944: conditions in Ban Pong Camp; Japanese status as non-signatories of Geneva convention; march to Kanchanaburi Camp; attempts to assist sick prisoners and attitude of Imperial Japanese Army guards; march to Tamarkan; role with advance party preparing site for Tamarkan Camp and method of constructing huts; bed bug and lice problems; camp layout; hospital hut; latrines; absence of washing facilities; cookhouse hut.
REEL 12 Continues: question of escape; bamboo perimeter fence; parade ground and commandant's earth mound; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Toosey; working parties building bridge over River Kwai; chopping down trees and transport by river; method of driving wooden piles into river bed; use of chunkel to dig earth for islands in river; simplicity of bridge design; treatment by Korean guards serving with Imperial Japanese Army and their nicknames; necessity of asking Imperial Japanese Army guards for permission to got to toilet during working parties; destruction of wooden bridge in monsoon floods; malaria attacks; dysentery and latrines.
REEL 13 Continues: method of constructing concrete pillars using wood and earth moulds; bamboo scaffolding and construction of railway bridge; opinion of film, 'Bridge Over the River Kwai' (1957) and question of it's portrayal of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Toosey; opinion of Japanese second in command of camp Sergeant-Major Teruo Saito; story of attempt by party of prisoners of war to escape including roll calls, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Toosey's acceptance of responsibility for escape and subsequent torture, recapture and execution of prisoners of war; wearing of loin cloth; minimal Red Cross parcels; fatalities; rations and malnutrition; developing tropical ulcer on heel; conditions on confinement to ulcer hut; fly and maggots problems; successful operation to save leg by medical officer Captain Arthur Moon.
REEL 14 Continues: story of collapse of ulcer hut during monsoon storm; regaining ability to walk; effects of different forms of beri beri; rumours; casualties amongst Tamils forced labours and other prisoner of war camps; improvements to diet and eradication of beri beri through eating rice 'polishings'. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Nong Pladuk Camp, Thailand, 1944: selection of prisoners for transport to work camps in Japan; story of being left behind in deserted camp with malaria attack; breaking into camp; working party in railway marshalling yard. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Nakom Paton Camp, Thailand, 1944-1945: convalescent nature of camp; presence of Javanese prisoners.
REEL 15 Continues: Allied air raid on railway marshalling yards at Nong Pladuk; improved conditions and fitness. Aspects of journey to Bangkok, Thailand, 1945: crossing rope bridge; voyage aboard Chinese junk. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Harbour Camp, Bangkok, Thailand, 1945: warehouse accommodation in Bangkok Docks; working parties; Allied bombing raid; digging for unexploded bombs; hearing news of VE Day, 8/5/1945. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Ubon Camp, Thailand, 5/1945-8/1945: journey from Bangkok to Ubon, 5/1945; working parties on opencast iron ore mine and building airstrip; concert party activities; digging graves intended by Japanese captors for prisoners of war; effects of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; story of reaction to announcement of news of Japanese surrender, 15/8/1945; story of liberation; receiving air-supply drops.
REEL 16 Continues: question of effects of change in diet; relations with Thai civilians including barefoot football and cinema show; background to arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Toosey; journey to Bangkok, 9/1945. Aspects of return to GB, 9/1945-11/1945: flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma, 9/1945; period in transit camp at Rangoon, Burma, 9/1945: strength of Allied forces; story of collapse of stage during Gracie Fields concert; reaction to presence of female entertainers; voyage from Rangoon, Burma to GB, 10/1945-11/1945. Aspects of period as private with British Army in GB, 1945-1946: reaction to return to GB; issue of civilian clothes; reception; gratuity and pay; move to ex-prisoner of war rehabilitation camp at Long Melford, 1946; visits to prospective employers; role of camp employment office; question of psychiatric assessment; habits established in prisoner of war camp; prior recollection of snake and centipede problems in Thailand; question of eating habits; background to decision to join trade union to obtain work as compositor.
REEL 17 Continues: sympathetic attitude of employers and trade unions; demobilisation, 1946. Post-war life: malaria attacks and stomach problems; overcoming incipient agoraphobia; background to award of one off disability payment after physical and psychological examination; attitude to Japanese and question of reconciliation.
