Description
Object description
British officer served with 1st Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) on Western Front, 1915-1916; served as observer with Royal Flying Corps and RAF on Western Front, 1917-1918; POW in Germany, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Background in India and GB, 1914-1916: employment with merchant bank and service with Territorial Force; story of obtaining commission in British Army; description of journey to GB at outbreak of war, 1914; story of enlisting with Artists' Rifles; description of duties as orderly and officer's servant; commissioned into Royal West Kent Regt. Aspects of operations with 1st Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) on Western Front, 1915-1916: posted to France; memory of German 5.9 artillery gun; description of leading platoon over the top at High Wood, Somme area, 9/1916; story of being shot in foot and crawling back to lines; returned to GB and transferred to Royal Flying Corps. Aspects of operations with 98 Sqdn Royal Flying Corps on Western Front, 1917-1918: formation of four DH 9 aircraft in flight; description of bombing sorties against German targets; memory of seeing von Richthofen's Flying Circus; flying height; story of aerial combat and being shot down, 25/Apr/1918; landed in Germany battery at Ploegsteert, Belgium; damage to aircraft; reason for not revealing nationality; interrogation by German officer. Aspects of period as POW in Germany, 1918: description of daily life and living conditions in various POW camps including Karlsruhe; food; question of digging tunnels and escape attempts; discipline in camps and attitude of Germans to prisoners; physical exercise; story of return to GB after Armistice. Further recollections of operations with 1st Bn Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regt) on Western Front, 1915-1916: description of conditions in Mametz Wood and High Wood in Somme area, 9/1916; reaction to seeing first tanks; memory of crawling over corpses.
REEL 2 Continues: question of fear; role in trench raid and importance of steel helmet; story of unexploded shell; attitude to survival; religious beliefs. Further recollections of operations with Royal Flying Corps on Western Front, 1917-1918: description of training as observer and pilot in GB; question of having no parachutes; story of removing detonator from unexploded bomb underneath aircraft; attitude to superstitions; story of visit to cinema; attitude to death of friends; demobilisation and problem of adjusting to civilian life. Aspects of post-war life and employment: story of re-joining RAF in 1930s and service during Second World War.
REEL 3 Continues: Further comments on period as POW in Germany, 1918: opinion of German officers; behaviour of prisoners and relations with camp guards; living conditions in camps; story of tunnel in basement; problem of boredom; relations between RAF and other prisoners.