Description
Object description
British private served with 14th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1942; private served with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry in North Africa, 1942; served with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in North Africa, 1942-1943; POW in Italy and Germany, 1943-1945; private served in GB, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Monkwearmouth, GB, 1915-1942: family; childhood memories; family homes; community; religion; time in Sea Scouts; discipline; education; work as errand boy; details of pay; leisure activities; further civilian work before war; air raids; reactions to war; call- up for army; medical; reactions to joining army; work on farm; reactions of family to his call-up; civilian attitude towards troops; posted to 14th Bn at Shorncliffe. Aspects of period as private with 14th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1/1942-6/1942: arrival at Shorncliffe; morning runs; issue of uniform; inoculations; accommodation; cleaning of billets; duties; sleeping arrangements; reveille; supply of meals; morning procedures; breakfast.
REEL 2 Continues: drill; Light Infantry pace; firing of the Boyes Anti-Tank Rifle and Lee Enfield; throwing of grenades; training with Bren gun; bayonet drill; breaks and lunch; opinion of rations; anti-tank and booby trap training; route marches and care of feet; items carried on route marches; opinion of NCOs and memories of Sergeant Diston; memories of Sergeant Rasmussen; bullying among troops; gambling; leisure activities; details of pay; memories of other troops; comradeship; relationships between troops and ATS and WRNS girls; story of missing draft leave; memories of Captain Port; gas training; exercises on Salisbury Plain; training of Home Guard; duties in Folkestone harbour; air raid on a church; length of stay at Folkestone; missing of embarkation leave. Aspects of journey from GB to Egypt aboard the Orangier, 6/1942-7/1942: condition of ship; convoy; sleeping arrangements; conditions onboard; bingo.
REEL 3 Continues: officers from the Horse Guards; activities on ship; rations; morning duties; change to tropical dress; stop-off in Freetown; story of man caught smoking; arrival in Cape Town; guard duty; treatment of black people; time ashore; journey up Red Sea; coping with heat; stop-off at Aden; arrival at Port Tewfik. Aspects of period as private in Egypt, 7/1942- 9/1942: lectures about Egypt; impressions of Egypt and Suez Canal; camp near Alexandria; problems of theft in Alexandria; health of draft; rations; duties; troops in camp; posting to 8th Bn at Alamein. Aspects of operations as private with 8th Bn Durham Light Infantry in Egypt, 9/1942-11/1942: unit morale; size of draft; scenes in desert; shelling; description of Operation Supercharge; conditions in slit trenches; water rations; story of air raid; cooks; method for heating water; latrines; problems with dysentery; proximity of Italians; sniping; trench defences; story of a patrol's return.
REEL 4 Continues: description of patrols; standing patrol; make-up of a patrol; story of when a lieutenant got a patrol lost; suede boots worn on patrol; dropping of stones; movement of patrol and foot signals; story of Italian shot on a patrol; stories of time in Alamein Line; advance after Alamein; digging in under shell fire; artillery firing short; deaths of officers; troops who lost nerve; memories of officer who acted as spy; barrage before Alamein; chasing Italians across desert; Black Watch in Tripoli; street fighting training in Benghazi; transfer to 9th Bn; discovery of Wakenshaw's body. Aspects of operations as private with 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry in Egypt, 11/1942-3/1943: positions at Mareth; attack at Mareth. Aspects of period as POW in Italy, 1943: taken prisoner; journey through Algeria; delousing; voyage to Naples; camp near Vesuvius; opinion of guards; roll calls; news from radio; distribution of Red Cross parcels; bartering; dog in camp; treatment of prisoner caught stealing; problems with fleas; journey to Austria. Aspects of period as POW in Germany, 1943-1945: work in jam factory at Bergau.
REEL 5 Continues: details of working parties sent on in Austria; working hours; accommodation; story of prisoner emptying latrines; treatment from Germans; work in factory; rations; treatment of Russian prisoner; approach of Russians; march of POWs; trench dug to sleep in; rations on march; disappearance of guards; relieving yourself on march; socks; bread; condition of feet and boots; uniform; disappearance of parcels from home; arrival of Americans and cattle killed for food; importance of humour; journey to GB. Aspects of period as private in GB, 1945-1946: delousing; reception on arrival home; leave; time in Otley and Salisbury; thoughts of staying in army; demobilisation at Aldershot; problems with pay; return to civilian work; journeys from Salisbury to Sunderland; death of father.
