Description
Object description
British civilian evacuee in GB, 1939-1944; seaman trained as electrician's mate at HMS Defiance in Devonport, GB, 1949-1950; served aboard HMS Zodiac in GB coastal waters, 1950-1951
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1931-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as evacuee from London to Welwyn Garden City and Hemel Hempstead, GB, 1939-1943: first billets; degree of preparations for evacuation; visits from mother and to family home during bombing; visit to shot down German aircraft; sight of Heinkel III on fire; move to Hemel Hempstead, 1942; school holidays on farm in Wiltshire; contact with Italian and German POWs; return to London, 1943; sight of V1 rocket and landmine bombings.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude to bombing and V weapon attacks; degree to which he was effected by wartime shortages; rationing; opinion of Home Guard; degree of awareness of wartime events; VE celebrations; sense of safety experienced by children; relation's road accident; preparedness to do National Service.
REEL 3 Continues: shortages in war and in immediate post-war period; leaving school and employment; question of psychological effects of evacuation. Aspects of enlistment and training as electrician's mate with Royal Navy in GB, 1949-1951: attending medical selection board; call up for initial training at HMS Royal Arthur, 9/1949; move to Electricians School at HMS Defiance at Devonport. Aspects of period as electrician aboard HMS Zodiac in GB coastal waters, 1950-1951 drafting to destroyer at Portland; attitude of regulars to National Servicemen.
REEL 4 Continues: pay; description of canteen messing; drying clothes; running films for crew; rum ration; acquiring white bread in Loch Ewe; trips in helicopter and submarine in Gibraltar; period on reserve after National Service; attitude towards demobilisation and servicemen; presence of Z reservists on board and size of navy; effects of poor weather; change in superstructure of HMS Belfast; stability of ship.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of and relations with officers; ashore in Spain; attitude to being on reserve; uniform; ashore on Isle of Man; restrictions on taking cigarettes ashore; stealing; help available; attitude to doing National Service; question of signing on as regular; Scottish shipmate who could not be drafted to Northern Ireland; relations with US Navy personnel; loss of friend during Malayan Emergency.
REEL 6 Continues: value of National Service; service numbers; question of how much National Service fostered social responsibility.