description
Object description
British civilian in Wimborne, Dorset, GB, 1939-1941; served as wireless telegraphist with Royal Navy aboard HMS Bramham in Mediterranean, 1942-1943.
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Wimborne, GB, 1921-1939: father's business as cabinet maker and undertaker; story of operations for tubercular bones; education; left school at 14; sporting activities; apprenticed as cabinet maker in father's business; increased orders for blackout blinds and curtains prior to outbreak of war; wages; evening classes in cabinet making and French polishing; further comments on father's employment as undertaker; role of mother in family business; description of shop and family accommodation.
REEL 2 Continues: recreational and sporting activities; church and Sunday school. Aspects of period in Wimborne, Dorset, GB,1939-1941: volunteered for service with local ARP; duties manning telephone at HQ during air raids; story of pub set on fire by incendiary bomb; problem of not having unified fire service; location of crashed German aircraft; extent of bomb damage; number of volunteers in ARP; daily life in Wimborne during war; blackouts; rationing; effect of war on family business; served in father's shop; reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; volunteered as wireless operator with Royal Navy, Southampton, 14/Jul/1941. Aspects of training with Royal Navy in GB, 7/1941-4/1942: called up and posted to HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness; opinion of accommodation in Butlin's chalets; description of uniform and kit; name stamped on kit; basic training; laundry; messing arrangements; further training at London School of Wireless Telegraphy, Earl's Court, London.
REEL 3 Continues: billeted in hotel; social life in London; description of training as wireless telegraphist; pay; social life; reaction of parents to joining Royal Navy; daily routine; posted to HMS Scotia, Ayr, Scotland for further wireless training; procedure for sending, receiving, coding and decoding messages; opinion of accommodation; tests; daily routine and classes; sporting activities; final examinations; posted to Signal School, Devonport, story of accident with lorry. Aspects of period aboard HMS Bramham in GB, 4-8/1942: joined ship on River Clyde, Scotland; accommodation and messing arrangements; allowance for food; rota for cooking food; daily routine and duties as wireless telegraphist; watch system; method of receiving and sending messages.
REEL 4 Continues: number of telegraphists; signals recorded on pad; communication with bridge; description of wireless office, accommodation and other parts of ship; armaments; action station in wireless office; captain and officers; organisation of crew aboard ship; relations with other crew members; ship commissioned, 6/1942; working up trials on River Clyde. Aspects of operations aboard HMS Bramham in Mediterranean, GB, 8/1942-1/1943: role of Bramham with convoys to Malta during Operation Pedestal; morale; story of aircraft carrier HMS Eagle being sunk; action station in wireless office.
REEL 5 Continues: importance of convoys to Malta; description of convoy being bombed; communication with bridge; story of being attached to tanker SS Ohio and entry into harbour; living conditions in Malta; shore leave; sailed from to North Africa, 11/1942; role of HMS Bramham during Operation Torch transporting armaments and senior officers to front line in Tunisia; story of Bramham being hit by bomb, 20/Nov/1942; damage to ship and casualties; sailed to Algiers; shore leave; repairs to ship in dry dock in Gibraltar; sailed to GB, 1/1943; drafted to HMS Scarborough.
