Captain David Hastings
Captain David Hastings was my platoon commander before he was promoted to Adjutant for Northern Group after we went into Burma. He was my first experience in meeting an officer and a gentleman.
This is how Pte. Charles Aves of 7 Column remembered David Hastings during the interview he gave to the Imperial War Museum in June 1995. Captain Hastings had impressed Aves, not just in the way he conducted himself as a soldier, but also with his great love of music which both men shared and duly expressed through their membership of the 13th King's Company Band.
David Cecil Patrick Hastings was born in Kensington, London during the early months of 1918. He was the second son of Sir Patrick and Lady Mary Ellenore Hastings of Hay Hill in Westminster. David's father, Sir Patrick Hastings KC was an extremely famous London barrister renowned for his skilful and unnerving cross-examination of witnesses.
When David was about to begin his studies at Eton College, Patrick gave his young son a piece of advice that had been passed on to him by his favourite uncle when he was a similar age. He told him: "It is better to always think for yourself, however immature your thoughts might be, than to acquire all the knowledge of the world merely by assimilating the thoughts of others."
There is no doubt that David took this advice fully onboard throughout his life and used the adage many times in the course of his soldiering. As a note of interest, as young Master Hastings was arriving at Eton, another future Chindit leader, Bernard Fergusson was just leaving.
Patrick Hastings had a very modern view on life and had rebelled somewhat against his own fairly privileged upbringing. He worried over his children's attitude to life and hoped that they would seek more than just the adulation of their father. A quote from Patrick Hastings auto-biography sums up his position perfectly: "In my own children I have been more than happy. They and I have grown up together; for their tolerance and kindness I have nothing but admiration; for their affection I am deeply grateful; but if all they were prepared to offer me was honour, I think I would like to smack them."
Patrick Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School near Godalming in Surrey, the same school attended by Orde Wingate approximately twenty-five years later. The Hastings family had a long tradition of soldiering and this was continued on by Patrick who fought in the Boer War with the Suffolk Imperial Yeomanry. After returning from South Africa, Patrick decided to try his hand in the legal profession, joining Middle Temple as a student in 1901. Over the following years he fervently saved up his money, sometimes taking on several jobs at one time, including writing journalistic articles for the national press in order to collect the one hundred pounds he required to access his 'call to the bar' and become a fully fledged barrister.
In June 1904 he qualified as a barrister and began his meteoric rise within the London legal fraternity. He was well known for his skilful cross-examinations, achieving notoriety and fame in many well known cases of the day, such as the intriguingly named, "Case of the Hooded Man.'
True to his philosophy on life and ruffling many feathers within his own profession, Patrick chose to stand as a Labour Party candidate for Wallsend in Tyneside in 1922, successfully taking up his seat in parliament in the minority government led by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. The same year he was appointed Attorney General for England and Wales and subsequently honoured with a Knighthood.
Patrick resigned his seat in 1926 and returned to his legal career as a barrister very much picking up where he had left off. He retired from the bar in 1948. Over the years he had also kept up his writing and had several plays produced and performed in West End theatres. Patrick Hastings died in February 1952.
In 1939, and as war began to look a certainty, the twenty-one year old David Hastings was living with his parents at 2 Berkerley House, Hay Hill in the London Borough of Westminster. He had decided to follow in his father's footsteps and enter the legal profession. David had been admitted into the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple on the 16th January 1936 and was subsequently called to the bar three years later, on the 26th January 1939. Around this time David met his wife to be, Marie Jean Wrey whom he married on the 16th May 1940.
Like so many young men of his day, David Hastings felt it his duty to serve his King and Country and enlisted into the British Army. He was accepted for Officer training and was duly commissioned: 153107 2nd/Lieutenant Hastings on the 26th October 1940, joining the 13th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment at Felixstowe in the county of Suffolk. The King's had been given the task of performing coastal defence in this area of England as part of the overall protection against a German sea-borne invasion. David became good friends with Lieutenant Leslie Cottrell and the two men shared a billet together for many months. It was not long before 2nd/Lieutenant Hastings gained promotion, eventually becoming the battalion's Adjutant and keeper of the unit's War diary for the years 1941 and 1942.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including the 13th King's War diary for 1940 showing David Hastings arrival at Felixstowe on the 27th October 1940. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
This is how Pte. Charles Aves of 7 Column remembered David Hastings during the interview he gave to the Imperial War Museum in June 1995. Captain Hastings had impressed Aves, not just in the way he conducted himself as a soldier, but also with his great love of music which both men shared and duly expressed through their membership of the 13th King's Company Band.
David Cecil Patrick Hastings was born in Kensington, London during the early months of 1918. He was the second son of Sir Patrick and Lady Mary Ellenore Hastings of Hay Hill in Westminster. David's father, Sir Patrick Hastings KC was an extremely famous London barrister renowned for his skilful and unnerving cross-examination of witnesses.
When David was about to begin his studies at Eton College, Patrick gave his young son a piece of advice that had been passed on to him by his favourite uncle when he was a similar age. He told him: "It is better to always think for yourself, however immature your thoughts might be, than to acquire all the knowledge of the world merely by assimilating the thoughts of others."
There is no doubt that David took this advice fully onboard throughout his life and used the adage many times in the course of his soldiering. As a note of interest, as young Master Hastings was arriving at Eton, another future Chindit leader, Bernard Fergusson was just leaving.
Patrick Hastings had a very modern view on life and had rebelled somewhat against his own fairly privileged upbringing. He worried over his children's attitude to life and hoped that they would seek more than just the adulation of their father. A quote from Patrick Hastings auto-biography sums up his position perfectly: "In my own children I have been more than happy. They and I have grown up together; for their tolerance and kindness I have nothing but admiration; for their affection I am deeply grateful; but if all they were prepared to offer me was honour, I think I would like to smack them."
Patrick Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School near Godalming in Surrey, the same school attended by Orde Wingate approximately twenty-five years later. The Hastings family had a long tradition of soldiering and this was continued on by Patrick who fought in the Boer War with the Suffolk Imperial Yeomanry. After returning from South Africa, Patrick decided to try his hand in the legal profession, joining Middle Temple as a student in 1901. Over the following years he fervently saved up his money, sometimes taking on several jobs at one time, including writing journalistic articles for the national press in order to collect the one hundred pounds he required to access his 'call to the bar' and become a fully fledged barrister.
In June 1904 he qualified as a barrister and began his meteoric rise within the London legal fraternity. He was well known for his skilful cross-examinations, achieving notoriety and fame in many well known cases of the day, such as the intriguingly named, "Case of the Hooded Man.'
True to his philosophy on life and ruffling many feathers within his own profession, Patrick chose to stand as a Labour Party candidate for Wallsend in Tyneside in 1922, successfully taking up his seat in parliament in the minority government led by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. The same year he was appointed Attorney General for England and Wales and subsequently honoured with a Knighthood.
Patrick resigned his seat in 1926 and returned to his legal career as a barrister very much picking up where he had left off. He retired from the bar in 1948. Over the years he had also kept up his writing and had several plays produced and performed in West End theatres. Patrick Hastings died in February 1952.
In 1939, and as war began to look a certainty, the twenty-one year old David Hastings was living with his parents at 2 Berkerley House, Hay Hill in the London Borough of Westminster. He had decided to follow in his father's footsteps and enter the legal profession. David had been admitted into the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple on the 16th January 1936 and was subsequently called to the bar three years later, on the 26th January 1939. Around this time David met his wife to be, Marie Jean Wrey whom he married on the 16th May 1940.
Like so many young men of his day, David Hastings felt it his duty to serve his King and Country and enlisted into the British Army. He was accepted for Officer training and was duly commissioned: 153107 2nd/Lieutenant Hastings on the 26th October 1940, joining the 13th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment at Felixstowe in the county of Suffolk. The King's had been given the task of performing coastal defence in this area of England as part of the overall protection against a German sea-borne invasion. David became good friends with Lieutenant Leslie Cottrell and the two men shared a billet together for many months. It was not long before 2nd/Lieutenant Hastings gained promotion, eventually becoming the battalion's Adjutant and keeper of the unit's War diary for the years 1941 and 1942.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including the 13th King's War diary for 1940 showing David Hastings arrival at Felixstowe on the 27th October 1940. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
On the 8th December 1941 the 13th King's voyaged overseas aboard the troopship 'Oronsay'. On the 30th January 1942 the battalion disembarked at the Indian port of Bombay and were escorted to their new home, the Gough Barracks in Secunderabad by members of the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment who had been present in India since before the war. David Hastings settled down to organising the battalion's diary, detailing their work in garrison and civil defence and other related policing duties. He was also given the difficult task of heading the sequence of Court Martial hearings arranged to investigate the cases of desertion from amongst the battalion whilst at Durban in South Africa.
NB. Some five or six men had not returned from their shore leave in Durban and had failed to re-join the troopship as it began the final leg of its journey to India. These men were later found by the Military Police in Durban and sent on to Secunderabad where they faced Captain Hastings' court of enquiry.
In June 1942 the 13th King's were handed over to Brigadier Orde Wingate as part of his newly formed 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and arrangements were made to move the battalion up to the Chindit training camp at Saugor in the Central Provinces. As Adjutant, David would have been heavily involved in these arrangements, organising the movement of some 700 men and their equipment. Pte. Charles Aves, remembered in his memoirs that Captain Hastings was originally a platoon commander in 7 Column, but that Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke had later chosen him to be his Adjutant in Northern Group Head Quarters. Once again, David found himself in charge of maintaining the battalion War diary.
Once inside Burma, Northern Group HQ remained in close contact with Chindit Columns 7 and 8, enjoying a relatively quiet time in terms of contact with the enemy. In late March 1943, Wingate called a halt to the operation in Burma, after being instructed by the Army HQ in India to get as many of his now knowledgeable and experienced Chindit Brigade back safely to Allied territory. Wingate's own Brigade HQ had been shielded by Columns 7 and 8 for most of the operation in 1943 and it was these three groups that found themselves on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River on the 29th March, close to the village of Inywa.
Wingate ordered David Hastings to lead the bridgehead party across the river in the small Burmese country boats they had discovered hidden on the eastern shoreline. As the men prepared to cross some enemy activity was seen on the far bank. Wingate and his commanders felt that the Japanese posed little threat in their present numbers, and so pressed on with the crossing. Some lead boats did manage to get over, but others came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire and began to get into difficulties.
One such boat contained Captain David Hastings along with Sergeant William Royle, Corporal Harold Hodgkinson and Ptes. James Baker and Edward Kitchen. This boat was struggling to make the western bank and was continuously under heavy fire from the Japanese positions. From witness statements given after the operation, it would seem that Hastings and William Royle were wounded during this time. Here is an eye witness account from Pte. J.S. Critchley of the 13th Kings and 7 Column, given on his return to India in late March 1944:
"About three weeks before I was left behind by the column, I saw Capt. David Hastings together with Sgt. W. Royle, both of the 13th Bn. King's Liverpool Regiment, carried down the Irrawaddy on a dinghy. They were never heard of again. This incident took place during an opposed crossing of the Irrawaddy near Inyawa."
NB. Pte. Critchley is a very interesting character from 1943. He was left behind in late April that year with another soldier Corporal David Humphrey Jones. These two men managed to survive for nearly a whole year, living as natives in the Burmese village of Lalaw. Considering their physical condition at the time of Operation Longcloth and the continual presence of Japanese patrols in the area, this was quite an incredible achievement. Sadly, Jones died from the disease scrub typhus shortly after the pair had been discovered living in the village by a Gurkha Column from the following year's Chindit expedition.
Another witness statement in relation to Captain Hastings and his fate at Inywa was given by Major Kenneth Gilkes, the commander of 7 Column in 1943. Gilkes remembered:
"The last time I saw this officer he was with Sgt. Royle and Cpl. Hodgkinson on the 28th March. They were detailed to cross the Irrawaddy and were not seen again after they had got half way across. We were engaged by the enemy upstream and I imagine their boat was carried downstream by the strong current. To the best of my knowledge the boat was not sunk."
The crossing at Inywa was duly abandoned, the remaining columns and Wingate's HQ melted back into the jungle on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy. The three units agreed there and then to split up and make their own way back to Allied held territory individually. Column 7 retraced their steps and set off toward the Chinese Yunnan borders. Column 8 under Major Scott eventually crossed the Irrawaddy two weeks later with the help of some native boats, while Wingate held back in the jungle at Inywa for over a week, hoping that the Japanese activity in the area would die down and their progress to India could resume unmolested.
Sadly, Captain Hastings and the men from his boat were never seen or heard of again, the War diary for Northern Group, kept up until this point by Hastings was lost with them.
Seen below is another gallery of images relating to this story, including a map of the area around the Irrawaddy at the village of Inywa and the pages from the retrospective War diary written by Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke, concerning the action at the aborted crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March 1943. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
NB. Some five or six men had not returned from their shore leave in Durban and had failed to re-join the troopship as it began the final leg of its journey to India. These men were later found by the Military Police in Durban and sent on to Secunderabad where they faced Captain Hastings' court of enquiry.
In June 1942 the 13th King's were handed over to Brigadier Orde Wingate as part of his newly formed 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and arrangements were made to move the battalion up to the Chindit training camp at Saugor in the Central Provinces. As Adjutant, David would have been heavily involved in these arrangements, organising the movement of some 700 men and their equipment. Pte. Charles Aves, remembered in his memoirs that Captain Hastings was originally a platoon commander in 7 Column, but that Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke had later chosen him to be his Adjutant in Northern Group Head Quarters. Once again, David found himself in charge of maintaining the battalion War diary.
Once inside Burma, Northern Group HQ remained in close contact with Chindit Columns 7 and 8, enjoying a relatively quiet time in terms of contact with the enemy. In late March 1943, Wingate called a halt to the operation in Burma, after being instructed by the Army HQ in India to get as many of his now knowledgeable and experienced Chindit Brigade back safely to Allied territory. Wingate's own Brigade HQ had been shielded by Columns 7 and 8 for most of the operation in 1943 and it was these three groups that found themselves on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River on the 29th March, close to the village of Inywa.
Wingate ordered David Hastings to lead the bridgehead party across the river in the small Burmese country boats they had discovered hidden on the eastern shoreline. As the men prepared to cross some enemy activity was seen on the far bank. Wingate and his commanders felt that the Japanese posed little threat in their present numbers, and so pressed on with the crossing. Some lead boats did manage to get over, but others came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire and began to get into difficulties.
One such boat contained Captain David Hastings along with Sergeant William Royle, Corporal Harold Hodgkinson and Ptes. James Baker and Edward Kitchen. This boat was struggling to make the western bank and was continuously under heavy fire from the Japanese positions. From witness statements given after the operation, it would seem that Hastings and William Royle were wounded during this time. Here is an eye witness account from Pte. J.S. Critchley of the 13th Kings and 7 Column, given on his return to India in late March 1944:
"About three weeks before I was left behind by the column, I saw Capt. David Hastings together with Sgt. W. Royle, both of the 13th Bn. King's Liverpool Regiment, carried down the Irrawaddy on a dinghy. They were never heard of again. This incident took place during an opposed crossing of the Irrawaddy near Inyawa."
NB. Pte. Critchley is a very interesting character from 1943. He was left behind in late April that year with another soldier Corporal David Humphrey Jones. These two men managed to survive for nearly a whole year, living as natives in the Burmese village of Lalaw. Considering their physical condition at the time of Operation Longcloth and the continual presence of Japanese patrols in the area, this was quite an incredible achievement. Sadly, Jones died from the disease scrub typhus shortly after the pair had been discovered living in the village by a Gurkha Column from the following year's Chindit expedition.
Another witness statement in relation to Captain Hastings and his fate at Inywa was given by Major Kenneth Gilkes, the commander of 7 Column in 1943. Gilkes remembered:
"The last time I saw this officer he was with Sgt. Royle and Cpl. Hodgkinson on the 28th March. They were detailed to cross the Irrawaddy and were not seen again after they had got half way across. We were engaged by the enemy upstream and I imagine their boat was carried downstream by the strong current. To the best of my knowledge the boat was not sunk."
The crossing at Inywa was duly abandoned, the remaining columns and Wingate's HQ melted back into the jungle on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy. The three units agreed there and then to split up and make their own way back to Allied held territory individually. Column 7 retraced their steps and set off toward the Chinese Yunnan borders. Column 8 under Major Scott eventually crossed the Irrawaddy two weeks later with the help of some native boats, while Wingate held back in the jungle at Inywa for over a week, hoping that the Japanese activity in the area would die down and their progress to India could resume unmolested.
Sadly, Captain Hastings and the men from his boat were never seen or heard of again, the War diary for Northern Group, kept up until this point by Hastings was lost with them.
Seen below is another gallery of images relating to this story, including a map of the area around the Irrawaddy at the village of Inywa and the pages from the retrospective War diary written by Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke, concerning the action at the aborted crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March 1943. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Although the general consensus was that Hastings' boat was washed away down stream on the 29th March, another testimony exists that suggests that David Hastings, Sergeant Royle and the other men did actually make the western banks on that day. From Bernard Fergusson's auto-biography, The Trumpet in the Hall:
The attempt to cross at Inywa failed. A handful of men under David Hastings, son of Sir Patrick Hastings the famous King's Counsel, managed to get across and were seen walking up to the bank towards the jungle when shooting broke out, and David and others were seen to fall. A few of them actually managed to reach India, but it was obvious that there was no prospect of a crossing, and orders reached the Columns to break up into smaller parties.
The bodies of Captain Hastings and the other men that fell during the ill-fated crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March were never located or recovered after the war. Their names are commemorated upon the Rangoon Memorial at Taukkyan War Cemetery located on the northern outskirts of the Burmese capital city. This memorial contains the names of over 27,000 casualties from the Burma Campaign who were lost during WW2, but have no known grave. To view David Hastings CWGC details, please click on the following link:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2511196/HASTINGS,%20DAVID%20CECIL%20PATRICK
David Hastings is also remembered amongst the names on the Roll of Honour for the Inner Temple, Middle Temple and the Choir of the Temple Church's list of casualties for both WW1 and WW2. The Roll of Honour and Memorial can be found at The Temple Church which is situated very close to Fleet Street in London.
Seen below is the final gallery of images illustrating the story of Captain David Hastings, these include the full Roll of Honour from The Temple Church and his name upon Face 5 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
The attempt to cross at Inywa failed. A handful of men under David Hastings, son of Sir Patrick Hastings the famous King's Counsel, managed to get across and were seen walking up to the bank towards the jungle when shooting broke out, and David and others were seen to fall. A few of them actually managed to reach India, but it was obvious that there was no prospect of a crossing, and orders reached the Columns to break up into smaller parties.
The bodies of Captain Hastings and the other men that fell during the ill-fated crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March were never located or recovered after the war. Their names are commemorated upon the Rangoon Memorial at Taukkyan War Cemetery located on the northern outskirts of the Burmese capital city. This memorial contains the names of over 27,000 casualties from the Burma Campaign who were lost during WW2, but have no known grave. To view David Hastings CWGC details, please click on the following link:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2511196/HASTINGS,%20DAVID%20CECIL%20PATRICK
David Hastings is also remembered amongst the names on the Roll of Honour for the Inner Temple, Middle Temple and the Choir of the Temple Church's list of casualties for both WW1 and WW2. The Roll of Honour and Memorial can be found at The Temple Church which is situated very close to Fleet Street in London.
Seen below is the final gallery of images illustrating the story of Captain David Hastings, these include the full Roll of Honour from The Temple Church and his name upon Face 5 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank, Hannah Baker and Linda Jackson for all their help with my investigations into David Hastings' early life and his time at Middle Temple.
Update 19/05/2017.
From the Evening Despatch newspaper dated Tuesday 30th January 1940 and under the headline, Famous K.C.'s Son Engaged:
Mr. David Patrick Hastings, younger son of Sir Patrick Hastings KC, has become engaged it is announced today, to Miss Ginie Wrey, younger daughter of Commander and Mrs. E.C. Wrey, of Boarmans, Beaulieu in Hampshire. Mr. David Hastings is following the profession of which his father is such a celebrated representative. Commander Wrey was navigator of the destroyer Owl and the cruisers, Dartmouth and Cornwall during the last war and was awarded the OBE in 1919.
Update 19/11/2017.
Shown below is a beautiful image of the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers at Inywa. The photograph was taken by Daniel Berke, the grandson of former Chindit veteran, Pte. Frank Berkovitch and shows the two rivers meeting to the Northeast. It is incredible to think that this was effectively the same panorama that met the eyes of 77th Brigade, as they considered how they could cross this great obstacle some 75 years previously.
Update 19/05/2017.
From the Evening Despatch newspaper dated Tuesday 30th January 1940 and under the headline, Famous K.C.'s Son Engaged:
Mr. David Patrick Hastings, younger son of Sir Patrick Hastings KC, has become engaged it is announced today, to Miss Ginie Wrey, younger daughter of Commander and Mrs. E.C. Wrey, of Boarmans, Beaulieu in Hampshire. Mr. David Hastings is following the profession of which his father is such a celebrated representative. Commander Wrey was navigator of the destroyer Owl and the cruisers, Dartmouth and Cornwall during the last war and was awarded the OBE in 1919.
Update 19/11/2017.
Shown below is a beautiful image of the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers at Inywa. The photograph was taken by Daniel Berke, the grandson of former Chindit veteran, Pte. Frank Berkovitch and shows the two rivers meeting to the Northeast. It is incredible to think that this was effectively the same panorama that met the eyes of 77th Brigade, as they considered how they could cross this great obstacle some 75 years previously.
Update 20/03/2024.
I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Rob Crane:
Hello Steve - I found your website recently, while researching Nicholas Hastings for my own website and thought you might be interested in seeing his information. I was extremely interested to find out about Nicholas's younger brother, David Hastings, who lost his life with the Chindits in March 1943. Nicholas served with COPPS (Combined Operations Pilotage Parties) during WW2. I hope you don't mind that I've linked to your website for his page. I wonder how many brothers ended up operating in different special forces units during the war? I can think of the Stirlings in the SAS and the Courtneys in the SBS, but there can't be that many more.
To read more about Nicholas Hastings, please visit Rob's website here: www.coppsurvey.uk/nick-hastings
I replied to Rob:
Dear Rob,
Thank you for your recent email contact via my website in relation to David Hastings. I was not aware of his brother's contribution during WW2 and found your information about Nicholas and website more generally very interesting. I will, if you don't mind, place a reciprocal link to your website on David Hasting's page. I am aware of another set of brothers that served with Special Forces in Burma, one as a Chindit, the other with SOE in a stay-behind capacity. These were the Nimmo brothers and you can read more using this link to my website (scroll down alphabetically): Roll Call K-O
I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Rob Crane:
Hello Steve - I found your website recently, while researching Nicholas Hastings for my own website and thought you might be interested in seeing his information. I was extremely interested to find out about Nicholas's younger brother, David Hastings, who lost his life with the Chindits in March 1943. Nicholas served with COPPS (Combined Operations Pilotage Parties) during WW2. I hope you don't mind that I've linked to your website for his page. I wonder how many brothers ended up operating in different special forces units during the war? I can think of the Stirlings in the SAS and the Courtneys in the SBS, but there can't be that many more.
To read more about Nicholas Hastings, please visit Rob's website here: www.coppsurvey.uk/nick-hastings
I replied to Rob:
Dear Rob,
Thank you for your recent email contact via my website in relation to David Hastings. I was not aware of his brother's contribution during WW2 and found your information about Nicholas and website more generally very interesting. I will, if you don't mind, place a reciprocal link to your website on David Hasting's page. I am aware of another set of brothers that served with Special Forces in Burma, one as a Chindit, the other with SOE in a stay-behind capacity. These were the Nimmo brothers and you can read more using this link to my website (scroll down alphabetically): Roll Call K-O
Copyright © Steve Fogden, February 2015.