Description
Object description
British NCO served as wireless operator with 15 Sqdn RAF in GB, 1941; shot down over Holland and leg amputated, 1941 and POW in Stalag XX-A, Torun (Thorn), Poland, 1941-1943.
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in Scotland, GB: civilian employment as engineer; reason for wanting to be radio mechanic. Aspects of period with RAF in GB, 1939-1941: trained as aircraft fitter and qualified as gunner; posted to RAF Coastal Command, RAF Leuchars, Scotland; reason for refusing to train as wireless operator; story of testing early radar equipment. Aspects of operations as wireless operator with 15 Sqdn RAF in GB, 1941: story of being shot down over Holland and crash landing on Zuider Zee; description of medical treatment by German doctor including amputation of leg; problem of contacting tetanus in hospital. Aspects of period as POW in Stalag XX-A, Torun (Thorn), Poland, 1941-1943: story of making own artificial leg; problem of only having paper bandages; opinion of medical treatment by British doctors.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of living conditions, accommodation and food; state of health; story of assisting surgeon in appendix operation; question of NCOs and officers not being allowed to work outside camp; description of conditions in sick bay housing seriously wounded Army personnel; story about repairing German Commandant's gramophone; story about POW making own teeth; problem of vertigo; story of being injured in bomb blast in Birmingham
REEL 3 Continues: story of repatriation from Stalag XX-A and journey to cavalry fort, 1943. Aspects of period in Poland and Germany, 1943: personal possessions and money returned; description of voyage on yacht; story of spending three weeks in Berlin and description of air raids; problem of bad swellings on neck caused by bed bugs; admitted to German military hospital; story of voyage to Gothenburg aboard Kaiser's own yacht; description of voyage with German POWs aboard SS Empress of India to Scotland; story about Count Bernadotte speaking to passengers aboard ship; admitted to hospital in Glasgow.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period in GB, 1943: description of further medical treatment including being fitted with new artificial leg; story of artificial leg made in Stalag-XXA going to hospital museum; tropical diseases and cures; method of treatment for typhus; opinion of sanitary facilities and comparison with conditions in concentration camp; opinion of pensions and compensation; story about friend Gilbert Macmillan; story of seeing famous actress in West Bromwich.