Interview with Bert Wheeler

British private served with 4th Bn Royal Sussex Regt, 133rd Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in GB and Egypt, 12/1941-10/1942; served as medical orderly with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 132nd Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in North Africa and Iraq, 10/1942-1/1943; served with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 161st Indian Infantry Bde, 5th Indian Infantry Div India and Burma, 2/1943-8/1945

REEL 1 Background in East Grinstead, GB, 1921-1941: family; education; employment in oil industry; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; changes in oil industry on outbreak of war; work as driver delivering oil supplies in Kent and Sussex. Aspects of enlistment and training with British Army in GB, 9/1941-11/1941: call-up for military service, 9/1941; reception on arrival at Chichester; issue of kit; accommodation in barracks; drill and weapons training. REEL 2 Continues: pattern of training; opinion of Boys Anti-Tank Rifle; route marches and physical training; guard duties; leave at end of training. Aspects of period as private with 4th Bn Royal Sussex Regt, 133rd Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in in GB and Egypt, 12/1941-8/1942: posting to battalion at Reading, 12/1941; reception on arrival; accommodation; exercises; opinion of training; guarding shot down aircraft; coastal defences at Herne Bay, 2/1943; inspection by Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Caterham; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; route march from Caterham; preparations for embarkation; leaving Caterham, 26/5/1942. REEL 3 Continues: embarkation on American liberty ship at Gourock, 29/5/1942; conditions on board ship during voyage from GB to Egypt via South Africa, 5/1942-7/1942; change of destination of 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div from India to Egypt; hospitalisation for dysentery in Egypt; training as medical orderly; medical supplies carried; insignia worn by stretcher-bearers and their status. Aspects of operations as medical orderly with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 133rd Infantry Bde, 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Div in North Africa and Iraq, 10/1942-1/1943: posting to battalion, 10/1942; sight of artillery barrage at start of Battle of El Alamein, 23/10/1942; advance into Libya, 11/1942; brief transfer to 4th Indian Infantry Div; reception on arrival at battalion; state of Italian prisoners of war escorted between Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt; move to Iraq, 1/1943. REEL 4 Continues: character of desert sores; guard duties in Baghdad, Iraq; problems with theft of arms in Baghdad, Iraq. Aspects of period as medical orderly with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 161st Indian Infantry Bde, 5th Indian Infantry Div in India, 2/1943-11/1943: voyage from Iraq to India; initial impressions on arrival in Bombay; move to Ranchi for jungle training; emphasis on hygiene; method of carrying casualties on stretchers; lack of specialist training with stretchers in jungle conditions; barrack servants in Calcutta. REEL 5 Continues: move to Chittagong, 11/1943. Aspects of operations as medical orderly with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 161st Indian Infantry Bde, 5th Indian Infantry Div in Arakan, Burma, 12/1943-4/1944: dealings with casualties at The Tunnels; choices made as stretcher-bearer; evacuation of wounded to Regimental Aid Post; dressing wounds; reporting state of wounded and prioritisation; dressing flesh wounds; problems with infection; cleaning wounds; evacuation of wounded at The Tunnels; terrain in Arakan; personnel employed at Regimental Aid Post; evacuation of casualties by ambulance; nature of wounds; precautions taken against malaria; problems with dysentery; water rations available to medical orderlies; rations available; relations with civilians; weather conditions. REEL 6 Continues: moving from Arakan to Kohima, India, 4/1944. Recollections of operations as medical orderly with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 161st Indian Infantry Bde, 5th Indian Infantry Div at Kohima, India, 4/1944-5/1944: arrival in Kohima during Japanese surrounding of town; character of Tennis Court at Kohima; taking up positions at Kohima; location of aid post; dealing with casualties; moving around during initial stages of siege; actions on hearing calls for stretcher-bearers; method of dragging stretcher cases; conditions in dressing station during siege; change in terrain and cover during siege; problems of obtaining water; his wounding in arm; treatment for his wounds; duties in dressing station after wounding; air supply drops during siege; disposal of dead from dressing station. REEL 7 Continues: heavy casualties; problems of reaching casualties near Tennis Court; memories of Lance Corporal John Harman VC; evacuation from dressing station by ambulance to Dimapur and state of his wound; effect on morale of having wash and shave; medical supplies dropped by air. Aspects of operations as medical orderly with 4th Bn Royal Kent Regt, 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt, 161st Indian Infantry Bde, 5th Indian Infantry Div in India and Burma, 6/1944-5/1945: regrouping and reinforcement of battalion; advance towards Imphal, India; leave in India; opinion of drivers of Royal Indian Army Service Corps; lack of Imperial Japanese Army resistance on advance southwards from Imphal, India; loss of patrol; march from Imphal, India. REEL 8 Continues: symptoms of typhus; carrying casualty on back for five miles; prior recollection of being under sniper fire at Kohima, India; advancing through monsoon; use of mules; guarding Indian National Army (INA) prisoners of war in Rangoon Central Jail, Burma; reaction to end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; return to GB, 11/1945; leave on return to GB; demobilisation, 1946; attitude to having served with 4th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regt during Second World War