Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn, Royal Fusiliers, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Bde, 1st Commonwealth Div in Korea, 1952-1953
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Manor Park, London, GB, 1933-1951: memories of periods as child with father serving with Royal Horse Artillery in India and Egypt; family background and social circumstances; evacuation to Felixstowe, 1940-1941, including nature of billets, assisting in cleaning work, relationship with local children, education, homesickness, German air raid, letter contact with parents and return to London, 1941; V1 raids; German air raids including air raid shelters, blackout and bomb damage; playing on bomb sites; food, sweet and clothing rationing.
REEL 2 Continues: V2 raids; VE Day street party, 8/5/1945; effects of rheumatic fever caught swimming in water holding tank, 1945; work as apprentice upholsterer, 1948-1951; works outings to Southend; recreations including cinema and youth clubs; call up procedure. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine during basic training with Queens Regt, Guildford Barracks, 1/1952-2/1952: prior training with Army Cadets, ca 1944-1949; initial reception and kitting out.
REEL 3 Continues: hair cut and shaving; barrack room accommodation and cleaning; food rations; preparing fro kit inspections; drill; route march; physical training; weapons training including rifle cleaning, firing on rifle range, bayonet, Bren gun, Sten gun and hand grenades; tactical training; education test; preparing for kit inspections and story of boots falling apart on parade.
REEL 4 Continues: preparing for room inspections; reaction to army discipline; punishments including confinement to barracks and kitchen fatigues; relationship with recruits, instructors and officers; canteen; pay; visits to Guildford; guard duty; passing out parade. Recollections of period with East Kent Regt at Canterbury Barracks, 2/1952-5/1952: background to posting to Royal Fusiliers; barracks accommodation; nature of continuation training; night exercises; firing on ranges; weekend passes; story of recruit hitting officer; story of getting drunk, smashing up pub, arrest by MPs and subsequent posting to Hong Kong.
REEL 5 Voyage with draft of Royal Fusiliers aboard Empire Orwell to Hong Kong, 5/1952-6/1952: reception aboard; seasickness; messdeck and hammocks; food; PT; briefing films on VD and malaria; weapons training; recreations; route and visits ashore. Recollections of period with draft of Royal Fusiliers at Kowloon Barracks, New Territory, Hong Kong, 6/1952-9/1952: effects of monsoon and loss of kit at initial camp; salt tablet issue; question of acclimatisation to climate; question of tattoos; route marches and exercises; desecrating Chinese burial ground.
REEL 6 Continues: Continues: sporting activities and boxing match; recreational visits to Kowloon including story of falling into paddy field manure and ruses played on Hong Kong civilians; enjoyment of posting; anticipation of demobilisation; swimming; briefings on Korea. Voyage with Royal Fusilier draft to Pusan, Korea, 9/1952. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine with 1st Bn, Royal Fusiliers in Korea, 9/1952-12/1952: period in Pusan Transit Camp; experienced soldier with draft; Chinese shell fire during lorry journey top join unit; reception and first impressions; question of inadequate uniform and kit; posting as reinforcements to platoons; nature of trenches, barbed wire and dugouts.
REEL 7 Continues: morning routine; food and cigarette rations; sentry duty and story of firing at tree; personal morale; rest period out of line; recreations; question of letter and parcel contact with GB; rum ration; effects of cold conditions and special clothing issue; stand to and NCO rounds; relationship with ORs, NCOs and officers; question of latrines; nature of night reconnaissance patrols in No Man's Land including prior briefing, composition, wearing bullet proof vests, weapons carried, passing through barbed wire, avoiding contact with Korean patrols and occupying listening posts.
REEL 8 nature of night reconnaissance patrols in No Man's Land including role monitoring Korean activity, role as Bren gunner, avoiding contact with Korean patrols, stories illustrating importance of passwords on return to front line and debriefing; relationship with junior NCOs; nature of Chinese mass attack including opening fire with Bren gun, breakdown of attack and Chinese subsequent recovery of corpses; question of Chinese shell, mortar and sniper fire; localised nature of Chinese attacks; periods in rest camp including tent cinema, drinking habits and baths; local leave on Korean island; question of fatigue; special friends and comradeship; guard duty on bridge over frozen river; tea; opinion of South Korean Army personnel attached to unit.
REEL 9 Continues: account of being wounded in ankle by machine gun fire during night patrol to occupy hill in No Man's Land, ca 12/1952, including situation, nature of wounds, evacuation by helicopter under fire to US field hospital. Period in hospitals in Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, 12/1952-4/1953: operation on ankle; question of award of US Purple Heart wound award; transfer by helicopter to British field hospital; state of wounds; treatment; problems with aircraft during flight to Hong Kong; conditions and medical treatment in hospital in Japan; patient severely wounded in grenade accident; move for rehabilitation in Hong Kong; piece of shrapnel remaining in ankle; nature of rehabilitation training and night patrols on Chinese border; recovery and question of rejoining unit. Period in Hong Kong, 4/1953-9/1953: return of British POWs and question of treatment of collaborators; guard duties and role as military police lance corporals; return to British POWs to GB; story of riot by Hong Kong civilians against Hong Kong civilian police. Voyage back to GB, 9/1953-10/1953: effect of storms; fire picket duty; customs checks; reporting to Tower of London.
REEL 10 Period at Tower of London, ca 10/1953-11/1953: reception; local leave; medical board and question of disability pension; demobilisation. Post-service career: return to work as upholster; acclimatisation to civilian lifestyle; period as reservist with Essex Regt at Ilford, 1954-1955; membership of Korean War Veterans Association.
