Barker, Malcolm (Oral history)

British private served with 1st Bn, Essex Regt in Germany, 1953-1954; served with 1st Bn, Northamptonshire Regt in GB and Korea, 1954-1955

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Barking, 1935-1953: family background and social circumstances; education; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; food and clothes rationing; Anderson shelter; blackout; evacuation to Tunbridge Wells, ca 10/1939-2//1940, including hut accommodation on farm, hop picking, question of education, relationship with local children, winter conditions and return to London; site of anti-aircraft battery; view of aerial combat during Battle of Britain; effects of German air raids including personal morale, land mine, atmosphere in Anderson shelter, close escape from bombs, effect of V2 explosion, breaking arm during V1 explosion and playing on bomb sites; father's service with Home Guard and Auxiliary Fire Service; VE Day street party, 8/5/1945; education; scrumping; work as machinist at plywood factory, 1949-1953; recreations including family visits to pub; Boys Brigade activities. REEL 2 Continues: training with Army Cadets, 1950-1953, including recruitment, uniform, dill, rifle, .22 range, introduction to mortars, weekend camps, firing rifle on ranges, grenade, Armistice parade and comradeship; failed attempt to join Merchant Navy as cook, ca 1952; call up procedure and medical, 6/1953. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine at Essex Regt, Depot, Worley Barracks, Brentwood, 6/1953-8/1953: origins of recruits; reception; barrack room accommodation; medical and interview; kitting out; importance of cleanliness; pay; case of attempted suicide; morning routine; showers and importance of cleanliness; food rations; hair cut; kitting out and webbing; inspection parade; drill; question of illiteracy and attending special literacy classes. REEL 3 Continues: PT; weapons training including firing rifles on ranges, cleaning rifle, bayonet, hand grenades, Bren gun, Sten gun, 2" mortar, INERGA rifle grenade and pistol; map reading; unarmed combat and boxing training; preparing for kit and room inspection. REEL 4 Continues: relationship with recruits including effect of differing origins and assistance with literacy; relationship with instructors; weekend passes and visits home; recreations including canteen, dance halls and pubs; assisting in clearing up after Canvey Island floods; training for passing out parade; aptitude tests and question of training as cook; passing out parade, 8/1953; competition between squads; question of next posting. Recollections of period with 8 Platoon, B Coy, 1st Bn, Essex Regt, Wupperthal Barracks, Germany, 9/1953-1/1954: nature of barracks; journey out with draft; reception from regimental sergeant major; relationship with officers; role as No.2 on Bren gun team and No. 1 on 2" mortar; guard duty and role as 'stick man'. REEL 5 Continues: battle course at Sennelager training grounds including digging trenches, tactical exercises, street fighting and house clearance, method of attacking pillbox, rocket launcher, minefield clearance, live firing, practice in placing explosive charges on tanks running over trench and casualty evacuation; daily routine; recreational visits to Wupperthal and relationship with German civilians; relationship with Parachute Regt; question of posting to Northamptonshire Regt; return to GB. Period at Worley Barracks, Brentwood, 1/1954.: effects of vaccinations; handing in kit. Period with B Coy, 1st Bn, Northamptonshire Regt, Bury St Edmonds, 1/1954-2/1954: mixed composition of unit; reception and assimilation into unit; issue and return of tropical kit; briefing on Korean War. Voyage aboard Asturias to Pusan, Korea, 2/1954-3/1954: first impressions; messdeck; seasickness; PT; lectures on Korean peace talks and VD. REEL 6 Continues: visits ashore; food; recreations; fire picket duty; training; first impressions on arrival at Pusan. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine in Korea, 3/1954-5/1955: cold conditions on train journey to Inchon; news of Armistice; period in Inchon Transit Camp; pay; equipment and kit; cold conditions; lorry journey to Hook sector; establishing camp; tent accommodation and diesel heater; latrines; mobile showers; monsoon ditches; anti-mosquito/malaria precautions; rat, snake and insect problems; Korean interpreters and workers; food rations and cooking arrangements; cigarette rations and use as currency; run ration; occupying defensive positions on Hook; nature of bunkers; role maintaining barbed wire and minefield defences; nature of patrols including weapons carried, briefing, checking for sings of North Korean infiltration, personal moral and debriefing. REEL 7 Continues: period on full alert occupying hill positions during stalled peace negotiations; wireless communications; manning checkpoints during patrols and searching possible infiltrators; detachment on guard duties to peace talks at Panmunjom; routine duties issue of special clothing to counter cold conditions; US PX canteens; canteen lorry; relationship with ORs and NCOs; rejection of promotion opportunity; informal training as cook including diesel cookers, making tea, cleaning, story of making curry and preparing meals; US food rations; camp fatigues; learning to drive jeep; visits to US ranges and demonstration of various weapons including flamethrower and phosphorous grenades; comparison of British and US weapons. REEL 8 Continues; sporting activities; open air cinema; ENSA concerts; period at Inchon rest camp; local leave in Kure Camp, Japan, including voyage out in fishing boat, seasickness, conditions, re-equipment, guard of honour, visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, relationship with Anzac troops and question of prices increased for US troops; arrival of new draft; story of drunken soldier accidentally wounded by inexperienced guard and subsequent punishment in Korean military prison; soldier killed in accidental shooting incident; letter and parcel contact with GB; Christmas celebrations 25/12/1954. REEL 9 Continues: discovery of corps whilst rebuilding defences on Hook; effects of monsoon and importance of monsoon ditches; effects of cold; MT course; local leave in Tokyo, Japan; duties on detachment to work as steward in officers' mess at Inchon rest camp; relationship with officers; recites poem illustrating anticipation of demobilisation and attitude to new drafts; use of human manure in paddy fields; reclaiming personal kit and question of souvenirs; move with draft to Kure, Japan; sending tea set back to GB. Voyage aboard Empire Orwell to Southampton, GB, 5/1955-6/1955: fatigues; working in galley; seasickness amongst draft of sailors; route; question of homosexual sailors; gambling for cigarettes uses as currency; question of singing on as regular or transfer to Commonwealth army; reception and custom checks at Southampton. REEL 10 Continues: lorry journey to Brentwood. Period at Worley Barracks, Brentwood, 6/1955-7/1955: meeting brother doing basic training; reception on leave; demobilisation including questions of back pay and barrack damages; suit bought in Japan. Post-war career: return to work at plywood factory and question of workers avoiding conscription; review of career working for railways; nature of training during period on 'Z' Reserve with 4th Bn, Essex Regt at Gordon Fields Drill Hall, Ilford, 1955-1958, Recollections of period with 507 Railway Sqdn, Royal Engineers, Gibraltar Barracks, Farnborough, 1977-1983: background to enlistment as territorial; attending introductory weekend camp; value of railway experience and passing trade test; composition of unit; firing on ranges; NBC training and gas chamber test. REEL 11 Continues: involvement in Exercise Crusader in Wildenruth, Germany, 1978, including flight out, nature of exercise, repairing damaged railway line, mock bombing raids, question of wearing NBC suits, reinstating railway line and attitude of regular soldiers to TA engineers; nature of annual camps at Düsseldorf and Gibraltar; taking inventory of military equipment at Barton Stacey Camp; rejection on volunteering for Falklands service, 1982; assisting in loading Sir Galahad for Falklands service, 1982, including question of presence of inflammable materials aboard ship carrying troops; background to leaving unit, 1983. Period of service with Home Service Force (HSF) Sqdn, Royal Signals, Inns of Court Drill Hall, Chancery Lane, London, 1984-1992: background to recruitment to HSF; kitting out; drill nights; training including SLR rifle, signals and first aid; role as cable layer including repairing breaks in line; story of meeting princess Ann during recruiting exercise; story of searching brigadier during security exercise guarding building in Brecon Beacons. REEL 12 Continues: story of bomb alert during guest night attended by Queen Mother; visits to key installations; question of requirement to volunteer for Gulf War and temporary mobilisation to Woolwich Barracks, 1991, including story of guard duty guarding perimeter of barracks and release from mobilisation; end of service, 1992. Membership of British Legion in Barking: role as standard bearer, welfare officer and hospital visitor; poppy collection; question of loss of premises; various role as member; effect of aging membership and change of membership rules. REEL 13 Membership of Korean War Veterans Assoc and reception on visits to South Korea.