description
Object description
British gunner served with Royal Artillery Coastal Defence (TA) in Devon, GB, 1936-1939; NCO served with 157 (Devon) Heavy Bty, Devonshire and Cornwall Heavy Brigade Royal Artillery (TA) and 512 (East Riding) Coast Regt, Royal Artillery (TA) in GB, 1939-1942; served with 16 Coast Regt, Royal Artillery in Sierra Leone, West Africa, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Plymouth, GB, 1919-1936: family; education; left school in 1935; apprenticeship with builder's firm. Aspects of training with Royal Artillery Coastal Defence (TA) in Devon, GB, 1936-1939: training as Battery Commander's Assistant in observation post; number of personnel and organisation; communications; observation equipment; underground plotting room; target selection for batteries; firing of guns; duties as Battery Commander's Assistant;
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of accuracy of guns; problem of limited ammunition for practice firing; description of Hong Kong target; duties in observation post at Wembury Point Fire Command, Plymouth; story of being called up for military service, 8/1939; reported to drill hall in Plymouth; administrative duties; commandeered taxi to distribute blue calling up papers. Aspects of period with 157 (Devon) Heavy Bty, Devonshire and Cornwall Heavy Brigade Royal Artillery (TA) in Devon, GB, 9/1939-10/1941: duties as Battery Commander's Assistant, Wembury Point Fire Command, Plymouth: requisitioned accommodation in holiday camp; on duty dawn to dusk; memories of announcement of war, 3/Sep/1939.
REEL 3 Continues: reaction of parents to military service; daily routine; training recruits; digging trenches; camouflage of observation post; gunnery course at Shoeburyness, 1937; rank and promotions; duties during Dunkirk evacuation, 5-6/1940; night shifts; story of being bombed out of accommodation; description of bomb damage in Plymouth; food shortages and evacuation of civilians; instructional gunnery course at Coastal Artillery School, Llandudno, North Wales, 1941; training in radar; surveying; method of moving gun barrels; story of counter-battery exercise.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period with Royal Artillery in GB, 2/1942-3/1943: appointed Assistant Instructor in Gunnery, HQ Northern Command, York, 2/1942: attached to 512 (East Riding) Coast Regt, Bull Fort, River Humber, 3/1942; description of accommodation and living conditions; posted to Spurn Point; gun positions at Lifeboat Station; transport on single track railway between Spurn Point and Witherensea; duties supervising training and practice firing; posted to battery of new 6-inch Mk VII guns at Hornsea, 8/1942; method of calibrating guns; selection of observation points; firing exercises with Royal Navy; duties training Home Guard at gunnery school in Llandudno; various memories of Llandudno; use of camera; further memories of Spurn Point.
REEL 5 Continues: testing of new weapon; description of decoy site for Hull; marriage, 3/1942; posted to Royal Artillery Depot, Woolwich, 4/1943. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Highland Princess to Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, 3-4/1943; story of using code in letters to wife; boat drill; duties in charge of 6-inch guns and crew. Aspects of operations with HQ 16 Coast Regt, Royal Artillery in Sierra Leone, West Africa. 4/1943-10/1944: description of camp and accommodation at Wilberforce Spur; duties with 9.2inch and 6-inch gun batteries; appointed CO of coastal batteries; use of Humber staff car and driver; duties visiting observation posts; radar; gunnery exercises; use of motor launches for towing targets; description of 9.2 inch Mk VII battery observation room and generator units; method of loading shells; story of error during firing exercise.
REEL 6 Continues: laying cables; enlargement of observation post by Royal Engineers; story of river trip; removal of guns; opinion of coastal defences; various memories of Freetown; story of collecting body from mortuary and burial; story of visit to leper village; relations with local civilians; story of African witch doctor; attitude to Africans; climate; uniform; malaria tablets; story of deaths of NCOs.
REEL 7 Continues: opinion of rations; description of sergeant's mess; types of food; monthly issue of 50 cigarettes and bottle of sherry; pets; story of cow; Christmas Day celebrations; film shows; story about Ralph Reader; communication with family; question of using camera; description of voyage to GB via Gibraltar, 1/1945; problem of seasickness. Aspects of period with Royal Artillery in GB, 2/1945-2/1946: memory of snow on River Clyde; story of bananas; story of tin trunk; description of train journey to home in Plymouth; leave; posted to D Depot, Tynemouth Castle, 2/1945; posted to the Citadel, Plymouth; attitude to military basic training.
REEL 8 Continues: story of training exercise on beach on VE Day, 8/May/1945; story of taking photographs of VE Day celebrations in Plymouth; description of removing 6-inch guns from coastal defences; posted to 526 Coast Regt, South Shields; demobilised, Guildford, Surrey, 2/1946. Post-war life and employment in GB: reaction to being called up for Class 'Z' Army Reserve, 1950; adjustment to civilian life; civilian employment.
