Description
Object description
British officer served with 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1936-1938; served with 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry (54th Searchlight Regt) in GB, 11/1938-8/1940; served with 54th (Durham Light Infantry) Searchlight Regt, Royal Artillery, 31st Anti-Aircraft Bde, 7th and 10th Anti-Aircraft Divs in GB, 1940-1941; served with 55th Searchlight Regt (Durham Light Infantry), Royal Artillery, 57th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 7th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 1941-1942; served with 113th (Durham) Light Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 41st Anti-Aircraft Bde, 2nd Anti-Aircraft Bde and 100th Anti-Aircraft Bde, Second Army in GB, 1/1942-6/1944; served with 113th (Durham Light Infantry) Light Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 100th Anti-Aircraft Bde, Second Army in North West Europe, 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Norton, GB, 1917-1936: family; family home in Norton; involvement of parents in local community; childhood; education at Rugby School; recreational activities; local community and its relationship with Imperial Chemical Industries; period training with Officer Training Corps; employment. Aspects of period as officer with 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1936-1938: joining of 1/5th Battalion Durham Light Infantry including buying of uniform and reason for joining; process of enlistment in Territorial Army; location of battalion's companies; drill hall.
REEL 2 Continues: activities during annual camp at Whitby, 1937; problems with accents of troops; opinion of troops; support from employers for Territorial Army service; further details of annual camp at Whitby; opinion of mortar platoon NCO; details of pay; leisure activities; description of drill hall; story of a church parade; drill night activities; memories of company commanders and fellow officers; regular soldiers in serving with battalion; composition of company; mortar training at Catterick Camp; news of and reaction to conversion to searchlight regiment. Aspects of period as officer with 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry (54th Searchlight Regt) in GB, 11/1938-8/1940: opinion of reason for change in role; details of searchlight course attended; mobilisation.
REEL 3 Continues: organisation and command of unit; description of equipment used; movement of searchlight; selection of searchlight site; site occupied on outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; story of Irish Republican Army (IRA) panic, 9/1939; rumour of shooting down of German Air Force aircraft; accommodation; relations with civilians; details of regiment and troop headquarters; problems amongst and background of recruits; conversion to Royal Artillery. Aspects of period as officer with 54th Searchlight Regt (Durham Light Infantry) Royal Artillery, 31st Anti-Aircraft Bde, 7th and 10th Anti-Aircraft Divs in GB, 1940-1941: conversion to Royal Artillery unit, 8/1940; recreational activities; change in accommodation; story of visit from a senior officer; deployment of searchlights; searchlight drill; communications; help given to Royal Air Force; Lewis Gun positioned on site; later claim of German Air Force aircraft brought down at Great Yarmouth; air activity; role of searchlights.
REEL 4 Continues: presence of Auxiliary Territorial Service personnel; composition of regiment including batteries attached to it; period following Dunkirk Evacuation, 1940; background to posting in Scotland; training of troops; role in battery; opinion of troops; return to England. Aspects of period as officer with 55th Searchlight Regt (Durham Light) Infantry, Royal Artillery, 57th Ant-Aircraft Bde, 7th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 1941-1942: details of regiment; opinion of personnel serving with regiment; role in regiment; commanding officer; accommodation; area based in; organisation of regiment; supply of rations; daily routine; sleeping arrangements; air activity; inspections from senior officers; refusal of promotion; promotion to command of 530rd Searchlight Battery in regiment; reactions to conversion of searchlight regiment to light anti-aircraft regiment, 1/1942.
REEL 5 Continues: Aspects of period as officer with 113th (Durham Light Infantry) Light Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 41st Anti-Aircraft Bde, 2nd Anti-Aircraft Div and 100th Anti-Aircraft Bde, Second Army in GB, 1/1942-6/1944: composition of regiment and later attitude to leaving; use of Bofors Guns by regiment; opinion of new role; organisation and deployment of battery; role in 371st Anti-Aircraft Battery; officers serving with regiment; involvement with and characteristics of Bofors Gun; gun training courses attended; gas course; story of German Air Force aircraft shot down at Great Yarmouth; attending training course at Bradford; composition of a Bofors Gun crew; types of anti-aircraft shells fired; details of gun sites; postings in Stanmore and on Isle of Sheppey; role of unit; help gained from radar; activities on Isle of Wight, D-Day, 6/6/1944; further details of gun sites; story of accident.
REEL 6 Continues: sight of naval and aerial activity witnessed on Isle of Wight, D-Day, 6/6/1944; United States Army officer attached to regiment. Aspects of operations as officer with 113th (Durham Light Infantry) Light Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 100th Anti-Aircraft Bde, Second Army in North West Europe, 1945: volunteering to return to regiment in GB, 1945; period spent at Zeebrugge, Belgium; crossing of River Rhine, Germany, 3/1945; temporary appointments as troop commander; reaction to coming under fire; regiment's activities on liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp including condition and care of inmates; reaction to discovery of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; role in Displaced Persons assembly centre, Germany, 1945; background of and care given to Displaced Persons; state of Displaced Persons; relations with German civilians. Reflections on military service: demobilisation in York, GB; medals received for military service; request to form anti-aircraft regiment in Norton and reason for it not occurring; best and worst moments during military service with British Army.
