A Draft of D.L.I. Commandos
The cap badge of the Durham Light Infantry.
In the 142 Company R.I.A.S.C. war diary for January 1943 (National Archives reference WO172/2107), there is mention of a small draft of soldiers previously from the numbers of the Durham Light Infantry Regiment. The draft of 40 or so men had been posted to the commando unit of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade from the main reinforcement centre in India at that time, located at Deolali some 110 miles northeast of the port of Bombay.
The exact date the draft arrived at the Chindit training camp is not clear, but it would have been sometime between October-December 1942. By early January 1943, the majority of former DLI men had taken up their positions in the Commando platoons of Wingate's fledgling Chindit Brigade and were preparing to move up to the Assam/Burma border, unofficially denoted by the Chindwin River.
142 Commando had been raised on the 15th June 1942 at Jubbulpore in the Central Provinces of India. Many of the men present in the first draft were Commandos who had previously served in the European and the Middle Eastern theatres. 142 Commando was originally commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel T. Featherstonehaugh of the King's Royal Rifles. Featherstonehaugh had led No. 6 Commando earlier in the war, taking part in various raids against German forces in places such as Norway.
On the 13th July 1942, command of 142 Commando was given over to Major Mike Calvert of the Royal Engineers. The unit was then supplemented by soldiers from the Bush Warfare School based at Maymyo and the 204 Chinese Military Mission. Both these units had experience in Special Forces operations behind enemy lines and had only recently returned from expeditions in Burma and the Yunnan Provinces of China. It was around this time that 142 Commando moved to their new Chindit training camp at Saugor, also in the Central Provinces of India. It was at this camp that the DLI draft joined the ranks of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and began lessons in sabotage, handling explosives and new hand to hand combat techniques.
There was nothing particularly unusual about this latest draft of men, there had been similar amalgamations from the Devonshire's, Warwickshire's, Loyal's and Royal Welch Fusiliers over the latter part of 1942. All these reinforcements had been absorbed into the 13th Battalion, the King's Liverpool Regiment as a collective for the British element of Wingate's first Chindit Brigade. The significance of the Durham's participation on Operation Longcloth would not manifest itself until the Brigade was inside Burma and the expedition was well into its final stages.
In early 2011, I was contacted by Jim Tuckwell, a researcher into the history of the Durham Light Infantry during WW2. He had been interested in the possibility that soldiers from the Regiment had taken part in the first Chindit expedition in Burma and that some had fallen into Japanese hands. I was able to send Jim several documents including prisoner of war index cards for men with DLI credentials. I thought and heard nothing more about this matter until May 2014, when I received an email from Peter Nelson, a researcher with the group 'The Durham Light Infantry Museum Friends.'
Dear Steve,
As a member of the Durham Light Infantry Museum Friends, I am particularly involved with research, magazine production and soldier searches. I found your website while researching an article I was writing for the Durham Light Infantry Museum magazine on POW material received from Australia. I should mention that I have a particular interest in the Chindits – a family interest, as my father-in-law was involved in the second Chindit campaign with the South Staffs. The article, though, concerned men who may have been involved in Operation Longcloth.
The DLI Museum Friends were sent details (copies of Rangoon Jail PoW cards) of four soldiers, two of whom were, according to the cards, Durham Light Infantrymen. One of the others was a 13 King’s Regiment man and the other a Royal Corps of Signals soldier. All four had DLI ’446….’ numbers so presumably had enlisted with the DLI. The listings on your website confirmed the names of three of them, though one of those listed has a wrong initial. One couldn’t be found on your lists.
It has often been stated, and it is widely believed, that no DLI men became Japanese POW's so the two DLI cards are a surprise. What they were doing is also a mystery. Were they Chindits? No other explanation seems to fit.
We asked the Teikyo University Library in Durham to translate the Japanese entries on the cards. They had some difficulty as the language has changed somewhat but they verified that the copies were of genuine cards. All had ‘Malay’ stamped at the top of the second column together with the date translated as ‘15th March 1944’. One of the men died in camp of beriberi. In Japanese on the back of the cards of the three survivors it said ‘The prisoner recorded in this card was presumed to be released at 10km southwest of Waw in Burma on 29 April 1944 (VA44)’. Presumably they were members of the group of 400 that marched out of Rangoon Jail.
The cards detail the following individuals:-
POW No. 315. 4464639 Pte James Reeve - of 13 King’s Regt came from Langley Park, Durham. The son of a farmer, he was captured on 29th April 1943 near Monywa, became ill on 1st February 1944 and died of beriberi on 15 June 1944.
POW No. 338. 4469363 Pte James Frederick Tomlinson - of the Durham Light Infantry came from Middlesborough (then part of Yorkshire). He was captured at Moyuien, Burma on 28th April 1943.
POW No. 346. 4469229 Pte Arthur Harvey Hobson - of the Durham Light Infantry was from Hutton Cranswick, Yorkshire and was captured on 24th April 1943 in Burma, near the River Chindwin.
POW No. 111. 4462256 Sgt Charles Webster - Royal Corps of Signals was from Fallowfield, Manchester. He was captured on 8th March 1943 ‘at a cove in Chouteau side of the Karadan riverside in Burma.
On looking through the listings on your website I noted a further eleven men with ‘446….’ numbers, three of whom were marked as POW's (all were on the 13 King’s Regt Roll of Honour). I would appreciate any information you have of any other DLI POWs who were captured by the Japanese and details of any other DLI numbered men who may be known to you.
Regards …… Peter Nelson
This was my reply:
Dear Peter,
Thank you for your email contact via my website. In early 2011 I sent some of the Japanese index cards to a fellow researcher and member of the WW2Talk website forum. Jim Tuckwell has his own website in honour of the DLI and he was also intrigued in regards to DLI's held by the Japanese. I have a feeling that you may well be reading the index cards I sent to him previously.
Thank you for the translations, they will come in useful. Old Kanji Japanese characters can be difficult to get translated, but your source has done well. You are correct about the men who have the standard sentence on the reverse of their card mentioning the village of Waw. These are indeed amongst the men who were removed from the jail in late April 1945 and then marched towards the Thai Border.
I have quickly prepared an Excel sheet showing you the men from the DLI who took part on Operation Longcloth, or at least undertook the training in India in 1942. You will notice that they are almost all attached to the Commando platoons for the Chindit columns. I'm not sure where these men came from before joining the Chindits, but they were all of a certain quality to be placed into Commando units. Tomlinson and Reeve along with two other men Ptes. Park and Laybourne all attempted to escape Burma together in late April 1943, Laybourne was killed in action, the others were taken prisoner and only Jim Tomlinson survived to return home after his liberation in 1945.
Charles Webster, although a POW in Rangoon Jail and therefore still of great interest to your research, was not a Chindit as far as I can ascertain. In fact, your translation is very useful in this regard. I think it refers to him being captured in a cove on the Kaladan River, which places him in the Arakan region of Burma in 1943.
Peter replied:
Dear Steve,
I wanted to acknowledge receipt of your information which I've only had time to scan quickly. I'm looking forward to reading it in depth and clearly learning so much more about Operation Longcloth and Jim Tomlinson, in particular.
I'm sad that these men never had the recognition they so much deserved - a state of affairs that was also true of the second Chindit group. It is so frustrating that there has been so little known about them within the DLI ranks. I'll do what I can to remedy that. I have already mentioned your work, and included your website address as a key resource in an exploratory article giving background to the Chindit campaign and the lack of information in DLI histories about who these men were and what they did, I would like to follow-up with some explanation drawing once again on your information in a later edition of the magazine.
For the readers interest, here is Peter's initial article, as seen in the DLI Museum Friends magazine:
The exact date the draft arrived at the Chindit training camp is not clear, but it would have been sometime between October-December 1942. By early January 1943, the majority of former DLI men had taken up their positions in the Commando platoons of Wingate's fledgling Chindit Brigade and were preparing to move up to the Assam/Burma border, unofficially denoted by the Chindwin River.
142 Commando had been raised on the 15th June 1942 at Jubbulpore in the Central Provinces of India. Many of the men present in the first draft were Commandos who had previously served in the European and the Middle Eastern theatres. 142 Commando was originally commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel T. Featherstonehaugh of the King's Royal Rifles. Featherstonehaugh had led No. 6 Commando earlier in the war, taking part in various raids against German forces in places such as Norway.
On the 13th July 1942, command of 142 Commando was given over to Major Mike Calvert of the Royal Engineers. The unit was then supplemented by soldiers from the Bush Warfare School based at Maymyo and the 204 Chinese Military Mission. Both these units had experience in Special Forces operations behind enemy lines and had only recently returned from expeditions in Burma and the Yunnan Provinces of China. It was around this time that 142 Commando moved to their new Chindit training camp at Saugor, also in the Central Provinces of India. It was at this camp that the DLI draft joined the ranks of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and began lessons in sabotage, handling explosives and new hand to hand combat techniques.
There was nothing particularly unusual about this latest draft of men, there had been similar amalgamations from the Devonshire's, Warwickshire's, Loyal's and Royal Welch Fusiliers over the latter part of 1942. All these reinforcements had been absorbed into the 13th Battalion, the King's Liverpool Regiment as a collective for the British element of Wingate's first Chindit Brigade. The significance of the Durham's participation on Operation Longcloth would not manifest itself until the Brigade was inside Burma and the expedition was well into its final stages.
In early 2011, I was contacted by Jim Tuckwell, a researcher into the history of the Durham Light Infantry during WW2. He had been interested in the possibility that soldiers from the Regiment had taken part in the first Chindit expedition in Burma and that some had fallen into Japanese hands. I was able to send Jim several documents including prisoner of war index cards for men with DLI credentials. I thought and heard nothing more about this matter until May 2014, when I received an email from Peter Nelson, a researcher with the group 'The Durham Light Infantry Museum Friends.'
Dear Steve,
As a member of the Durham Light Infantry Museum Friends, I am particularly involved with research, magazine production and soldier searches. I found your website while researching an article I was writing for the Durham Light Infantry Museum magazine on POW material received from Australia. I should mention that I have a particular interest in the Chindits – a family interest, as my father-in-law was involved in the second Chindit campaign with the South Staffs. The article, though, concerned men who may have been involved in Operation Longcloth.
The DLI Museum Friends were sent details (copies of Rangoon Jail PoW cards) of four soldiers, two of whom were, according to the cards, Durham Light Infantrymen. One of the others was a 13 King’s Regiment man and the other a Royal Corps of Signals soldier. All four had DLI ’446….’ numbers so presumably had enlisted with the DLI. The listings on your website confirmed the names of three of them, though one of those listed has a wrong initial. One couldn’t be found on your lists.
It has often been stated, and it is widely believed, that no DLI men became Japanese POW's so the two DLI cards are a surprise. What they were doing is also a mystery. Were they Chindits? No other explanation seems to fit.
We asked the Teikyo University Library in Durham to translate the Japanese entries on the cards. They had some difficulty as the language has changed somewhat but they verified that the copies were of genuine cards. All had ‘Malay’ stamped at the top of the second column together with the date translated as ‘15th March 1944’. One of the men died in camp of beriberi. In Japanese on the back of the cards of the three survivors it said ‘The prisoner recorded in this card was presumed to be released at 10km southwest of Waw in Burma on 29 April 1944 (VA44)’. Presumably they were members of the group of 400 that marched out of Rangoon Jail.
The cards detail the following individuals:-
POW No. 315. 4464639 Pte James Reeve - of 13 King’s Regt came from Langley Park, Durham. The son of a farmer, he was captured on 29th April 1943 near Monywa, became ill on 1st February 1944 and died of beriberi on 15 June 1944.
POW No. 338. 4469363 Pte James Frederick Tomlinson - of the Durham Light Infantry came from Middlesborough (then part of Yorkshire). He was captured at Moyuien, Burma on 28th April 1943.
POW No. 346. 4469229 Pte Arthur Harvey Hobson - of the Durham Light Infantry was from Hutton Cranswick, Yorkshire and was captured on 24th April 1943 in Burma, near the River Chindwin.
POW No. 111. 4462256 Sgt Charles Webster - Royal Corps of Signals was from Fallowfield, Manchester. He was captured on 8th March 1943 ‘at a cove in Chouteau side of the Karadan riverside in Burma.
On looking through the listings on your website I noted a further eleven men with ‘446….’ numbers, three of whom were marked as POW's (all were on the 13 King’s Regt Roll of Honour). I would appreciate any information you have of any other DLI POWs who were captured by the Japanese and details of any other DLI numbered men who may be known to you.
Regards …… Peter Nelson
This was my reply:
Dear Peter,
Thank you for your email contact via my website. In early 2011 I sent some of the Japanese index cards to a fellow researcher and member of the WW2Talk website forum. Jim Tuckwell has his own website in honour of the DLI and he was also intrigued in regards to DLI's held by the Japanese. I have a feeling that you may well be reading the index cards I sent to him previously.
Thank you for the translations, they will come in useful. Old Kanji Japanese characters can be difficult to get translated, but your source has done well. You are correct about the men who have the standard sentence on the reverse of their card mentioning the village of Waw. These are indeed amongst the men who were removed from the jail in late April 1945 and then marched towards the Thai Border.
I have quickly prepared an Excel sheet showing you the men from the DLI who took part on Operation Longcloth, or at least undertook the training in India in 1942. You will notice that they are almost all attached to the Commando platoons for the Chindit columns. I'm not sure where these men came from before joining the Chindits, but they were all of a certain quality to be placed into Commando units. Tomlinson and Reeve along with two other men Ptes. Park and Laybourne all attempted to escape Burma together in late April 1943, Laybourne was killed in action, the others were taken prisoner and only Jim Tomlinson survived to return home after his liberation in 1945.
Charles Webster, although a POW in Rangoon Jail and therefore still of great interest to your research, was not a Chindit as far as I can ascertain. In fact, your translation is very useful in this regard. I think it refers to him being captured in a cove on the Kaladan River, which places him in the Arakan region of Burma in 1943.
Peter replied:
Dear Steve,
I wanted to acknowledge receipt of your information which I've only had time to scan quickly. I'm looking forward to reading it in depth and clearly learning so much more about Operation Longcloth and Jim Tomlinson, in particular.
I'm sad that these men never had the recognition they so much deserved - a state of affairs that was also true of the second Chindit group. It is so frustrating that there has been so little known about them within the DLI ranks. I'll do what I can to remedy that. I have already mentioned your work, and included your website address as a key resource in an exploratory article giving background to the Chindit campaign and the lack of information in DLI histories about who these men were and what they did, I would like to follow-up with some explanation drawing once again on your information in a later edition of the magazine.
For the readers interest, here is Peter's initial article, as seen in the DLI Museum Friends magazine:
| dli_burma_pows-2.pdf |
Shown below are the POW index cards mentioned in Peter Nelson's email and which form the basis of the argument that men from the Durham Light Infantry did indeed fall into Japanese hands in WW2. I have replaced the card for Charles Webster, proven not to be part of the first Chindit operation, with that of Pte. Stephen O' Connor, a commando with Chindit Column 5 in 1943. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Here is a breakdown listing for the men of the Durham Light Infantry that trained as commandos for the first Wingate expedition, beginning with the soldiers that trained at the Saugor Camp, but did not actually make the journey into Burma. All information shown has been taken from the 142 Commando War diaries held at the National Archives, to that end any errors present, such as incorrect digits for service numbers for instance, I can only apologise for in advance.
The structure of each Chindit Commando platoon was as follows:
1 Commanding Officer, usually a Lieutenant promoted to Acting/Captain.
1 2nd Lieutenant
1 Sergeant
1 Corporal
2 Lance Corporals
1 Sapper from the Royal Engineers
12-14 Privates
These first five men found themselves in hospital for whatever reason on the 17th January 1943 and therefore missed going in to Burma for health reasons.
4462800 Pte. Henry William Sullivan. Henry died later in the war whilst serving with the 2nd Border Regiment, he is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery, grave reference 18.J.8. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2087974/SULLIVAN,%20HENRY%20WILLIAM
4467152 Pte. John Edmond Davis
4469204 Pte. Ernest Greenhald
4468425 Pte. J. R. Kelly
4452539 Pte. Thomas Mallows
4469200 Pte. Henry Gosling was placed on to the reserve list in January 1943 and did not take part on Operation Longcloth. It is likely that he and all the other above mentioned men returned to the Deolali Reinforcement Camp until a new posting was organised.
The next group of men served with Chindit Columns 1, 2 and 3. These were all predominately Gurkha columns, in fact, apart from a few officers present, the Commando platoons were the only other British troops serving with these units.
NB. My research is based mainly on documents that deal with the casualties and the missing from Operation Longcloth, men that successfully return to India in 1943 generally fall under the radar, unless of course information comes my way via their relatives or comrades.
The structure of each Chindit Commando platoon was as follows:
1 Commanding Officer, usually a Lieutenant promoted to Acting/Captain.
1 2nd Lieutenant
1 Sergeant
1 Corporal
2 Lance Corporals
1 Sapper from the Royal Engineers
12-14 Privates
These first five men found themselves in hospital for whatever reason on the 17th January 1943 and therefore missed going in to Burma for health reasons.
4462800 Pte. Henry William Sullivan. Henry died later in the war whilst serving with the 2nd Border Regiment, he is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery, grave reference 18.J.8. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2087974/SULLIVAN,%20HENRY%20WILLIAM
4467152 Pte. John Edmond Davis
4469204 Pte. Ernest Greenhald
4468425 Pte. J. R. Kelly
4452539 Pte. Thomas Mallows
4469200 Pte. Henry Gosling was placed on to the reserve list in January 1943 and did not take part on Operation Longcloth. It is likely that he and all the other above mentioned men returned to the Deolali Reinforcement Camp until a new posting was organised.
The next group of men served with Chindit Columns 1, 2 and 3. These were all predominately Gurkha columns, in fact, apart from a few officers present, the Commando platoons were the only other British troops serving with these units.
NB. My research is based mainly on documents that deal with the casualties and the missing from Operation Longcloth, men that successfully return to India in 1943 generally fall under the radar, unless of course information comes my way via their relatives or comrades.
Cyril Gallagher.
4468938 Pte. James Hodgson was killed on the 3rd May 1943. The circumstances of his death are unknown at this time. James was a member of Chindit Column 1 on Operation Longcloth. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2511514/HODGSON,%20JAMES
4466746 Pte. Cyril Matthew Gallagher was born during the spring months of 1910 at Southwick, a village situated on the north banks of the Weir River in what is now the city of Sunderland. Although he began his Army service with the Durham Light Infantry Regiment, he was actually serving with the Yorks and Lancs Regiment at the time of his transfer to the 13th King's and then 142 Commando on the 16th July 1942.
Pte. Gallagher was a member of 2 Column on Operation Longcloth and it is likely that he was killed at or shortly after the engagement with the Japanese at the Kyaikthin rail station on the 2nd March 1943. Chindit Column 2 had reached the outskirts of the rail station well after dark and as the column slowly made its way along the rail tracks it was ambushed by a large force of enemy troops. The column was badly caught out and suffered many casualties. Dispersal was called but confusion reigned as the unit became fragmented, with some sections pushing on to the agreed forward rendezvous, whilst others deciding to turn around and head for home.
To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2509186/GALLAGHER,%20CYRIL%20MATTHEW
4466217 Pte. George Frederick Martin was also with 2 Column on Operation Longcloth, he died on the 1st April 1943. To view his CWGC details, please click on the following link: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2517241/MARTIN,%20GEORGE%20FREDERICK
4469203 Pte. Eric Kevin Gray was a member of 2 Column in 1943, he successfully returned to India after the expedition was over.
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2511514/HODGSON,%20JAMES
4466746 Pte. Cyril Matthew Gallagher was born during the spring months of 1910 at Southwick, a village situated on the north banks of the Weir River in what is now the city of Sunderland. Although he began his Army service with the Durham Light Infantry Regiment, he was actually serving with the Yorks and Lancs Regiment at the time of his transfer to the 13th King's and then 142 Commando on the 16th July 1942.
Pte. Gallagher was a member of 2 Column on Operation Longcloth and it is likely that he was killed at or shortly after the engagement with the Japanese at the Kyaikthin rail station on the 2nd March 1943. Chindit Column 2 had reached the outskirts of the rail station well after dark and as the column slowly made its way along the rail tracks it was ambushed by a large force of enemy troops. The column was badly caught out and suffered many casualties. Dispersal was called but confusion reigned as the unit became fragmented, with some sections pushing on to the agreed forward rendezvous, whilst others deciding to turn around and head for home.
To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2509186/GALLAGHER,%20CYRIL%20MATTHEW
4466217 Pte. George Frederick Martin was also with 2 Column on Operation Longcloth, he died on the 1st April 1943. To view his CWGC details, please click on the following link: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2517241/MARTIN,%20GEORGE%20FREDERICK
4469203 Pte. Eric Kevin Gray was a member of 2 Column in 1943, he successfully returned to India after the expedition was over.
Pte. Frank Ireland, May 1940.
4461546 Lance/Sgt. Frank Ireland was a member of 2 Column in 1943, he successfully returned to India after the expedition was over. (Photograph courtesy of Jim Tuckwell).
4469159 Pte. Gerald Coyne was a member of 3 Column in 1943, he successfully returned to India after the expedition was over.
The next group DLI's served with 4 Column and made up the vast majority of the platoon. Column 4 was also primarily a Gurkha unit and formed part of Northern Group in 1943, it was commanded in the first instance by Major Philip Conron. The column was the first unit from Northern Group to be attacked by the Japanese and generally had a difficult time inside Burma. After being ambushed by the enemy on the 4th March and suffering the loss of their wireless set during the engagement, the majority of 4 Column returned to India. This is the reason why almost all the 4 Column Commandos survived the operation.
The following ten soldiers all returned safely to India in 1943:
3133822 Pte. Robert Brown Boyd. I have included this man because he is stated as being from the Durham's on the nominal roll for 4 Column Commando (see image below), even though his service number does not correspond with the sequence for the regiment during WW2 and should be that of a Royal Scottish Fusilier.
Update 14/04/2024.
I was delighted recently to receive an email contact from John Dixon, who was able to unravel the reasoning behind Robert Brown Boyd's inclusion with the DLI commandos:
Dear Steve, on your page regarding DLI soldiers and Operation Longcloth you query why one particular man (Robert Brown Boyd) should have a Royal Scottish Fusilier's Regimental Number. That's because he was part of an intake into the Perth Primary Training Centre, who were then transferred en bloc to 11th DLI post-Dunkirk to make up lost numbers killed or captured in Northern France. Given your details on this page, I can now add considerably to Pte. Boyd's details on my website here: http://70brigade.newmp.org.uk/wiki/Boyd_Robert_Brown_Pte_3133822
I am in regular contact with both Jim Tuckwell and Tom Tunney and we help each other out frequently. I will check through the rest of your men to see if I can add any information about them and will be in touch if there are any more men from the DLI that we have in common. Kind regards, John.
4469129 Pte. Derrick Thomas Boylen
4469145 Pte. Sydney Campbell
4464935 Pte. Reginald Henry Cordiner
4469188 Pte. Herbert Fordy
4469298 Pte. Alfred Rendall Nichol
4469324 Pte. William Robson
4469354 Pte. Gordon Taylor
4469302 Pte. William Robson Ormston
4469501 Pte. William Parker Fawkes
4469159 Pte. Gerald Coyne was a member of 3 Column in 1943, he successfully returned to India after the expedition was over.
The next group DLI's served with 4 Column and made up the vast majority of the platoon. Column 4 was also primarily a Gurkha unit and formed part of Northern Group in 1943, it was commanded in the first instance by Major Philip Conron. The column was the first unit from Northern Group to be attacked by the Japanese and generally had a difficult time inside Burma. After being ambushed by the enemy on the 4th March and suffering the loss of their wireless set during the engagement, the majority of 4 Column returned to India. This is the reason why almost all the 4 Column Commandos survived the operation.
The following ten soldiers all returned safely to India in 1943:
3133822 Pte. Robert Brown Boyd. I have included this man because he is stated as being from the Durham's on the nominal roll for 4 Column Commando (see image below), even though his service number does not correspond with the sequence for the regiment during WW2 and should be that of a Royal Scottish Fusilier.
Update 14/04/2024.
I was delighted recently to receive an email contact from John Dixon, who was able to unravel the reasoning behind Robert Brown Boyd's inclusion with the DLI commandos:
Dear Steve, on your page regarding DLI soldiers and Operation Longcloth you query why one particular man (Robert Brown Boyd) should have a Royal Scottish Fusilier's Regimental Number. That's because he was part of an intake into the Perth Primary Training Centre, who were then transferred en bloc to 11th DLI post-Dunkirk to make up lost numbers killed or captured in Northern France. Given your details on this page, I can now add considerably to Pte. Boyd's details on my website here: http://70brigade.newmp.org.uk/wiki/Boyd_Robert_Brown_Pte_3133822
I am in regular contact with both Jim Tuckwell and Tom Tunney and we help each other out frequently. I will check through the rest of your men to see if I can add any information about them and will be in touch if there are any more men from the DLI that we have in common. Kind regards, John.
4469129 Pte. Derrick Thomas Boylen
4469145 Pte. Sydney Campbell
4464935 Pte. Reginald Henry Cordiner
4469188 Pte. Herbert Fordy
4469298 Pte. Alfred Rendall Nichol
4469324 Pte. William Robson
4469354 Pte. Gordon Taylor
4469302 Pte. William Robson Ormston
4469501 Pte. William Parker Fawkes
4465019 Pte. Alec Murgatroyd. This man did not return to India with the majority of 4 Column in early March 1943. He and fellow commando, Lance Corporal George Patrick Sullivan led by Gurkha Officer, Lieutenant Stuart-Jones, pushed on eastwards after the column was ambushed by the Japanese and eventually teamed up with 8 Column. Sullivan was later captured by the Japanese and sadly perished inside Rangoon Jail.
Pte. Murgatroyd's fate is unclear, although it is suggested that he remained with the commando platoon from 8 Column led by Lieutenant T.A.G. Sprague. His date of death 1st October 1943, is also somewhat of a mystery, as the operation had been officially closed well before this time. It is possible that he was captured by the Japanese at the same time as George Sullivan, but did not live long enough as a POW to reach Rangoon Jail. According to his Army Will, Alec Murgatroyd came from Baildon Green near Shipley in Yorkshire. In the document he leaves all his worldly possessions to his mother, with the will being witnessed by two of the other men mentioned in the list of commandos seen above, Herbert Fordy from Gateshead and Gordon Taylor from Whitley Bay.
To view Alec Murgatroyd's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2519186/MURGATROYD,%20ALEC
Seen in the gallery below are some images in relation to the DLI soldiers from 4 Column Commando, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about the DLI soldiers that formed 4 Column Commando, please click on the following link:
The Bricklayers of Column 4 Commando
Pte. Murgatroyd's fate is unclear, although it is suggested that he remained with the commando platoon from 8 Column led by Lieutenant T.A.G. Sprague. His date of death 1st October 1943, is also somewhat of a mystery, as the operation had been officially closed well before this time. It is possible that he was captured by the Japanese at the same time as George Sullivan, but did not live long enough as a POW to reach Rangoon Jail. According to his Army Will, Alec Murgatroyd came from Baildon Green near Shipley in Yorkshire. In the document he leaves all his worldly possessions to his mother, with the will being witnessed by two of the other men mentioned in the list of commandos seen above, Herbert Fordy from Gateshead and Gordon Taylor from Whitley Bay.
To view Alec Murgatroyd's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2519186/MURGATROYD,%20ALEC
Seen in the gallery below are some images in relation to the DLI soldiers from 4 Column Commando, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about the DLI soldiers that formed 4 Column Commando, please click on the following link:
The Bricklayers of Column 4 Commando
DLI men from Chindit Columns 5 and 7:
The following four soldiers were all members of 5 Column Commando in 1943 and all returned safely to India:
4469491 Pte. Edward Donovan
4466775 Pte. Alexander Hill
4469350 Pte. Harry Powell Stephenson
4469334 Pte. Joseph William Scott
4465972 Pte. Robert Turner also with 5 Column in Burma, died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail. Robert's POW number was 581, it is stated that he died of malarial paralysis from experiments performed on him by Japanese medical staff at the Maymyo Concentration Camp. To read more about this alleged atrocity, please click on the following link: Japanese Experimentation on POW's
To view Robert's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261358/TURNER,%20ROBERT
4462834 Pte. Stephen O'Connor was originally with 5 Column Commando on Operation Longcloth. He was one of the 100 or so men from this column to be separated from the main body of Major Fergusson's force on the 29th March 1943, after a battle with the Japanese at a place called Hintha. He later joined up with a dispersal group from 7 Column, but was captured by the Japanese on the 4th May. Stephen survived his time as a prisoner of war and was liberated on the 29th April 1945 at the Burmese village of Waw. His POW index card is featured in the first gallery of this story.
4467185 Pte. Leslie Simnet Peace died on the 25th August 1943 and is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery, located on the northern outskirts of Rangoon. He had been with a 7 Column dispersal group that had exited Burma via the Yunnan Provinces of China in late April 1943, but had to drop out of the line of march. One witness statement suggests that he actually chose to remain with Pte. John Masland (see next man down) when this soldier could no longer walk.
The fact that Leslie has an actual grave at Taukkyan means that his original burial was recorded by the Army Investigation Bureau, or that the Chinese village where he was laid to rest marked his last resting place and this could be identified after the war was over. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2262174/PEACE,%20LESLIE%20SIMNET
Update 11/03/2017.
On closer examination of the CWGC documentation for Leslie Peace, it has transpired that before his interment at Taukkyan War Cemetery, Leslie had previously been laid to rest at Mandalay Military Cemetery. From the very same document (shown in the gallery below), I made another intriguing discovery. Buried alongside Pte. Peace at Mandalay, were two other men from the 13th Battalion of the King's Regiment, who for one reason or another could not be identified. These graves were also re-interred at Taukkyan War Cemetery in 1951. Could it be, that one of the soldiers buried with his comrades at Mandalay, but whose identity could not ascertained by the Army Graves Registration Unit after the war, was none other than Pte. John Masland? Frustratingly, we shall probably never know.
Update 31/07/2017.
From information now received, it seems that Leslie Peace had in fact fallen into enemy hands towards the closing stages of Operation Longcloth. The Staffordshire Advertiser newspaper carried this short report in an issue dated 13th October 1945:
Stone Man Died in Captivity
News has been received by Mrs. Dorothy Peace of 11 Radford Street, Stone, that her husband, Pte. Leslie Peace, the King's Regiment, died of dysentery in a Japanese prison camp on, or about the 25th August 1943. Pte. Peace joined the Army in 1940 and took part in General Wingate's first expedition into Burma, from which he was reported missing. Previous to joining the Forces, he was employed by Messrs. Timothy Whites and Taylors, the chemists in Stone.
With this latest information, it seems likely that Pte. Peace was being held at the concentration camp at Maymyo and had fallen ill with dysentery as the Chindit prisoners were being prepared to move down to Rangoon Jail. This would account for his initial interment at the Mandalay, which is around 50 miles from Maymyo and was where the men were loaded aboard cattle trucks to make the long journey to Rangoon.
4468945 Pte. John Masland. This man was with 7 Column Commando on Operation Longcloth. He developed a sceptic foot on the march out via the Chinese Borders and was left behind in the village of Sima on the 6th May 1943. He died in late July 1943, probably in some form of Chinese Hospital. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2517294/MASLAND,%20JOHN
4466920 Pte. Nicholas Brady Walton was with 7 Column on Operation Longcloth and returned safely to India after the operation. He gave at least one witness statement on debrief in relation to Pte. Alan Frederick Forth, also with 7 Column Commando.
4469219 Pte. Thomas Harrison was a member of 7 Column Commando.
4466861 Pte. James William Redpath was a member of 7 Column Commando in 1943.
The following four soldiers were all members of 5 Column Commando in 1943 and all returned safely to India:
4469491 Pte. Edward Donovan
4466775 Pte. Alexander Hill
4469350 Pte. Harry Powell Stephenson
4469334 Pte. Joseph William Scott
4465972 Pte. Robert Turner also with 5 Column in Burma, died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail. Robert's POW number was 581, it is stated that he died of malarial paralysis from experiments performed on him by Japanese medical staff at the Maymyo Concentration Camp. To read more about this alleged atrocity, please click on the following link: Japanese Experimentation on POW's
To view Robert's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261358/TURNER,%20ROBERT
4462834 Pte. Stephen O'Connor was originally with 5 Column Commando on Operation Longcloth. He was one of the 100 or so men from this column to be separated from the main body of Major Fergusson's force on the 29th March 1943, after a battle with the Japanese at a place called Hintha. He later joined up with a dispersal group from 7 Column, but was captured by the Japanese on the 4th May. Stephen survived his time as a prisoner of war and was liberated on the 29th April 1945 at the Burmese village of Waw. His POW index card is featured in the first gallery of this story.
4467185 Pte. Leslie Simnet Peace died on the 25th August 1943 and is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery, located on the northern outskirts of Rangoon. He had been with a 7 Column dispersal group that had exited Burma via the Yunnan Provinces of China in late April 1943, but had to drop out of the line of march. One witness statement suggests that he actually chose to remain with Pte. John Masland (see next man down) when this soldier could no longer walk.
The fact that Leslie has an actual grave at Taukkyan means that his original burial was recorded by the Army Investigation Bureau, or that the Chinese village where he was laid to rest marked his last resting place and this could be identified after the war was over. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2262174/PEACE,%20LESLIE%20SIMNET
Update 11/03/2017.
On closer examination of the CWGC documentation for Leslie Peace, it has transpired that before his interment at Taukkyan War Cemetery, Leslie had previously been laid to rest at Mandalay Military Cemetery. From the very same document (shown in the gallery below), I made another intriguing discovery. Buried alongside Pte. Peace at Mandalay, were two other men from the 13th Battalion of the King's Regiment, who for one reason or another could not be identified. These graves were also re-interred at Taukkyan War Cemetery in 1951. Could it be, that one of the soldiers buried with his comrades at Mandalay, but whose identity could not ascertained by the Army Graves Registration Unit after the war, was none other than Pte. John Masland? Frustratingly, we shall probably never know.
Update 31/07/2017.
From information now received, it seems that Leslie Peace had in fact fallen into enemy hands towards the closing stages of Operation Longcloth. The Staffordshire Advertiser newspaper carried this short report in an issue dated 13th October 1945:
Stone Man Died in Captivity
News has been received by Mrs. Dorothy Peace of 11 Radford Street, Stone, that her husband, Pte. Leslie Peace, the King's Regiment, died of dysentery in a Japanese prison camp on, or about the 25th August 1943. Pte. Peace joined the Army in 1940 and took part in General Wingate's first expedition into Burma, from which he was reported missing. Previous to joining the Forces, he was employed by Messrs. Timothy Whites and Taylors, the chemists in Stone.
With this latest information, it seems likely that Pte. Peace was being held at the concentration camp at Maymyo and had fallen ill with dysentery as the Chindit prisoners were being prepared to move down to Rangoon Jail. This would account for his initial interment at the Mandalay, which is around 50 miles from Maymyo and was where the men were loaded aboard cattle trucks to make the long journey to Rangoon.
4468945 Pte. John Masland. This man was with 7 Column Commando on Operation Longcloth. He developed a sceptic foot on the march out via the Chinese Borders and was left behind in the village of Sima on the 6th May 1943. He died in late July 1943, probably in some form of Chinese Hospital. To view his CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2517294/MASLAND,%20JOHN
4466920 Pte. Nicholas Brady Walton was with 7 Column on Operation Longcloth and returned safely to India after the operation. He gave at least one witness statement on debrief in relation to Pte. Alan Frederick Forth, also with 7 Column Commando.
4469219 Pte. Thomas Harrison was a member of 7 Column Commando.
4466861 Pte. James William Redpath was a member of 7 Column Commando in 1943.
4467217 Pte. Absalom Woolley was also a member of 7 Column Commando on Operation Longcloth. Thanks to Jim Tuckwell for spotting this soldier's inclusion on the Birmingham City FC Armed Services roll of honour a few years ago (June 2021), which sadly, is no longer on line. In a second contact, the following details were given for Pte. Woolley (sometimes spelled Wooley), found on line in September 2024:
4467817 (notice the slight difference in the service number) Pte. A. Wooley
Enlisted June 1940 - discharged March 1946
17th Durham Light Infantry
Embarked India 1942 with Yorks & Lancs Regiment
143 (142) Special Service Unit attached 77 Indian Infantry Brigade
A Chindit with the King's Regiment.
Update 10/09/2024.
I was delighted to receive the following email and information in relation to Absalom Woolley:
Hi Steve,
I have been doing some research into my grandfather Absalom Woolley and found references to him on your site. I noted that Jim Tuckwell had sent you some information from when my grandad was on the Remembrance Day memorial that Birmingham City FC presented in 2020. I have several photographs of grandad, including the one from the above mentioned memorial if you are interested. We know that grandad was extremely proud to be a Chindit and the three regiments he served with during WW2.
Kind regards, Ian Lomas.
Ian went on to tell me:
Appy, which was grandad’s nickname, was born on the 29th April 1920 and was the middle child of five, having one brother and three sisters. He married my Nan (Lavinia) in January 1946. Nan was best mates with grandad’s youngest sister Norah, so this is how they first met. My Mom Sandra, was their only child and I am the eldest of Appy’s three grandchildren. He also had a great-grandson and great-granddaughter too.
Grandad was proud to be an original Chindit, as he always labelled himself and my Mom still has his Chindit hat. Like so many of the Burma veterans, he never really mentioned anything about the war apart from an inter-company football match where he played in goal and they got beat 10-0! He also talked about the Indian punkhawallahs, but that was about it.
After being demobbed he went to work on the railways for National Carriers and then moved on to work for Typhoo and British Leyland. Just before he passed away (aged 92) on the 10th July 2012, he had all his nurses in stitches, re-enacting his time in Burma and going through the jungle. Before his funeral, my Nan and Mom found a picture in his wallet of him and a Gurkha soldier. That was the first time Nan had seen the photograph. They decided that as none of us had seen the picture before, it was best it stayed that way. My Nan went on to reach the grand old age of 100, before she passed away (rather aptly) on Armistice Day 2022.
Seen below are some of the photographs mentioned by Ian in his email, including an image of Absalom’s slouch hat and his page from the Birmingham City FC memorial from 2020. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ian and his family for allowing me to add these images and story to my websites pages.
4467817 (notice the slight difference in the service number) Pte. A. Wooley
Enlisted June 1940 - discharged March 1946
17th Durham Light Infantry
Embarked India 1942 with Yorks & Lancs Regiment
143 (142) Special Service Unit attached 77 Indian Infantry Brigade
A Chindit with the King's Regiment.
Update 10/09/2024.
I was delighted to receive the following email and information in relation to Absalom Woolley:
Hi Steve,
I have been doing some research into my grandfather Absalom Woolley and found references to him on your site. I noted that Jim Tuckwell had sent you some information from when my grandad was on the Remembrance Day memorial that Birmingham City FC presented in 2020. I have several photographs of grandad, including the one from the above mentioned memorial if you are interested. We know that grandad was extremely proud to be a Chindit and the three regiments he served with during WW2.
Kind regards, Ian Lomas.
Ian went on to tell me:
Appy, which was grandad’s nickname, was born on the 29th April 1920 and was the middle child of five, having one brother and three sisters. He married my Nan (Lavinia) in January 1946. Nan was best mates with grandad’s youngest sister Norah, so this is how they first met. My Mom Sandra, was their only child and I am the eldest of Appy’s three grandchildren. He also had a great-grandson and great-granddaughter too.
Grandad was proud to be an original Chindit, as he always labelled himself and my Mom still has his Chindit hat. Like so many of the Burma veterans, he never really mentioned anything about the war apart from an inter-company football match where he played in goal and they got beat 10-0! He also talked about the Indian punkhawallahs, but that was about it.
After being demobbed he went to work on the railways for National Carriers and then moved on to work for Typhoo and British Leyland. Just before he passed away (aged 92) on the 10th July 2012, he had all his nurses in stitches, re-enacting his time in Burma and going through the jungle. Before his funeral, my Nan and Mom found a picture in his wallet of him and a Gurkha soldier. That was the first time Nan had seen the photograph. They decided that as none of us had seen the picture before, it was best it stayed that way. My Nan went on to reach the grand old age of 100, before she passed away (rather aptly) on Armistice Day 2022.
Seen below are some of the photographs mentioned by Ian in his email, including an image of Absalom’s slouch hat and his page from the Birmingham City FC memorial from 2020. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ian and his family for allowing me to add these images and story to my websites pages.
Seen in the gallery below are some more images in relation to DLI soldiers from 7 and 8 Column Commando. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
DLI men from 8 Column Commando and Brigade Head Quarters:
4469371 Pte. Thomas Weedy. This soldier was one of the first men to loose his life on Operation Longcloth, when 8 Column engaged a Japanese garrison force at the Burmese village of Pinlebu. To view Thomas' CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528377/WEEDY,%20THOMAS
4468717 Pte. Sydney Laybourne was killed on the 17th April 1943 during an ambush by the Japanese on his dispersal group. He had been with Ptes. Tomlinson, Reeve and Park when the enemy surprised them close to the Burmese railway town of Mohnyin. To view Sydney's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2515806/LAYBOURNE,%20SYDNEY
4469306 Pte. George William Park was captured by the Japanese in late April 1943, having left the main body of 8 Column with Ptes. Laybourne, Tomlinson and Reeve a few weeks earlier. George sadly perished in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail on the 19th February 1944 and was originally buried at the English Cantonment Cemetery, located near the Royal Lakes in the eastern sector of the city. During his time as a prisoner of war he was given the POW number 441 and his grave reference at the Cantonment Cemetery was recorded as 161.
To view George Park's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261056/PARK,%20GEORGE%20WILLIAM
4464639 Pte. James Reeve was also in the dispersal group with Ptes. Laybourne, Tomlinson and Park. He was captured on the 29th April 1943 and spent just over one year inside Rangoon Jail before succumbing to the ravages of beri beri and jungle sores on the 15th June 1944. James was given the POW number 315 whilst in the jail and was buried alongside his Chindit comrades in the Cantonment Cemetery with his grave reference recorded as number 184. The POW index card for James Reeve can be viewed in the very first image gallery on this page.
To view his CWGC details, please click on the following link:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261126/REEVE,%20JAMES
4469363 Pte. James Frederick Tomlinson was the only member of the dispersal group containing Ptes. Park, Reeve and Laybourne to survive his time as a prisoner of war. He was captured on the 28th April 1943 at the railway town of Mohnyin and spent just over two years inside Rangoon Jail before being liberated on the march out of the jail in April 1945 at the Burmese town of Pegu. Pte. Tomlinson's POW number was 338 and his index card can be seen in the first image gallery on this page.
Jim Tomlinson lived in Middlesbrough and sadly died in May 2013. To read more about his time in Burma and as a prisoner of war, please click on the following link: Jim Tomlinson, 8 Column Commando
4469338 Pte. Edmund Hussey Shaw (who features in the group photograph seen above), successfully returned to India after Operation Longcloth was over. Edward gave several witness statements to the post-operation debrief panel in regards to his comrades from the 8 Column Commando platoon that had not returned, these included statements for Archibald Allen and John Boyd.
4469229 Pte. Arthur Harvey Hobson fell out of the line of march from Brigadier Wingate's own Brigade Head Quarters. He was suffering with the effects of severe dysentery at that time and could not continue on with his dispersal group. Arthur was taken prisoner on the 24th April 1943 and spent just over two years inside Rangoon Jail. His POW number was 346 and his index card can be viewed in the first gallery shown on this page. Arthur was liberated in late April 1945 near the Burmese town of Pegu.
Arthur Hobson lived at No. 1 Hutton Road, Cranswick, a village just south of the town of Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. According to the Driffield Times dated 16th June 1945, on his arrival home from Burma, Arthur was presented with a £5 voucher by the Driffield and District Next of Kin Association. This organisation had been set up in the local area to assist families of soldiers listed as missing or known to be prisoners of war.
4467646 Corporal James Dixon. Born on the 2nd December 1910 and also a Commando in Brigade Head Quarters, James was posted to Captain Hosegood's Intelligence section on Operation Longcloth. He was captured on the 11th May 1943 at the Mynyaung Chaung, close to the Irrawaddy River and spent just under two years inside Rangoon Jail with the POW number 369. James was liberated in late April 1945 at Pegu. To read more about Pte. Dixon's time in Burma and the details of his capture, please click on the following link: Pte. Leonard Coffin
From the pages of the Liverpool Echo dated 23rd July 1943 and under the headline, Reported Missing:
Private James Dixon, aged 37 and whose home is at 1 Helmdon Close, West Derby, Liverpool 11, is reported as missing in the Indian theatre of war. He joined the forces nearly three years ago.
4466933 Pte. Robert Weston was with Wingate's own dispersal party in April 1943. The group had reached the eastern banks of the Chindwin River and were in effect just a few miles from the safety of Allied held territory. Pte. Weston was a member of a small splinter group led by Lieutenant Rose formerly of the Sherwood Foresters. Rose and his party had taken great care to avoid well used paths and passing too close to local villages in their approach to the Chindwin. As they dropped down into the river valley, excitement took hold and they lost their caution and march discipline.
Signals Sergeant Eric Hutchins was also a member of this party and remembered the moment when Robert Weston was captured by the Japanese. Eric gave an audio memoir to the Imperial War Museum in 1995 in which he recounted his experiences on Operation Longcloth, including Weston's last moments. To emphasise the tone of Hutchin's recollection I have recorded his words myself (see the audio file below), rather than simply transcribe them onto the page. I have tried to be true to the original recording, please forgive me if I have failed in this attempt.
To view Robert Weston's CWGC details, please click on the following link:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528402/WESTON,%20ROBERT
4469371 Pte. Thomas Weedy. This soldier was one of the first men to loose his life on Operation Longcloth, when 8 Column engaged a Japanese garrison force at the Burmese village of Pinlebu. To view Thomas' CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528377/WEEDY,%20THOMAS
4468717 Pte. Sydney Laybourne was killed on the 17th April 1943 during an ambush by the Japanese on his dispersal group. He had been with Ptes. Tomlinson, Reeve and Park when the enemy surprised them close to the Burmese railway town of Mohnyin. To view Sydney's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2515806/LAYBOURNE,%20SYDNEY
4469306 Pte. George William Park was captured by the Japanese in late April 1943, having left the main body of 8 Column with Ptes. Laybourne, Tomlinson and Reeve a few weeks earlier. George sadly perished in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail on the 19th February 1944 and was originally buried at the English Cantonment Cemetery, located near the Royal Lakes in the eastern sector of the city. During his time as a prisoner of war he was given the POW number 441 and his grave reference at the Cantonment Cemetery was recorded as 161.
To view George Park's CWGC details, please click on the link below:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261056/PARK,%20GEORGE%20WILLIAM
4464639 Pte. James Reeve was also in the dispersal group with Ptes. Laybourne, Tomlinson and Park. He was captured on the 29th April 1943 and spent just over one year inside Rangoon Jail before succumbing to the ravages of beri beri and jungle sores on the 15th June 1944. James was given the POW number 315 whilst in the jail and was buried alongside his Chindit comrades in the Cantonment Cemetery with his grave reference recorded as number 184. The POW index card for James Reeve can be viewed in the very first image gallery on this page.
To view his CWGC details, please click on the following link:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261126/REEVE,%20JAMES
4469363 Pte. James Frederick Tomlinson was the only member of the dispersal group containing Ptes. Park, Reeve and Laybourne to survive his time as a prisoner of war. He was captured on the 28th April 1943 at the railway town of Mohnyin and spent just over two years inside Rangoon Jail before being liberated on the march out of the jail in April 1945 at the Burmese town of Pegu. Pte. Tomlinson's POW number was 338 and his index card can be seen in the first image gallery on this page.
Jim Tomlinson lived in Middlesbrough and sadly died in May 2013. To read more about his time in Burma and as a prisoner of war, please click on the following link: Jim Tomlinson, 8 Column Commando
4469338 Pte. Edmund Hussey Shaw (who features in the group photograph seen above), successfully returned to India after Operation Longcloth was over. Edward gave several witness statements to the post-operation debrief panel in regards to his comrades from the 8 Column Commando platoon that had not returned, these included statements for Archibald Allen and John Boyd.
4469229 Pte. Arthur Harvey Hobson fell out of the line of march from Brigadier Wingate's own Brigade Head Quarters. He was suffering with the effects of severe dysentery at that time and could not continue on with his dispersal group. Arthur was taken prisoner on the 24th April 1943 and spent just over two years inside Rangoon Jail. His POW number was 346 and his index card can be viewed in the first gallery shown on this page. Arthur was liberated in late April 1945 near the Burmese town of Pegu.
Arthur Hobson lived at No. 1 Hutton Road, Cranswick, a village just south of the town of Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. According to the Driffield Times dated 16th June 1945, on his arrival home from Burma, Arthur was presented with a £5 voucher by the Driffield and District Next of Kin Association. This organisation had been set up in the local area to assist families of soldiers listed as missing or known to be prisoners of war.
4467646 Corporal James Dixon. Born on the 2nd December 1910 and also a Commando in Brigade Head Quarters, James was posted to Captain Hosegood's Intelligence section on Operation Longcloth. He was captured on the 11th May 1943 at the Mynyaung Chaung, close to the Irrawaddy River and spent just under two years inside Rangoon Jail with the POW number 369. James was liberated in late April 1945 at Pegu. To read more about Pte. Dixon's time in Burma and the details of his capture, please click on the following link: Pte. Leonard Coffin
From the pages of the Liverpool Echo dated 23rd July 1943 and under the headline, Reported Missing:
Private James Dixon, aged 37 and whose home is at 1 Helmdon Close, West Derby, Liverpool 11, is reported as missing in the Indian theatre of war. He joined the forces nearly three years ago.
4466933 Pte. Robert Weston was with Wingate's own dispersal party in April 1943. The group had reached the eastern banks of the Chindwin River and were in effect just a few miles from the safety of Allied held territory. Pte. Weston was a member of a small splinter group led by Lieutenant Rose formerly of the Sherwood Foresters. Rose and his party had taken great care to avoid well used paths and passing too close to local villages in their approach to the Chindwin. As they dropped down into the river valley, excitement took hold and they lost their caution and march discipline.
Signals Sergeant Eric Hutchins was also a member of this party and remembered the moment when Robert Weston was captured by the Japanese. Eric gave an audio memoir to the Imperial War Museum in 1995 in which he recounted his experiences on Operation Longcloth, including Weston's last moments. To emphasise the tone of Hutchin's recollection I have recorded his words myself (see the audio file below), rather than simply transcribe them onto the page. I have tried to be true to the original recording, please forgive me if I have failed in this attempt.
To view Robert Weston's CWGC details, please click on the following link:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528402/WESTON,%20ROBERT
Seen below is a final gallery of images in relation to the men of 8 Column Commando. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
I believe that the information presented above, clearly shows that a draft of men originally from the Durham Light Infantry served as commandos on the first Wingate expedition in Burma. Whether in Army terminology, their re-assignment as 13th King's for that duration changes the identity of these former DLI men; and in particular, those that became prisoners of war in 1943, I will let the reader decide. But, please never forget that at least three of the men, when interrogated by their Japanese captors inside Rangoon Jail, gave their parent regiment as the Durham Light Infantry. If nothing else, this clear statement tells you exactly where their hearts and loyalties rested.
I would like to thank Peter Nelson and Jim Tuckwell for their invaluable support in bringing this intriguing story to these website pages.
I would like to thank Peter Nelson and Jim Tuckwell for their invaluable support in bringing this intriguing story to these website pages.
Update 27/09/2015.
I recently received an email contact from Tom Tunney, who has researched the 16th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and their particular pathway during WW2. Inspired in no small way by his father's own service with the battalion, Tom has put together some remarkable analysis and detailed information on DLI regimental Army service numbers for WW2.
Here is what he had to say in his first email:
Hello Steve,
I've just come across your site while researching DLI Army numbers. I have a website devoted to the 16th Bn. DLI, which fought in Tunisia, Italy and Greece. A major part of my site is devoted to DLI Army numbers, both the 445-446 series and those originally enlisted in other units. I have arranged all known DLI fatal casualties, gallantry awards and POWs in consecutive form to give an instant context to each recruit for the 446 series of numbers. I already knew about the ex-DLI men who died with the 13th King's, but was amazed to discover from your site the number of men in the same December 1941 training draft as my father (his number was 4469365), who ended up with the Chindits and who survived the 1943 expedition.
I would very much like to add the names and numbers of these DLI Chindits into my listing with a link for each name to your site. There are already several of your men in the earlier part of this sequence, all enlisting at 4 Infantry Training Centre, Brancepeth in December 1941. However, there is also Pte. E.Donovan, 4469491, who enlisted direct to Recruit Coy, 16 DLI at Folkstone in January 1942 and also a few men with earlier numbers which I have also threaded into my main list and which I can send on if required.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Tunney
I was of course only too pleased to help Tom in his research and shown below is a link to his website and the information he has recorded about the men who subsequently became Chindits in 1943.
http://powbooks.atspace.co.uk/page236.html
I recently received an email contact from Tom Tunney, who has researched the 16th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and their particular pathway during WW2. Inspired in no small way by his father's own service with the battalion, Tom has put together some remarkable analysis and detailed information on DLI regimental Army service numbers for WW2.
Here is what he had to say in his first email:
Hello Steve,
I've just come across your site while researching DLI Army numbers. I have a website devoted to the 16th Bn. DLI, which fought in Tunisia, Italy and Greece. A major part of my site is devoted to DLI Army numbers, both the 445-446 series and those originally enlisted in other units. I have arranged all known DLI fatal casualties, gallantry awards and POWs in consecutive form to give an instant context to each recruit for the 446 series of numbers. I already knew about the ex-DLI men who died with the 13th King's, but was amazed to discover from your site the number of men in the same December 1941 training draft as my father (his number was 4469365), who ended up with the Chindits and who survived the 1943 expedition.
I would very much like to add the names and numbers of these DLI Chindits into my listing with a link for each name to your site. There are already several of your men in the earlier part of this sequence, all enlisting at 4 Infantry Training Centre, Brancepeth in December 1941. However, there is also Pte. E.Donovan, 4469491, who enlisted direct to Recruit Coy, 16 DLI at Folkstone in January 1942 and also a few men with earlier numbers which I have also threaded into my main list and which I can send on if required.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Tunney
I was of course only too pleased to help Tom in his research and shown below is a link to his website and the information he has recorded about the men who subsequently became Chindits in 1943.
http://powbooks.atspace.co.uk/page236.html
Postscript.
My connection and interest in all matters D.L.I. does not rest solely upon those men from the regiment who served with the first Wingate expedition in 1943. My maternal grandmother, Isabella Howney (née Bussey), who was the inspiration for this websites existence grew up in the village of Counden Grange, situated a few miles east of Bishop Auckland. She and her brothers and sisters were brought up in this tight-nit mining community and her father, Robert William Bussey served in WW1 with the 18th Battalion (Durham Pals) of the D.L.I.
Robert, who was known unsurprisingly as Bob, served with the 18th Battalion almost through the entirety of the war, firstly in Egypt during 1915 in the defence of the Suez Canal and then in France during the horrors of the summer of 1916 at the Somme. Thankfully, Bob Bussey survived and came home safely to his family. In WW2, Robert's son Thomas Bussey, who was living at 12 Jackson Street, Counden Grange at the time, served with the 20th Durham (Darlington) Battalion, Home Guard.
Seen below is a gallery of images, including Robert Bussey's WW1 medal index card and Tom Bussey's Home Guard Attestation Form. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
My connection and interest in all matters D.L.I. does not rest solely upon those men from the regiment who served with the first Wingate expedition in 1943. My maternal grandmother, Isabella Howney (née Bussey), who was the inspiration for this websites existence grew up in the village of Counden Grange, situated a few miles east of Bishop Auckland. She and her brothers and sisters were brought up in this tight-nit mining community and her father, Robert William Bussey served in WW1 with the 18th Battalion (Durham Pals) of the D.L.I.
Robert, who was known unsurprisingly as Bob, served with the 18th Battalion almost through the entirety of the war, firstly in Egypt during 1915 in the defence of the Suez Canal and then in France during the horrors of the summer of 1916 at the Somme. Thankfully, Bob Bussey survived and came home safely to his family. In WW2, Robert's son Thomas Bussey, who was living at 12 Jackson Street, Counden Grange at the time, served with the 20th Durham (Darlington) Battalion, Home Guard.
Seen below is a gallery of images, including Robert Bussey's WW1 medal index card and Tom Bussey's Home Guard Attestation Form. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Copyright © Steve Fogden and Peter Nelson, June 2015.