Ryland, Kenneth Albert (Oral history)

British gunner served with 2nd Maritime Regt, Royal Artillery aboard SS Hilary in Atlantic, 1942-1943; served aboard MV Diloma in Atlantic, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Pacific, 1943-1945; private served with Royal Military Police in Germany, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Background in Painswick, GB, 1923-1942: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training as private with 70th Bn Gloucestershire Regt in GB, 1942: rejection of application to join Royal Navy; reception on arrival at Resevoir Camp; pattern of training; anti-aircraft duties at Royal Naval Air Station, Yeovil; training; move to Ilfracombe for further training; disbandment of unit. Aspects of training as gunner with 2nd Maritime Regt in GB, 1942: move to Fife; first leave and issue of kit; gunnery training at Portobello Gunnery School. REEL 2 Continues: move to Liverpool. Aspect of operations as gunner aboard SS Hilary in Atlantic, 1942-1943: joining ship; first convoy to New York; ashore in New York, 31/12/1942; convoy to West Africa; being shadowed by U-boat; items brought back from West Africa. Recollections of operations as gunner aboard MV Diloma in Atlantic, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Pacific, 1943-1945: joining ship in Glasgow as anti-aircraft gunner; accommodation; character of flying bridge on board; on US seaboard; escort for convoy to Mediterranean; Italian Air Force attack; transporting US personnel to Port Said; transporting fuel from Persian Gulf. REEL 3 Continues: reaction to sight of dead bodies in streets in Calcutta, India; attack on convoy off Indian coast; attitude to service on board tanker; voyage to Australia; stay on sheep station in Australia; meeting nurse in Newcastle; voyage to New Guinea; playing cricket against Australians; voyage to Phillippines; use of smoke screen during air raids; shooting down Japanese aircraft; threat of Japanese snipers ashore in Phillippines. Aspects of period as gunner with Maritime Regt in GB and Belgium, 1945: return to GB; meeting future wife. REEL 4 Continues: duties in Southport; move to Belgium, 12/1945. Recollections of period as private with Royal Military Police in Germany, 1945-1946: attitude to service in military police; attending military police training school in Germany; duties in Kiel; posting to Flensburg; searching for smuggled petrol; relations with German civilians; learning to drive; dealing with American on field phone; move to German Police Headquarters in Dusseldorf; duties in Dusseldorf. REEL 5 Continues: relations with troops and visits to canteens; dealing with case of rape; discovery of concealed weapon on Canadian soldier; return to GB for demobilisation, 11/1946. Demobilisation, 11/1946. Return to civilian life and employment, 1947. Attitude to military service.