Description
Object description
British boy soldier, private and NCO served with Royal Army Ordnance Corps and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in GB, Germany, Kenya and Egypt, 1939-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as boy soldier, private and NCO with Royal Army Ordnance Corps and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in GB, 5/1939-8/1944: education at Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover; joining of army, 5/1939, and posting to Arborfield; friends joined with; relationship with fellow recruits; outbreak of war; memories of Colonel Faulks; influx of recruits and posting to D Company; buttons on greatcoats; loss of bicycle; story of attack from Messerschmitt Me 110; scenes of air raids over London; details of training; details of pay; memories of Regiment Sergeant Major Ben Cook; Dragoon Guards at Arborfield and involvement with band; story of musical evening; memories of comrades and First Aid Nursing Yeomanry attached to Arborfield; postings with workshops in Wolverhampton and Truro including story of setting self on fire; army education in Bristol; sleeping arrangements including story of argument with NCO over bed and details of punishment received; memories of comrades and Auxiliary Territorial Service troops during posting at Charminster.
REEL 2 Continues: physical training and sports during posting at Cullompton; posting away from workshops; accusations of making indecent phone calls; relationships between troops and Auxiliary Territorial Service including posting to 22nd Advanced Base Workshops; role of reclamation sections including problems arising. Aspects of operations as NCO with Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in North West Europe, 8/1944-1945: story of first night in Normandy including search for tea; health problems; German POWs working under Savage and problems with back; arrival in Eindhoven; duties with reclamation section in area; story of illicit all-night visit to dance; problems driving to Arnhem; story of talk with officer; posting in Geldgott; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; relationship with civilians; reason for posting to Normandy; Christmas 1944; details of posting in Brussels; gaining of posting at Munster; gaining of loot from SS barracks; end of war. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Germany, 1945-1948: relationship with civilians; details of period in Bergen including contact with former internees of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; posting in salt mine at Celler; leave in London, 1945; journey to Peterculter during leave in 1948.
REEL 3 Continues: details of leave in Peterculter and Portsmouth, 1948; application for compassionate leave; details of voyage to Mombasa including stop in Aden. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Kenya and Egypt, 1948-1952: arrival and period in Mombasa; posting in Dar-Es-Salaam with 6th Battalion King's African Rifles; problems with pay; relationship with civilians including outdoor cinema; leave in Moshi; story of breakdown during journey to Moshi; background to posting with 3rd Battalion at Nanyuki; climate; story of courting and engagement; accommodation during annual camp at Archer's Post; adaptations made to latrines; story of regaining stolen battalion funds; story of leaving troops in game reserve.
REEL 4 Continues: details of Staghounds in armoured car squadron and story of the squadron's encounter with herd of elephants; marriage and honeymoon, 4/1951; return to army with King's African Rifles; story of voyage to Egypt; details of with camp occupied in Egypt; homesickness among African troops; method of reducing crime rate among troops; story of allergic reaction to drugs; fellow patients during hospitalisation; treatment received and later contact with nurse; story of problems during journey to Nairobi, 12/1953; story of leave with wife including 1953 Coronation. Aspects of period as civilian in Kenya, GB and Rhodesia from 1953: gaining of civilian work.
REEL 5 Continues: civilian work including involvement with Mau Mau Uprising; relationship with Kenyan civilians including loss of work after independence; return to GB; civilian work and financial situation; life in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe including reasons for returning to GB. Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Germany, 1945-1948: postings in Germany and promotion to lance corporal; duties; background to posting as permanent guard commander; story of charge received for being absent without leave.
REEL 6 Continues: details of court martial and punishment received; periods working in unit canteen and office; story of leave with family in Mombasa; period in defensive position with PIAT in Netherlands; memories of padres at Arborfield.
