NAM.1992-05-275-2

Second of three sound cassettes: oral history interview with Mr W N Heaton, Royal West African Frontier Force, 1st and 7th Bns Gold Coast Regiment, 1939-1945. Heaton joined the Army in 1939, served with a Light Anti Aircraft Bty at Bicester Aerodrome until Feb 1940 and then went to OCTU at Aldershot. In July 1940 he volunteered for service with the Royal West African Frontier Force, sailed from Liverpool on the Accra and four days out was torpedoed. His second attempt to leave Britain was more successful and he reached Accra in Sept 1940. He joined 7th Bn Gold Coast Regiment, a new formation, and once it was fit for garrison duties served at the Royal Air Force base at Takodori. In 1942 he led a recruiting unit operating in the Ashanti lands and then in 1943 transferred to the 1st Bn as the West African Division were worked up. His unit arrived in India in June 1944 and spent 4 months in the Bihar. Heaton transferred to the 1st Bn and in early 1945 took part in various actions in the Kalapnazin Valley. After a spell in hospital Heaton returned to the unit and it halted at Taungup, 1 May 1945. Heaton then took part in the victory parade at Rangoon before Mountbatton and then returned to the UK and was demobilised. Interview conducted on 19 May 1992.

World War Two, Home Front (1939-1945), World War Two, Far East (1941-1945)