Description
Object description
British private served with 1/5th Bn Queen's Regt, 131 Bde in GB, France and Belguim and North Africa, 1939-1942; served with 44th Regt, Reconnaissance Corps, 56th (London) Division in Italy, 1943 and 2 Commando in Italy and Yugoslavia, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Guildford, 1918-1939; family; education; sporting activities; period of service in Territorial Army, 1938-1939 including training as a sniper and attitude to military life; memory of outbreak of war. Recollections of operations as private with 1/5th Bn Queen's Royal Regt, 131 Bde, 44th Regt, Reconnaissance Corps, 56th (London) Division and 2 Commando in GB, Egypt, Italy and Yugoslavia, 1939-1945: evacuation from Dunkirk, 5/1940; wounded in leg; description of dead horses on beach; hospital boat bombed on return journey to GB; description of personal weapons; loss of sniper's rifle and finding Belgian rifle; nature of wound and problem of shrapnel fragments still in leg; posted to Scotland for further training, 6/1940; opinion of rations; memory of minefields in Egypt. REEL 2 Continues: story of commando operations in Yugoslavia; problem of cold; communication with home; family told had been killed in action; memory of coming home after Dunkirk; military service of other members of family; attitude to dead bodies and burying corpses; awarded Mention In Dispatches; description of role of sniper; use of motorcycle; attitude to shell shocked soldiers; operations in Yugoslavia; relations with civilian population and bartering goods; role as batman; memory of clearing village and taking prisoners in Italian islands; effects of war; memory of meeting brother while in Egypt; story of killing German sniper; state of health; operations in Italy; memory of seeing damage at Monte Cassino; driving jeep; commando operations in Italy; memory of burying burned bodies. REEL 3 Continues: recreational activities including dancing; further memories of mine detecting in Egypt; types of mines and method of defusing; memory of friend being killed by mine; memory of recovering from wound in hospital and opinion of medical treatment; memory of guard duty in Alexandria and seeing Winston Churchill; story of insubordination and punishments; opinion of officers; opinion of Italian food; washing clothes in petrol in desert; memory of losing friends and clubbing Italian soldier to death; effect of war on health and problems with sleeping; attitude to religion; nightmares; problem of discussing wartime experiences. REEL 4 Continues: memory of boat being bombed at Dunkirk; opinion of accuracy of film about Dunkirk; taking up sniping positions; amusing story of blanco; memories of fellow servicemen; description of Bren gun carrier and crew; memory of wounded friends and some experiences in Reconnaissance Regt; story of friend shot down in Scotland; attitude to weapons; story of killing rat in pub; problem of sleeping in action; experience of driving different types of vehicles; attitude to snakes.