Description
Object description
Australian NCO served with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian Infantry Bde, 9th Infantry Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Middle East and North Africa, 1/1941-7/1942; prisoner of war in Campo PG 116, Benghazi, Libya, aboard MV Nino Bixio in Mediterranean, Campo PG 75, Bari and Campo PG 29, Veano, Italy, Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg, Austria, Stalag XX-A, Thorn and Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, Germany, 7/1942-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Northam, Australia, 1912-1939: family; childhood; memories of Armistice Day in Northam, 11/11/1918; military service of family members in Boer War and First World War; attitude towards First World War veterans; story of Hugo Throssell, VC; opinion of French Emperor Napoleon; employment in shop; effects of Depression on daily life; political beliefs.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of Adolf Hitler; attitude to racism; memories of 1936 Berlin Olympics. Aspects of period as NCO with Citizens Militia Forces in Western Australia, 1939-1940: reason for joining militia; sporting activities; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; duties in camp in Perth; holding rank of sergeant; reason for leaving militia and enlistment as private with Australian Army, 22/7/1940; reaction of family to enlistment. Aspects of training as private and NCO with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian Infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 7/1940-1/1941: promotion to corporal; training camp; physical condition; journey to Fremantle, 1/1941. Recollections of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania and HMT Nieuw Zeeland from Fremantle, Australia to Egypt via Colombo, Ceylon, 1/1941: embarkation aboard HMT Aquitania at Fremantle, Australia, 1/1941; description of ship and accommodation; promotion to staff sergeant.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of accommodation; standing orders; amusing story of beer ration and Lieutenant-Colonel John Lloyd's nickname 'One Bottle Jack'; sleeping arrangements; problem of overcrowding; daily routine aboard ship; gambling; pay; opinion of rations; memories of footballer Lieutenant Leo Lyon; attitude to British Empire; morale; comparison of fighting qualities of British and Australian soldiers; memories of Gordon Gibson.
REEL 4 Continues: description of shore leave in Colombo, Ceylon; story of drunken Aboriginal soldier; transfer to HMT Nieuw Nieuw Zeeland in Colombo, Ceylon; opinion of living conditions on board; passage along Suez Canal. Aspects of period as NCO with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Australian Infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Palestine, 2/1941-4/1941: description of camps occupied; climate; landscape; tented accommodation; problems with heavy rain; duties as quartermaster-sergeant; route marches; opinion of equipment and weapons including issue of 1917 dated Lee-Enfield Rifles; daily routine and training. Recollections of operations as NCO with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force during Siege of Tobruk, Libya, 4/1941-9/1941: description truck journey to Tobruk, 4/1941; duties as acting sergeant-major; description of Deutsches Afrika Korps attack; location of battalion on Derna Rd in Tobruk Perimeter.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of speech made by Major-General Leslie Morshead; first battalion casualties; organisation of sections; opinion of construction of Italian Army outposts; story relating to boots; problem of mines; fighting patrols; role in construction of listening post; story of sending home souvenirs.
REEL 6 Continues: communication with home; story of voyage aboard HMS Kimberley; daily routine and duties; terrain; problem of heat and finding shade; stand-to at dawn; barbed wire defences; story of Deutsches Afrika Korps motorcyclist; state of health; story of unexploded 105mm artillery shell; various memories of Captain James 'Jimmy' Allen; role in organising activities to maintain morale.
REEL 7 Continues: story of two soldiers; incident of driving into minefield; description of Tobruk town; memories of statue of Virgin Mary; story of hot box and finding water supplies; morale; awareness of progress of war.
REEL 8 Continues: incident of trucks being under artillery fire; story of friend injured by shrapnel; listening to William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw' radio broadcasts; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; opinion of Prime Minister Robert Menzies; opinion of General Erwin Rommel; evacuation from Tobruk, 9/1941. Recollections of period as NCO with as NCO with 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Middle East, 9/1941-6/1942: leave on return to Egypt; story of rat.
REEL 9 Continues: opinion of commanding officers; problem of lack of money; opinion of Salvation Army and chaplains; story of excursion to Palestine; attitude to visiting brothels; opinion of French Foreign Legion; memories of Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1941.
REEL 10 Continues: visit to Jericho, Palestine; communication with Australia; reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7/12/1941; move to Lebanon, 1/1942; duties in charge of troops and mules of Cyprus Regiment; training in mountain warfare; opinion of British Indian Army Sikh soldiers; amusing story of mules; reaction to fall of Tobruk, Libya, 6/19421942; entraining to Alexandria, Egypt; reaction to fall of Singapore, 15/2/1942; hostility of Arab civilians towards Allied military personnel.
REEL 11 Continues: Aspects of operations as NCO 2/28th Australian Infantry Bn, 24th Infantry Bde, 9th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Egypt, 6/1942-7/1942: move to El Alamein Line; opinion of officers; opinion of South African Army troops; duties organising supplies; story of camels; morale; night patrols; abortive attack on Ruin Ridge and question of mistaking intended objective.
REEL 12 Continues: taking company commander to Regimental Aid Post; description of attack on Ruin Ridge, 27/7/1942; terrain; problem of locating own company. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in North Africa, 7/1942-8/1942: surrender to Deutsches Afrika Korps troops at Ruin Ridge, 27/7/1942; transporting of prisoners of war in trucks to Benghazi and handing over to Italian Army; conditions in Campo PG 116 at Benghazi; march to Benghazi Harbour.
REEL 13 Continues: attitude to being captured. Aspects of voyage as prisoner war aboard MV Nino Bixio from Benghazi to Pylos, Greece, 8/1942: embarkation at Benghazi, 16/8/1942; description of ship; opinion of accommodation and food; problem of overcrowding; daily routine aboard ship; torpedo attack by Royal Navy submarine, HMS Turbulent, 17/8/1942; nature of damage to ship and casualties; behaviour of captain and crew.
REEL 14 Continues: escaping from ship's hold; attitude to death; treatment of casualties; identification of dead; towing of ship by Italian Navy destroyer Saetto to Pylos, Greece and transfer to Bari, Italy. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Campo PG Campo PG 75, Bari and Campo PG 29, Veano, Italy, Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg, Austria, Stalag XX-A, Thorn and Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, Germany, 7/1942-4/1945: description of Campo PG 75, Bari; rations; various memories of prisoner of war friends; transferred to Campo PG 29, Veano; transfer to Stalag XVIII-A, Wolfsberg in Austria; transferred to Stalag XX-A, Thorn, Germany; attitude towards Germans; daily routine as prisoner of war; reading; recreational activities.
REEL 15 Continues: transfer to Stalag 357, Fallingbostel, 4/1945; story of listening to war news on radio in camp; question of use of camp as aiming point for Allied bombers; daily routine and work; clothing; memories of last day in Stalag 357, Fallingbostel; physical condition; abandoning of camp by German guards. Aspects of period in Germany, 4/1945-5/1945: story of walking to Bremen; methods of obtaining and cooking food; sight of German farmer killed by Allied aircraft; story of chicken.
REEL 16 Continues: meeting British Army troops, 5/1945; accommodation in large house and hostile reaction of owner; return to Australia via Brussels, Belgium and GB. Post-war life and employment in Australia: employment for Evacuation Department; reflections on period of military service and as prisoner of war; pension.
REEL 17 Continues: further reflections on military service; opinion of Americans; story of son's service in Vietnam War.