Description
Object description
British officer served with 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1936-1938; served with 54 Searchlight Regt (DLI) Royal Engineers in GB, 1938-1940; served with 54 Searchlight Regt (DLI) Royal Artillery in GB, 1940-1941; served with 55 Searchlight Regt Royal Artillery in GB, 1941; served with 113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt Royal Artillery in GB, 1941-1944; served with 113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt Royal Artillery in North West Europe, 1945; served in North West Europe, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Norton, GB, 1917-1936: family; details of Norton; family home including employees; involvement of parents in community; memories of childhood; siblings; education at Rugby School; leisure activities as teenager; community and its relationship with ICI; period in OTC; civilian work; joining of 1/5th Battalion Durham Light Infantry including buying of uniform and reason for joining; process of joining. Aspects of period as officer with 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1936-1938: spread of battalion; drill hall.
REEL 2 Continues: activities during 1937 Annual Camp at Whitby; problems with accents of troops; opinion of troops; support from employers for Territorial Army; more on activities during camp; 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 Majors Reay and Hodgson; memories of fellow officers; regular soldiers in unit; make-up of company; mortar training at Catterick; news of conversion to Searchlight Regiment; reaction to news. Aspects of period as officer with 54th Searchlight Regt (DLI) Royal Engineers in GB, 1940-1941: 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; outbreak of war including details of site occupied at time and story of IRA panic; story of German plane rumoured to have been shot down; accommodation; relationship with civilians; details of regiment and troop headquarters; problems among and background of recruits; conversion to Royal Artillery. Aspects of period as officer with 54th Searchlight Regt (DLI) Royal Artillery in GB, 1940-1941: leisure activities; change in accommodation; story of visit from a general; positions of searchlights; searchlight drill; communications; help given to Royal Air Force; Lewis Gun on site; later claim of plane brought down at Great Yarmouth; air activity; role of searchlights.
REEL 4 Continues: Auxiliary Territorial Service presence; make-up of regiment including batteries attached to; period following Dunkirk evacuation; background to posting in Scotland; length of time spent in Scotland; training of troops; role in battery; opinion of troops; posting to England. Aspects of period as officer with 55 Searchlight Regt Royal Artillery in GB, 1941: details of unit; opinion of troops; role in unit; commanding officer; accommodation; area based in; organisation of unit; supply of rations; daily routine; sleeping arrangements; air activity; inspections from senior officers; refusal of promotion; promotion to commander of 530 Searchlight Battery; reactions to change to Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment.
REEL 5 Continues: reasons behind change to light anti-aircraft. Aspects of period as officer with 113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt Royal Artillery in GB, 1941-1944: make-up of unit and later regret at leaving regiment; details of Bofor guns in unit; opinion of new role; organisation and spread of battery; role in 371 Battery; details of officers in unit; involvement with and details of guns; gun training courses attended; gas course; story of German plane shot down at Great Yarmouth; details of gun training course at Bradford; make-up of a Bofors gun crew; shells fired; details of gun sites; postings in Stanmore and on Isle of Sheppey; role of unit; help gained from radar; activity on D-Day; further details of gun sites; story of accident.
REEL 6 Continues: scenes on D-Day from Isle of Wight; American officer attached to unit; volunteering for British Liberation Army; period at Zeebrugge; return to old unit. Aspects of operations as officer with 113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regt in North West Europe, 1945: crossing of Rhine; temporary appointments as Troop Commander; coming under fire. Aspects of period as officer in Germany, 1945-1946: visit to 113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; details of unit's activities in camp including condition and care of inmates and own reaction to camp; role in displaced persons assembly centre; background of and care given to displaced persons; state of displaced persons; relationship with German civilians; demobilisation in York; medals received; request to form anti-aircraft regiment in Norton and reason for not doing so; best and worst moments in army.