Crump, Douglas :Photographs of the Second World War

This album was compiled by Second Lieutenant Spencely Noel Stanley Crump. It is a record of his time as a soldier in the New Zealand army during the Second World War. The record begins with photographs taken while training at Ngaruawahia Camp in September 1939. He and his company were transported to Egypt on the "Orion" where they underwent training at Maadi Camp. Also recorded are the rest and recreational facilities at the camp, as well as those at Helwan Camp, and trips to the pyramids.

In 1940 he was with the army campaigning and preparing defences in the Western Desert. He was also sent to the Middle East Weapon Training School in Sarafand near Tel Aviv of which there are photographs as well as others of Palestine and Jerusalem.

In 1941 he was sent to Greece and Crete. This part of the album also contains a page of photographs taken from a captured German paratrooper's camera.

Following the campaigns in Greece and Crete, Crump returned to Egypt and took part in the war in Libya. There are several pages of photographs of Cairo and its citizens. Others are of nurses and patients at the British General Hospital at Geneifa, and the New Zealand General Hospital at Helwan where Crump went as a result of contracting pneumonia and developing infections in his wounds.

In 1942 he returned to New Zealand on the hospital ship "Oranji". There are five pages of photographs taken on this trip. In New Zealand he was sent to the Soldiers Hospital in Rotorua for treatment. In 1943 he married.

The album is well documented throughout, and most of Crump's many military associates are identified.

A container of letters written by Crump while he was overseas was also donated with the album. The letters have been transferred to Manuscripts and Archives.

In 1934 Spencely Noel Stanley Crump was a member of the New Zealand team to the Empire Games in London where he won a bronze medal in swimming. He also represented New Zealand in swimming at the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney, Australia.

Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).

Transfers: To Manuscripts & Archives - One container of letters.