Original subtitles

BOY: To take this film,

Daddy lent me his camera...

his light...

..and exposure meter.

When the film was finished, it had to be edited.

WOMAN: My grandfather, Harry Birrell, was obsessed with the cinema.

This is a film he made in 1959.

With a little help from my four-year-old dad.

Like most people of his generation,

Harry grew up watching movies.

He was 15 when the original King Kong was released.

I can only imagine what it must have felt like.

OK, Daddy, start the projector.

WOMAN: But before then, at age ten,

Harry was given his first cine camera,

the greatest toy a child could ever wish for.

DOOR CREAKS

OK.

"The Unconquered Mountain."

There are over 400 films.

Some in much better condition than others.

But I've really no idea what's on any of them,

and that's really exciting.

I think these are albums.

"To the beautiful music of Chopin, Liszt and Puccini,

little Molly listens."

Don't know who Molly was.

Along with the albums were a handful of diaries.

Harry started writing these diaries

from an Army base in 1940,

so that his family would have arecord of his life.

NARRATOR: "All of us like to recall events that have taken place,

but the passage of time often dims the mirror

and the memories fade forever,

unless some small spark lights the fire again."

"My memory is not good,

and as I write this diary some two years later,

most of these memories, though dear to me,

are fast fading."

"These times can never be again, for the war has changed us."

"In the event of my being a casualty,

please send this book home to my mother,

Mrs E C Birrell, Stanely House, Paisley, Scotland."

TYPEWRITER CLICKS

"Everything begins and ends somewhere,

and I, Harry Birrell, began on the 16th day of March 1918."

"The first Great War was raging."

"My father had volunteered, and was killed at Salonika

a month before it ended.”

"I was never to see him."

"My mother was left to bring up my sister Betty and I

on a war widow's pension.”

"Some 20 years later,

I set out to a college for chartered surveyors

and found myself in an entirely new world,

a place where I would geton in life, and be happy."

"It was the dawn of a new era, but who knew at that time

what an important period it was to be?"

"London in 1938 fascinated me."

"There was so much to see."

"Oxford Street, Leicester Square, the lights of Piccadilly Circus,

and for amusement every Saturday,

the Dominion cinema offered a four-hour show for threepence.”

"I remember Dark Victory with Bette Davis

and a premiere of Goodbye, Mr Chips at the Empire Theatre."

"There was some work, but not very much.”

"We were young and did not care."

"Away from your parents you could do pretty much as you wanted."

"On Sundays, in the line of exercise,

we would go to one of the lidos for a few pence.”

"Then, in the afternoon, we might go for a row

in Regents Park or on the Serpentine.”

"This was London. The good old days."

"I wonder if they will ever come again?"

"About this time the Great War scare began."

"It seemed certain that Germany was going to declare war,

and we all got issued with gas masks."

"But Neville Chamberlain retuned from Germany

with an announcement that it is peace in our time."

"How wrong he was."

"Letter from Mother, 25th September."

WOMAN: "My dear Harry, thanks so much for your letter

which arrived with your laundry bundle last Tuesday moming,

and, as ever, I was pleased to get it."

NARRATOR: "How interesting to have seen some of the cabinet ministers

entering Number 10 Downing Street."

"You won't realise, Harry, just what it means."

"You were too young to remember the last war,

but you know that if there had been no war

how very different your life would have been."

"Also mine."

"You would have had a father's help all through your life."

"In some ways I feel I have failed in my duty

where Betty and you are concerned.”

"I have done my best, but have found it very hard at times,

and I think now, that just when you have grown to manhood,

there is this awful prospect of another war."

"The last one did no good."

"Just robbed us of the best of our men."

"How do you feel about it all now?"

"You are living in the midst of everything,

much more than we are.”

"Will send your laundry during the week."

"Surely you don't change your shirts often enough."

"One a week is far too little."

"Remember, one judges by appearances!”

NARRATOR: "And so the time passed,

life seemed grand, and I was very happy."

"We were staying at the Bloomsbury House Club,

and with Colin Possat and Robert Fairburn,

I remember watching Barbara Smythe and the other girls

play a bit of tennis."

"Barbara was, without question,

the most beautiful girl I had ever set eyes on."

"I remember the picnics in Sussex..."

"the day trips to Eastbourne and Brighton."

SPLASH

"Alas, it was not to be with Barbara."

"I'm afraid that I do not understand girls very well,

for she had given me some encouragement.”

"She married a tank driver, and I wish them well."

"I wonder where they are now?"

"About this time, there was another war scare.”

"Germany had invaded Austria, but, as usual, little came of t."

"So, in the summer of 1939, I set off back to Scotland,

still madly in love with London."

"It was the holidays, and we were returning to Blackwaterfoot

on the Isle of Arran."

"Knowing there was a possibility of war,

Robert Kelman declared he was going to join the Foreign Legion."

"The first night was spent on a potato feast

on the hill behind the village."

"There was a beautiful sunset over the Mull of Kintyre

and colour film had not long been invented,

so I took full advantage of it."

"By now, it was the third week of August and things had begun happening in Europe.”

"One morning, I went down to the tennis court

and everyone seemed very quiet."

"What's the matter?" I inquired"

“Have you seen today's papers?”

“No” “Well, have a look.”

“This is impossible. They're the two worst enemies.”

“That might be so, but there itis,

and I'm afraid that it means war this time."

"That was the last night we were to have together that holiday."

"It's sad to think

it was the last time the same people will ever meet,

for some will fail to return from this war."

"The next day, hundreds of people left."

"The place was deserted.”

"And as the war clouds gathered,

the river at Blackwaterfoot was truly living up to its name."

"The following Saturday, Germany invaded Poland

and an ultimatum was given

that unless she withdrew her forces immediately,

war would be declared.”

"The house was rather dismal that day, I'm afraid.”

“For we did not know what was in store for us."

“It was certain that I would be called up, so I volunteered

and had to take the Oath of Allegiance.”

“It wasn't for honour or glory, it was the fact that if you volunteered

you would more likely get promoted quicker."

"A few days later, a letter arrived accepting my offer.”

"Any glamour of war was knocked out of my head

when I joined the Cameronians at Hamilton Barracks.”

"Four months at Hamilton was enough,

and we were posted fo the officer cadet training unit

number 165 at Dunbar.”

"Life at Dunbar was stiff, and we had to look after ourselves.”

"My knowledge of the Army was increasing,

and I was in my element.”

"And so time drifted on."

"I remember the invasion of Holland

and the possibility we might be required at a minute's notice.”

"Then France capitulated,

and there was a terrific scare of invasion."

"We built roadblocks and were put to guarding the coast.”

"Under the sunshine of a June day, we watched and waited

on the beach.”

"I was in a weapons pit with Len Carr and Ronnie Millar.”

"But thankfully the invasion didn't come

and we were withdrawn from the beaches."

"On a Friday, we were commissioned in a smart passing out parade.”

"Now we were free

and were the proud possessors of one shining brass pip."

“I went on leave, awaiting my first commission."

"It was August of 1940,

and we went back to Blackwaterfoot on the Isle of Arran."

"There were very few people there at that time,

but one day I looked round

and saw a rather pretty girl reading a big book."

"What marvellous eyes she had."

"Hello, you're new here. You like the place?

What's the book you're reading” "Gone with the Wind."

"And so began the greatest romance of my life."

2 Skylark

I Have you anything to say to me?

2 Won't you tell me where love can be?

Is there a meadow in the mist

I Where someone's waiting to be kissed? ♪

NARRATOR: "It was still the custom to have dances, even in the dark of blackout."

"All the girls at this end of the room,

all the boys at the far end, please,' shouted John Rusk."

"He then blindfolded himself, and picked partners for everyone.”

"At last, my turn came."

"He took me by the arm,

and led me straight to the girl I'd met earlier, Anne Craig."

"My heart stood still."

"Of all the girls in the room,

he had taken me straight to the one I admired most."

"I remember the last dance, the name of which escapes me now."

BIRDS CHIRP

NARRATOR: "Anne and I took a walk to the King's Caves

and found we liked each other very much."

"I don't know what's happening to me," she said.

"Give me a kiss."

"The sky was so beautiful

no poet or musician could ever do it justice."

"We met every day that week, and to say time stood still."

"I was in a daze, a love daze."

"The last night I took Anne for a long walk up the Lagg Road,

and here I discovered that she was in love with me."

"It seemed so silly, here we were,

having known each other for only a week, yet we were in love."

"We walked along the shore and lay down in each other's arms

at the bottom of a sand dune.”

“I kissed her goodbye, and the thought struck me,

was this the last time I was to see this spot?”

“There is a war on and men are killed in wars."

"A week had passed since those glorious days with Anne on Arran."

"There was still no sign of my sailing,

s0 we arranged to meet again in Glasgow."

"We had dinner at the Central Station Hotel,

and then to the Plaza to see Gone with the Wind."

"It's a marvellous film, and I enjoyed every minute.”

"I remember the afternoons together at Stanely,

a picnic at Milngavie

and a preview at the Regal of Till we Meet Again."

"We went to Anne's house for dinner one night and she went up to change."

"What a marvellous blue silk dress she came down in,

showing off her figure to perfection.”

"How pretty she was, and refined."

"It was a marvellous night, and on the porch,

under a full moon, she whispered to me:

‘Do you think that if we think of each other hard enough

we can actually feel close when we're apart?"

“Anne, 'm madly in love with you.

I think that if [ was a bit older I would ask you to marry me."

"I think that I saw a tear in her eye."

"There certainly was one in my heart."

"The night was perfect."

"I went home in a trance through Anniesland Cross

and down to the Renfrew ferry as a shortcut home."

"No sooner had I got on, then the wailing of the air-raid sirens began."

"I went to the cabin with the captain and he took me to the bridge."

"Not a healthy place to be on the River Clyde in the middle of an air-raid."

"It didn't seem to matter. Gosh, I was madly in love with Anne."

"The following Friday, a letter came for me from the India Office.”

"I knew what was in it. My sailing orders."

"I wrote Anne a long letter, as she'd had to leave town by then."

"When Monday came, there were some sad scenes."

"But as the porter came up with the baggage labelled ‘Bombay',

I felt as though I was really going somewhere."

"I kissed Mother goodbye, there was a whistle then a hush

as the train drew out of the station.”

"I had seen the last of all the people that I loved.”

Wow.

NARRATOR: "The day was bright, and the last look at Scotland

was as a lovely Island bathed in glorious sunshine."

"There was a small breeze,

which made gentle white horses on the water."

"Arran stood in majestic beauty over the sunlit sea.”

"Such things grow fast dim,

but sometime, in the not too distant future, I hope to return home

and once again be in the country nearest my heart."

"We were not to see land again for many weeks."

"The main thought in the minds of all was the possibility of a German air-raid.”

"On day two, a German submarine was sighted,

but thankfully it didn't bother us."

"The weather, however, grew steadily worse."

"Our boat, the Britannia, was an Anchor Line steam ship of about 30 tons."

"By mid-Atlantic she was being tossed about like a cork."

"In such seas we were able to make little headway,

so we had to hove to until the storm blew out almost a week later."

"One of the amazing things brought about by this hurricane, though,

was a phenomenon of small of phosphorous floating on the surface of the water."

"This lit up the entire sea."

"By Saturday November 2nd, the seas had calmed down and we got crganised."

"Urdu classes were run, and lectures on India,

which proved to be a lot of nonsense when we arrived out here."

"Anyhow, it happened to pass the time."

"On the 9th of November, we sighted land for the first time."

"Any land looks good after so many days at sea,

and Sierra Leone was no exception."

"What a majestic place it was."

"Hills kissing into clouds,

with palm trees coming down to the edge of the sea."

"We were not allowed ashore because of a fever,

but the native boats that swarmed around the ship helped to while away the time."

"I bought Anne and Mother silk stockings in the way of a Christmas present.”

"In the evening we raised anchor,

and a few hours later we had lost sight of the land,

but the break had given us what we needed."

"The rest of the journey was without incident.”

"We did the stretch from Cape Town to Bombay in ten days. Quite good going."

"On Thursday the 5th of December, waters changed from the blue of the Arabian Sea

to the dirty colour of mud."

"At 11 o'clock, we saw the first of India,

and by midday we were in the bay at Bombay."

"An officer came aboard to give us our regiments.”

"I was to report to the Gurkha Rifles. Oh, boy!"

"Was this a break,

being posted to probably the finest regiment in the world."

"We went for a walk around Bombay."

"God, how it smelt."

"So entirely different from anything that I had ever imagined."

"The poverty and squalor that many of the people lived in was unbelievable.”

"In utter contrast, we spent the night in the famous Taj Mahal Hotel."

"The following morning, at about ten o'clock,

my train set out from Bombay Central, and by 11:00 I was in dreamland,

having begun the longest and most exciting train journey."

"Life in India had begun."

"Across desert terrain, up steep mountain slopes,

through deep valleys and finally to Shillong, Assam,

and our beautiful hilltop training station situated near the Burma border."

"This was some place."

"To Mother."

"Just to let you know what her son is doing and that he has not forgotten her."

"Some pictures of Indian life."

"This is a marvellous station I have come fo."

"The aptly named Happy Valley."

"Looking out from my window

I think of the vast journey I have covered,

about 15,000 miles in all, more than halfway round the world."

"I think of those who I have left at home. How far away they seem."

"The Gurkhas are intensely keen on soldering

and are undoubtedly the world's finest fighters."

"Somehow, I have been given command of my own battalion."

"Although the Gurkhas health is usually perfect,

we still have to do a spell of PT each morning."

"We are told that the Germans will probably be using gas attacks soon,

so we are trained in chemical warfare."

“Not a lot of fun in the searing Indian sun."

"The Gurkhas in the unit have become more than my men,

they are my friends who I have grown to very much admire."

"Fellows that will take all the dirt going and still come up smiling,

so brave they did not know the meaning of death or fear."

"They have never let me down."

"Today the Gurkha festival of Dussehra was held,

where the men dress up as women, and after quite a few drinks beat it up a bit."

"The incense was lending an Oriental touch to the scene

and somehow or other it all seemed unreal.”

"This festival is very bloodthirsty, though."

"The first animal to be sacrificed was a duck,

which had its head cut off in one sweep of the kukri."

"The next on the list was a goat."

"Off came its head so swiftly, almost to be invisible to the eye."

"It was a horrible sight, but we were witnessing a unique experience.”

"And so the slaughter went on,

until the time came for the greatest of all, the bull."

"One sweep of superhuman strength is required to cut off its neck."

"A hush fell on the audience."

"Would his strength stand up to the job?"

"If he failed, it meant that bad luck would be with the regiment

for the following year."

"As he stood with the double-handed kuki raised,

every second seemed like an hour."

"Then down it came, one swish."

"He had succeeded, and may good luck be with the battalion."

"The CO went back to his offices,

while we stayed with the men, most of us just having a beer,

for, after the scenes we had just witnessed,

we did not feel much like eating anything."

"The battalion is posted to Karachi, and the day after we arrived,

instead of PT,

I decided to take the men for a swim in the Arabian Gulf."

"This is indeed an experience for some of the men,

who have never before seen the sea."

"They were not able to understand the saltinit

and asked me some very difficult questions as to why it was salty

and what makes the waves,

which, in English, was difficult enough to explain, not to mention Nepalese."

Everybody was very surprised

when we heard that he'd been made a captain of a Gurkha brigade!

This sounded most unusual.

He was a very friendly individual

and he just loved filming, filming anything.

He also found that he could get Kodachrome colour film,

because he managed to persuade the Army

that if he used colour film to photograph enemy territory,

he could distinguish between real trees and fake trees

and camouflage netting.

Whether that's true or not, I don't know,

but it got him a supply of colour film,

which nobody else could get during the war.

I could show you the bit of film that I've got.

NARRATOR: *I have been abroad for almost two years

and so have a bit of leave in beautiful Kashmir."

"Here we stay in house boats, and the way to get around is in canoes.”

"We put on Tchaikovsky,

and thought that this war really wasn't so bad."

"At this time, petrol has not been rationed in India,

so we could indulge in the luxury of surfboarding.”

"I, however, seem to have some difficulty in getting started."

"But now it is time for me to leave the battalion.”

“Japan has declared war,

and because of my training as a surveyor

I received an order to report to Colonel Penney

at the Survey of India in Dehra Dun."

"My new title is the Deputy Director of Map Publication,

responsible for producing maps from the Middle East to the Philippines.”

"I'm looking forward to my new life, perhaps with a little apprehension,

for no matter how tough the times have been in the training camp,

I was sorry to leave the Gurkhas."

"My greatest regret was that I was not to lead them into action.”

"Maybe it's just as well,

for I doubt I would be able to do justice to these fine little fellows from Nepal."

REPORTER: In the meantime, in China, roads packed with refugees

gave evidence of the terrific struggle against the Japanese advance.

A defeated China would mean India invaded.

NARRATOR: “The Burma-China road has been cut off by the Japs,

and we are given orders to explore the possibilities

of a new vital supply route through Tibet to China."

"This would involve passing through the Himalayas,

an impressive barrier and a great difficulty for survey,

but what an adventure.”

TRAIN WHISTLE BLASTS

NARRATOR: "The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which was made in Glasgow,

is the most fascinating railway I have ever seen

and is to take us on the first leg of our trek across the Himalayas."

"What a beautiful place Darjeeling is,

situated under the majestic Kangchenjunga."

"From Darjeeling, we set off on a four-week tour

of Sikkim and Tibet, walking all the way."

"An interesting journey,

which included crossing raging torrents several feet deep in the dark,

an encounter with a leopard or tiger, smoking tobacco mixed with yak dung

and some very strange food and drink."

"The highest point in our journey,

and the lowest pass between Sikkim and Tibet,

is over 18,000ft above sea level."

"It's tough going, even for the yaks."

"Tricky, as well, to get water at such an altitude."

"By midday, we had reached the top."

"The scenery was unbelievable."

"The Cho Lhamo Lake underneath us, a deepest blue in the brown sands,

then the plains of Tibet, stretching as far as you could see,

with two snow-covered peaks in the distance."

"No problem about road building here, except possibly the alfitude."

"The other side was the exact opposite. Snowfields as far as you could see."

"What a thrill!"

"We discovered vast areas of woods, full of elephants

that, in these days, are worth thousands of pounds,

virgin forests as far as the eye could see."

"This country is virtually unmapped,

and we were probably the first Europeans ever to have seen the place."

"Here I sat amongst the prayer stones."

"Perhaps they might do me some good in the fighting that is inevitably to come

now we've lost Burma.”

REPORTER: The invasion started in 1942.

On the ground and in the air, the Japs had overwhelming superiority.

REPORTER: They struck from the border of Thailand

toward the vital port of Rangoon.

Rangoon fell.

REPORTER: The enemy swept to central Burma along the road to Mandalay

where, by air and ground, they destroyed that city.

MAN: We got a hell of a beating.

We got run out of Burma, and it's humiliating as hell.

NARRATOR: "As the enemy are pushing ahead on all fronts,

Army Headquarters are planning a seaborne reinvasion of Burma.”

"So we are sent on a secret mission

several hundreds of miles behind the enemy lines."

"The country is not well mapped and new maps will have to be prepared,

despite it being overrun with Japs.”

"A local boatman took us to our destination.”

"The fishermen here don't seem to know that there is a war on."

"The object of the mission is to take very accurate beach levels

and tide measurements.”

"Our task was very difficult, as the tide went out for many miles."

"The mission lasted only a week,

and just as well the Japs didn't stumble on us, or I wouldn't be writing this."

"And what a reward.”

"Out on these deserted beaches we swim in the waters of Bengal Bay."

"These swims served a dual purpose,

as we got our clothes washed at the same time."

"Here we are at Christmas once again,

and the week has started out on the wrong foot,

as we had our first air-raid in Calcutta, and have had one every night since."

"Very little damage has been done however,

and apart from the masses of people that are leaving the place,

life goes on as normal."

"I have moved to the officers' hotel,

and apart from the fact

that the flea and bug population in the beds is pretty high,

we get on alright."

"The men got their mail, of which wasn't much."

"I have already had mine."

"Anne sent me her picture to keep me company.”

"At times, I get rather homesick."

"A week at Blackwaterfoot would certainly put me on my feet again."

"All my old pals. I wonder where they are now?"

"How sad this New Year is, I am stuck in an office job."

"I feel, as must the majority of other young men

that are in offices these days, totally fed-up."

"Why am I being kept at a desk, surrounded by all the comforts of Calcutta?"

"I want to get going. There is a job to be done."

“Let us hope that I get my socks pulled up,

and if I do not go back to the field on a mission,

1 will be back with the Gurkhas, getting all the dirt that is going."

"After much deliberation, I went in and saw Colonel Bromford."

"You've probably heard that I want to get back to my battalion, sir."

"No, I hadn't heard. Why do you want to get back?"

"Because I am 100% Gurkha, and I want to get into the fight."

"It's only fools that want to fight, Birrell," he replied.”

"Yes, we all want to serve,

but you are able to serve as well with a theodolite as with a rifle.”

"I will write to lan Wilson

and ask him to give you all the dangerous jobs."

"I am sending you to the Assam Burma front,

where you are bound to have a bit of excitement.”

"The Burma Battle."

I mean, when I knew him, he was just a really cool grandad.

He didn't... I mean, he told me...

I was young, I was a kid, when I used to spend time with him,

50, you know, at this point in his life, he's like a completely different person

to the person I knew.

You flick through these pictures, and there's celebrations,

there's them having a lot of fun

and then there's the complete opposite.

There's dead bodies, burning dead bodies.

If he killed people, it's very hard to know how he'd felt about that.

Probably... I guess a lot of it would be a shock.

NARRATOR: "Imphal was not a healthy place in which to be stationed.”

"Aside from being incredibly cold at this time of year,

it's surrounded by the Japanese Imperial Army."

REPORTER: To many, Burma is a land of legend,

a shrine to Buddhism with its pagodas, its fabled road to Mandalay,

its colourful cities and villages, its strange and picturesque people.

To the allies, however, who were fo fight there,

Burma is a land of perpetual struggle against nature,

with jungles so thick armies can pass

within a short distance of each other without detection.

Wide and turbulent rivers that are almost impassable.

It's a land of extreme climate, intense cold, heat and monsoon.

Rainfall as great as anywhere on Earth.

Its swamps are a breeding ground for malarial mosquitos.

Cholera, beriberi, typhus, dysentery, tropical fever and sores

plague its inhabitants.

This was the land where we were fo fight.

NARRATOR: "My good friend in the jungle is Freddy Fort,

who is about the best man anyone could wish for as a brother officer.”

"There is little to do in these days, 50 Freddy and I organise

a company sports day to keep up the men's morale.”

"But now we have our first mission,

and I am looking forward 100% to be out in the open again, your own boss,

absolutely free to come and go where you please."

"I have been given a small section of Chins and Kachins."

"Normally these fellows fight with spears,

but Kumow is also an excellent rifle shot."

"This is Harry Birrell's ragtag army."

"We walked down through the jungle

in the hope of finding Captain Bill Brown, the elephant man."

"Elephants weigh a lot,

and in this part of the world they are worth their weight in gold."

"Shakir, my subedar, whom I do not think has ever seen one before,

is thrilled to the back teeth about riding them."

"He's full of drive, and a man with great personality.”

"We are heading for Tamu,

which Is situated deep behind the enemy lines."

"Our job is to bring the old maps up-to-date,

triangulate enemy gun positions, fix trig stations for our gunners

and survey possible sites for new airfields.”

"This means miles and miles of trailing and theodolite work."

"At Tamu, the jungle is thick and there is only a dirt track road."

"Having failed to locate the rest camp, which had moved,

we made a meal by the side of the road and were asleep in the open."

"The following morning, we were surprised to find out

that we had been sleeping in a minefield."

"But as no-one stood on a mine it didn't make much difference,

and shortly after 8:00 we were on our way."

"A report has to be sent back to base

on the width and depth of the Chindwin River

to make sure that the Jeeps can cross it before the monsoon arrives."

"As radio silence has to be observed, we rely heavily on heliographs

to send our messages back to base."

"Camp life isn't so bad."

"All supplies were provided by the RAF."

"Today, an airdrop delivered corned beef for the lads."

"But I pity the poor Sikhs."

"Our Chins, however, know exactly where to find roots that are edible

and taste very much like corn on the cob."

"Our time here has not been wasted,

for we've prepared ten maps for the Airfield Engineers,

stretching halfway down through central Burma."

"There is a certain amount of satisfaction watching the Spitfires and Hurricanes

taking off from the first of these hastily constructed strips

to strafe bomb the Japs a few miles away."

"Having received a most charming letter from Colonel Ogilvie,

I have decided to go up to Nepal for my summer leave."

"How I am locking forward to entering this kingdom."

"A forbidden place, for in these days no outsider is allowed into Nepal,

except by the invitation of the maharajah."

"Starting off in the bus, we change to ponies."

“The road is most hectic, and at times it is impossible even to ride."

"We pass some marvellous scenery, though.”

"It's rather like Assam,

and in many ways reminds me also of Scotland,

except that the mountains are many times higher."

"After three days' march, at last we see Kathmandu in the distance.”

"The Nepalese are very friendly to Britain,

and there is a statue of Queen Victoria in one of the streets."

"The city is very dirty, though, with a lot of poverty,

and yet no fewer than 17 palaces.”

"Apart from the Maharaja, the only other car in the capital

is owned by the British Ambassador."

"But there are plenty of elephants.”

"We were to stay with the maharajah in his palace,

and at the residency we see the prime minister,

‘His Majestic Minister', arrive in his hat,

which is supposed to be worth around £2,000."

"I feel myself rather fortunate, being an officer in the survey,

you got to know generals, politicians and princesses,

for they all wanted maps."

"Thursday 11th September 1943."

"This morning we are greeted with good news over the radio."

"Italy has fallen."

"The celebrations coincide with the festival of Indra Jatra

and a terrific march through the city."

"What a leave this has been."

"Things I have seen, splendour and happiness in this country

that cannot possibly be seen elsewhere around India.”

"How hard itis to think

that by next week I will probably be back at the front in Burma,

when all here is so friendly and at peace."

"We were inking up the plane tables when there was a burst of sub-machine fire."

"At first I did not realise what had happened,

then there was a yell for me from one of the tents."

NARRATOR: “I rushed in and found one of my sepoys, Babu Lal,

a young fellow, with blood pouring from his arm and leg.”

"Three bullet shots had gone through him."

"We got the first dressing onto his wounds

and rushed him round to the field hospital."

"There was a Scots captain in charge

and he took Babu Lal's blood pressure and pulse, then turned to me."

"He is suffering from severe physical shock and is very weak.

If he gets any weaker, we will give him some plasma.”

"It was a relief to know that he was not dead."

"But then he broke into a low chant and told me he was dying."

"My Urdu was not good enough to tell him what I wanted,

but I told him not to be foolish, that only weak men died young."

"I waited some time by his stretcher, wishing the surgeon would hurry."

"It was an unpleasant task."

"There were two little Burmese children

that had been badly burnt by a phosphor bomb this morning,

so much so that when the bandages were put on they caught fire."

"All their skin had completely vanished

and only their miserable yells could be heard."

"When I came back to the camp, I tried to find out what had happened.”

"It had been Kusal Singh who had accidently set off his Sten gun,

and the bullets had gone into the adjoining tent."

"Though I was annoyed with him, I pitied him greatly."

"A dismal feeling spread over me, so I went and sat by the side of a stream.”

"That night, I prayed very hard that Babu Lal might live."

"The first thing I did in the moming was to go to the hospital,

where the same captain met me."

"I'm so glad you came,” he said in a low voice."

"Your sepoy passed away shortly after the operation,

he seemed to have lost the will to live.”

"It was a great shock to me, but then war is cruel

and this fellow, who had been bright and gay in the morning, now lay still."

"In the evening, we dug his grave by the side of the river."

"I tried to give service,

but was not exactly able to put my thoughts into words."

"So Babu's friends, the ones he had in this area, laid him down."

"Only silence prevailed as we all put some earth on his body."

"The party was called to attention, we saluted, then broke off."

NARRATOR: "Trouble in Manipur."

"When we advance..."

"What a phrase, and how fed-up I am of hearing it."

"One day we get the word to move

and a few minutes later itis counter-ordered."

"The Japs who, up to date, have been carrying out an encircling movement,

are, at present, only four miles distant."

"By the end of the week, things have reached a pretty stage,

for we hear that Tamu and Tiddim have both been cut

and the enemy are around the hills of our corps headquarters.”

REPORTER: Early in March, the Japs made an attempt to regain the initiative.

They moved three divisions to the Chindwin River, crossed it,

and struck at Imphal in India in a powerful pincer movement

aimed at cutting the Bengal Assam Railway

carrying supplies to the allied troops in Burma.

Headlines all over the world blaze the news that Jap armies were on Indian soil.

That India had been invaded.

NARRATOR: "A couple of weeks have passed and the situation,

instead of getting better, has probably taken a turn for the worse."

"There is an estimated enemy of 32,000 around us."

"We are within range of their guns, completely isolated from the outer world

and expecting the attack any time now,

as there are a lot of moonlit nights.”

REPROTER: By April, one Japanese force was eight miles from Imphal.

While another had advanced on Kohima. They cut the roads surrounding Kohima,

including the Manipur Road, the 14th Army's supply line.

NARRATOR: "The siege stiffens."

"Month after month, all this waiting, never getting out.”

"Now the rains are coming, it is going to be a mad race to see what happens.”

"The Japs must attack in the next few days or else starve,

and in the next few weeks, possibly two, we must attack them

or our ration problem will become pretty acute."

"We will probably see some pretty fierce fighting."

"A deserter returned yesterday, which means a lot more trouble,

as itis considered desertion in the face of the enemy

and is punishable by death.”

"By May, it was obvious the Japs had dug themselves in pretty well

and that the rains would not drive them back."

"I have personally picked out the cream of the company to come out with me."

"Twelve of the finest men that any officer could wish for."

"Six Chins and six Gurkhas,

a crowd that will be able to make a very good account of themselves

if we happen to run into a bit of action.”

"By the time we reached Tamu,

the whole town had been bombed beyond recognition.”

"Wherever we looked, there was destruction.”

"Worst still were the dugouts where the Japs had fallen."

"They had either been killed or died of starvation, it is difficult to say.”

"But almost every hole in the ground had its dead Jap in it,

picked clean of every bit of flesh by ants or maggots."

"That evening, I went out with Burridge on a recce,

and in the jungle saw more distorted bodies."

"Burridge went up to one of them and looked in the pockets."

"There was a picture of a very beautiful Japanese girl

who looked intelligent and smart."

"We felt rather sorry."

"Perhaps she was his wife."

"The wife of this bit of dirt and dust

that had been a Japanese soldier only a short time previously."

"Reports are coming in from all sides that there are so many dead

that they have to bury them with bulldozers and mechanical excavators."

THUNDER RUMBLES, RAIN POURS

NARRATOR: "Today, whilst listening to the rain on the roof of my tent,

my mind drifted back to childhood days, old girlfriends

and happier times before all this madness began.”

♪ There's a tree in the meadow

2 With a stream drifting by

I And carved upon that free I see

7" love you fill I die" ♪

"What is it?"

"Apprehension, grief, or just bad morale?"

"Oris it homesickness,

the loss of freedom that the front line dictates, no fires or lights after dark,

the continual noise of explosives?"

EXPLOSIONS

"But this must all end somewhere."

7 By that tree in the meadow

7 My thoughts always lie

♪ And where'er you go

7 You'll always know

71love you till I die ♪

WOMAN: OK. - It's the old scrapbook, Carina, yeah?

- Right from Burma to... - India.

- That's you cutting films. - Yeah.

CARINA: Harry stored all these films in these big, now rusty old trunks.

Wow.

DAD: Dad always said, "This is a very special and personal collection,

you can't just hand it over to anybody,"

so it's great we're doing this after so many years.

CARINA: Yeah.

DAD: Right.

DAD: That's solid.

- There we go. - Yeah.

WHIRRING

CARINA: Four hundred fims in six rusty boxes.

A lifetime of memories all spliced together.

MAN: A camera is not allowed into the church,

but a record of the couple signing the register is obtained.

The knot has been tied.

CARINA: In 1953, Harry married the love of his life.

It wasn't Molly or Barbara, or even Anne Craig.

My grandma's name was Joan.

MAN: The dreaded moment for the groom arrives. It's time for his speech.

Friends of ours, I would like to thank the Melvins

for giving me their most cherished possession, Joan.

APPLAUSE

- That alright? - Yes, it was very good.

- I wasn't too loud? - No dear, it was lovely.

MAN: The bride leaves the hotel, followed by her husband,

who is thrown her.

CARINA: A few months later...

..my dad arrived.

Followed, two years later, by Anne.

Then finally Aunt Judy.

God bless Daddy and Mummy, God bless Beano,

God bless Sheila, God bless Aunt Mary,

God bless Granny and Grandpa.

Amen.

A big jump to make sure the springs are normal.

FIREWORKS BANG AND CRACKLE

CARINA: These were the moments of Harry's life he could record.

I wonder about the ones he didn't

I remember getting an invitation to his 70th birthday party,

and I hadn't seen Harry for a year or two at that point,

and discovered that his sight had deteriorated badly.

He was more or less crawling about on the floor to get his film.

He could still do some editing

by having his face almost touching the monitor screen.

But the idea of somebody who loved filming, loved watching fims

not being able to see them properly was really quite a hardship.

CARINA: Harry died in 1993.

He was 74 and I was 8.

That image I have of Grandad when we were little

as a loveable, frail, blind old man,

is so different to ones in the films and the albums of his youth.

The last diary he wrote was in 1945,

deep in the jungles of Burma.

NARRATOR: "A new year dawns, but what would it hold in store?"

"On the 2nd of January, Freddy and I got orders to go out into the field,

and for some reason it was with a deep foreboding feeling

that we were heading for disaster and that few of us would ever come back."

"The road down was dreadful.”

"It was probably the worst road I have ever been on."

"Narrow, dusty and bumpy for a full 80 miles,

on through a series of streams up to the axle of Freddy's Jeep."

"Then into the jungle,

which was dark and depressing with the remnants of the Jap camps

and frightened and homeless villagers, who are the real sufferers in this war."

"This is the furthest we have been into Burma yet."

"And it was here that I ran out of cine film."

"There is no more in the area.”

CARINA: "That evening, Freddy and I watched the Douglases

fly over the base camp and drop their supplies.”

"I had just gone to bed, when an orderly arrived with a note from command."

“I quickly got dressed and went around to the office,

where I was met by Jock Turnbull."

NARRATOR: "I'm glad you've come old fellow,

for a message has just come

that there are 800 Japs about nine miles from here heading due north,

and from their present position,

they will arrive here in about two hours' time."

CARINA: "The night passed slowly."

"I kept myself awake with a pistol under the ground sheet.”

"At around five o'clock, they started firing all around us."

"Machine guns, grenades and rifle fire."

"And then the artillery opened up.”

NARRATOR: "For the next three hours, all hell was let loose."

"The first plane dropped a stick of bombs on the strip."

"They hit some trucks, and there was soon a pretty fierce fire burning."

"We were completely out in the open, in a most exposed position,

so we ran for cover under one of the grading machines."

"What a mistake we had made, though,

for, in our haste, we had run nearer the enemy."

"By this time, our field coy was attacking.”

"The Japs didn't have a chance, and we watched them

jumping out of their bunkers,

holding grenades to themselves and blowing themselves up."

CARINA: "When things calmed, I found Freddy in a cold sweat.”

"He was sure that the Japs had got us,

as others, a short distance away, had not been so lucky."

GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS

NARRATOR: "We are now with the advance party heading for Pegu,

and I have managed to scrounge some fim from one of the camera units near here."

"The Army is victorious, and it appears

things in Europe will soon be over as well."

"Freddy Fort was really the fellow I had known the longest."

"Needless to say, we did not find it easy to say goodbye to one another.”

"Freddy is one of the finest pals that anyone could possibly wish for."

"My only hope is that we might meet again at some time in the future.”

Its...

Sorry.

CARINA CHUCKLES

CAROLINE: It's one thing seeing somebody in a photograph,

and then, when you see them on a film, it's different, isn't it?

CARINA: Have you seen footage before of him around that sort of age?

- No. - Never?

No, only in photographs. Only in photographs, yeah.

Yeah.

CARINA: Makes it very real.

CAROLINE: I think it brings them alive.

How you remember them, I guess.

CAROLINE: It brings memories back. CARINA: Mm.

CARINA: So, did your dad tell you much about that time in life?

No, no. He only said a couple of things.

- I think he found it quite horrendous. - Yeah.

Do you know if he kept in touch with anyone, or had friends

- from that time in life? - That period, I really don't know about.

Which is a shame. When you get old, you think,

-"l wish I asked more questions." - Yeah.

NARRATOR: "The Last Few Miles."

"Thanks to Four Corps' push, Rangoon is free."

"Through adventure, trouble, boredom, air-raids, shells and bullets,

we have arrived here safely, with the loss of only one man

and the wounding of another.”

"Some of the troops in Burma have had an absolute hellish time,

so I think we've been rather lucky."

"We've seen the whole country,

as we've literally walked all the way from Imphal."

"Yesterday, Lord Louis Mountbatten held a victory parade."

"Among the fighting troops, old Johnny Gurkha got the biggest cheer.”

"They were by far the smartest yet modest troops in the whole parade.”

"Handsome, one would say, with their Mongolian features."

"The Gurkha is the world's finest soldier.”

"Dear Mother, seeing a place always gives you a better idea of what it is like,

so let me show you the views from Rangoon that I have."

"The first picture is one that I took of myself after my identity card was stolen.”

"You will see all my hair Is still there, or, should I say, quite a lot of it."

"Our accommodation is perfect,

and there is a breeze blowing through my room the whle time."

"I take a bath in my tiled bathroom."

"And so this form of utopia goes on

after the many months of hardship in the jungle."

"The Japs have decided to pack up."

"The war is over and the excitement is dead."

"MacDonald of the Airfield Engineers came down with a couple of other fellows.”

"He had tales of woe to tell, how old Sachwell had gone mad

and Butler was rapidly going mad, aswell"

"It seems a common and natural reaction of these fellows,

after all the exhilaration of the battle."

"I, too, have lost my drive and seem to have little or no interest in life.

"The Army is an evil necessity,

but thankfully I have not so much longer to do now."

"I will be very sorry to leave my men."

"How I will settle down in civilian life remains to be seen.”

"I'm sure it will seem dull at first."

CARINA: When the war ended, Harry took his time coming home.

He was posted to Singapore for a year,

and one of the last diary entries is about buying a cine projector there

and putting on a show for some of his men.

NARRATOR: "How these fellows loved to see themselves on the screen,

and what an applause went up when the film finished."

CARINA: After Singapore, he took a cook's tour back through the Far and Middle East.

It seems he wanted to swim in as many different seas as he could.

My granddad was not a war hero. Whatever a war hero is.

As far as I can tell from the diaries, the only time he fired his gun in anger

was at a large snake

that gave him a scare falling from a tree in the jungles of Burma.

In 1947, he made it home, alive,

much to the relief of his family and friends.

CARINA: At the end of his life, Harry wrote a message to his children.

NARRATOR: "You come into this world with nothing and leave with nothing."

"But to you, our children, I leave these fims

as a memory of the way we lived."

“I am now growing old. This is the new Glasgow.

"Look back on your memories,

but there is so much in your life to look forward to."

Subtitles by Screen Language, 2019