The Longcloth Roll Call
Surname U-Z
This section is an alphabetical roll of the men from Operation Longcloth. It takes its inspiration from other such formats available on the Internet, websites such as Special Forces Roll of Honour and of course the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). The information shown comes from various different documents related to the first Chindit Operation in 1943. Apart from more obvious data, such as the serviceman's rank, number and regimental unit, other detail has been taken from associated war diaries, missing in action files and casualty witness statements. The vast majority of this type of information has been located at the National Archives and the relevant file references can be found in the section Sources and Knowledge on this website.
Sometimes, if the man in question became a prisoner of war more detail can be displayed showing his time whilst in Japanese hands. Other avenues for additional information are: books, personal diaries, veteran audio accounts and subsequent family input via letter, email and phone call.
The idea behind this page, is to include as many Longcloth participants as possible, even if there is only a small amount of information about their contribution to hand. Please click on any of the images to hopefully bring them forward on the page.
All information contained on this page is Copyright © Steve Fogden April 2014.
This section is an alphabetical roll of the men from Operation Longcloth. It takes its inspiration from other such formats available on the Internet, websites such as Special Forces Roll of Honour and of course the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). The information shown comes from various different documents related to the first Chindit Operation in 1943. Apart from more obvious data, such as the serviceman's rank, number and regimental unit, other detail has been taken from associated war diaries, missing in action files and casualty witness statements. The vast majority of this type of information has been located at the National Archives and the relevant file references can be found in the section Sources and Knowledge on this website.
Sometimes, if the man in question became a prisoner of war more detail can be displayed showing his time whilst in Japanese hands. Other avenues for additional information are: books, personal diaries, veteran audio accounts and subsequent family input via letter, email and phone call.
The idea behind this page, is to include as many Longcloth participants as possible, even if there is only a small amount of information about their contribution to hand. Please click on any of the images to hopefully bring them forward on the page.
All information contained on this page is Copyright © Steve Fogden April 2014.
CWGC certificate for James Upton.
UPTON, JAMES
Rank: Private
Service No: 3780157
Date of Death: 08/11/1940
Age: 20
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Section O Grave 787 Manchester Philips Park Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2403167/upton,-james/#&gid=null&pid=2
Other details:
James Upton was the son of George and Isabelle Upton from Bradford in Manchester. Pte. Upton became the first recorded casualty of the 13th King's on the 8th November 1940, when he was accidentally shot with a revolver whilst the battalion were based at the Felixstowe Army Camp in Suffolk. After an investigation into the incident was concluded, James' body was released to the family and he was buried on the 13th November at the Philips Park Cemetery in Manchester alongside his mother and father. His grave inscription at Philips Park simply reads:
Rank: Private
Service No: 3780157
Date of Death: 08/11/1940
Age: 20
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Section O Grave 787 Manchester Philips Park Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2403167/upton,-james/#&gid=null&pid=2
Other details:
James Upton was the son of George and Isabelle Upton from Bradford in Manchester. Pte. Upton became the first recorded casualty of the 13th King's on the 8th November 1940, when he was accidentally shot with a revolver whilst the battalion were based at the Felixstowe Army Camp in Suffolk. After an investigation into the incident was concluded, James' body was released to the family and he was buried on the 13th November at the Philips Park Cemetery in Manchester alongside his mother and father. His grave inscription at Philips Park simply reads:
He Lies At Rest With Those He Loved Best,
His Mother and Father.
His Mother and Father.
Seen below are two images in relation to this short story. Please click on either image to bring it forward on the page. NB: The above soldier should not be confused with Pte. 3650365 James Upton, who was a member of No. 8 Column on Operation Longcloth and was involved in the hijacking of a Burmese boat on the Irrawaddy in late April 1943.
Cap badge for the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
USHER, JOHN ALBERT
Rank: Corporal
Service No: 4199545
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
John Albert Usher was born on the 13th March 1916 and was the son of Mary Usher, from Wrexham in North Wales. Originally a soldier with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Corporal Usher was transferred to the 13th King's on the 30th September 1942, commencing his Chindit training at the Saugor Camp in the Central Provinces of India. He was posted to No. 18 Platoon within 8 Column, under the command of Captain Raymond Edward Williams.
From the War diary of 8 Column dated 1st April 1943:
Recce of the River Shweli carried out during the afternoon and we have decided to cross this evening near the Wingaba Cliffs, S.N. 2563. Column moved down to the river at dusk. Rope got across the river which was flowing very fast on the near side. Captain Williams with two other officers, Lieutenants Hobday and Horton and 29 British Other Ranks crossed the river to form a bridgehead. The next party under Sgt. Scruton got in to difficulties and drifted away down-stream. Both boats having been lost, the crossing was called off. Captain Williams and his party moved from the far bank at first light for the next agreed rendezvous. The rope across the river was withdrawn.
After the aborted crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March 1943, 8 Column led by Major W. P. Scott marched away from the other Chindit columns and headed east towards the Shweli River. As mentioned in the war diary quote above, Captain Williams' platoon were the only section of the column to cross the fast flowing Shweli River on the 1st April. After his group had crossed, a mix up occurred involving the power-rope which the column had secured across the river and no further soldiers could join Captain Williams on the far bank. In the end it was decided that his platoon should continue their march out of India under their own steam.
Captain Williams' platoon, of which Corporal Usher was a member, suffered great misfortune from that moment on and were ambushed by the Japanese on no fewer than three occasions over the following weeks. It was during the second ambush on the 17th April 1943 that John Usher was captured by the enemy and began his long sojourn as a prisoner of war. The platoon were approaching the Irrawaddy from the south, close to the Burmese village of Zinbon, when the Japanese surprised the Chindits causing them to disperse in all directions. Many of the men were killed, but Corporal Usher along with four other soldiers were taken prisoner. To read more about Captain Williams and his men, please click on the following link: Captain Williams and Platoon 18
Seen below, is a witness statement with mention of John Usher and some of the other men from Captain Williams' platoon during Operation Longcloth. The account, given by Corporal A. McCann, the only man from the unit to return safely to India in 1943, describes the third ambush suffered by the platoon and the subsequent death of Captain Williams. Corporal Usher was given the official missing in action date of 24th April 1943, based on this witness account, but as we already know he had fallen into Japanese hands one week earlier.
Rank: Corporal
Service No: 4199545
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
John Albert Usher was born on the 13th March 1916 and was the son of Mary Usher, from Wrexham in North Wales. Originally a soldier with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Corporal Usher was transferred to the 13th King's on the 30th September 1942, commencing his Chindit training at the Saugor Camp in the Central Provinces of India. He was posted to No. 18 Platoon within 8 Column, under the command of Captain Raymond Edward Williams.
From the War diary of 8 Column dated 1st April 1943:
Recce of the River Shweli carried out during the afternoon and we have decided to cross this evening near the Wingaba Cliffs, S.N. 2563. Column moved down to the river at dusk. Rope got across the river which was flowing very fast on the near side. Captain Williams with two other officers, Lieutenants Hobday and Horton and 29 British Other Ranks crossed the river to form a bridgehead. The next party under Sgt. Scruton got in to difficulties and drifted away down-stream. Both boats having been lost, the crossing was called off. Captain Williams and his party moved from the far bank at first light for the next agreed rendezvous. The rope across the river was withdrawn.
After the aborted crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March 1943, 8 Column led by Major W. P. Scott marched away from the other Chindit columns and headed east towards the Shweli River. As mentioned in the war diary quote above, Captain Williams' platoon were the only section of the column to cross the fast flowing Shweli River on the 1st April. After his group had crossed, a mix up occurred involving the power-rope which the column had secured across the river and no further soldiers could join Captain Williams on the far bank. In the end it was decided that his platoon should continue their march out of India under their own steam.
Captain Williams' platoon, of which Corporal Usher was a member, suffered great misfortune from that moment on and were ambushed by the Japanese on no fewer than three occasions over the following weeks. It was during the second ambush on the 17th April 1943 that John Usher was captured by the enemy and began his long sojourn as a prisoner of war. The platoon were approaching the Irrawaddy from the south, close to the Burmese village of Zinbon, when the Japanese surprised the Chindits causing them to disperse in all directions. Many of the men were killed, but Corporal Usher along with four other soldiers were taken prisoner. To read more about Captain Williams and his men, please click on the following link: Captain Williams and Platoon 18
Seen below, is a witness statement with mention of John Usher and some of the other men from Captain Williams' platoon during Operation Longcloth. The account, given by Corporal A. McCann, the only man from the unit to return safely to India in 1943, describes the third ambush suffered by the platoon and the subsequent death of Captain Williams. Corporal Usher was given the official missing in action date of 24th April 1943, based on this witness account, but as we already know he had fallen into Japanese hands one week earlier.
Witness statement mentioning Corporal Usher, from Cpl. A. McCann, describing the third ambush on the 23rd April 1943 and the death of Captain Williams.
The men captured alongside Corporal Usher were taken to the Maymyo Concentration Camp where many of the Chindits were first collected together by the Japanese. There is anecdotal evidence, from the personal memoir of Sergeant Harold Palmer, that John Usher was present at the Maymyo Camp in May 1943:
After seven days, we were taken to Maymyo, where we found other POW’s from our column including the unlucky boat party. Just before the monsoons in May, 100 of us were sent to Rangoon prison, where 300 men from the 1942 campaign had already done 18 months. My God, I thought, I’ll never do that long.
At Rangoon, the Japs amputated a leg from Corporal Usher of Wrexham, and an arm from Pte. Roche from Liverpool. They took them from the cells one morning to the general hospital and brought them back again on stretchers, and were putting them into a (communal) cell again, when I suggested that another cell could be used. Our own interpreter asked the Japs and they saw the light and they opened a disused block and put the two boys in a dirty cell and gave them six bananas to eat. Because I had been doing the dirty medical work for the Japs when they dressed the wounded on the way to Maymyo, I volunteered to stay with them (Usher and Roche). Those wounds had a lousy stink, and the Japs, even with their proverbial gauze masks, had me take off the old bandages before they treated the wounds. They were very short of medical kit. Those two boys suffered terrible nerve pains and for a few nights there wasn’t much peace for them.
Corporal Usher had suffered with severe and infected jungle sores for several weeks before he became a prisoner of war at Zinbon. With little medical attention given by the Japanese, these had become ulcerated and it became necessary to remove his right leg from just above the knee. In the book, Operation Rangoon Jail, by Colonel K.P. Mackenzie, another of the British Army doctors present inside the jail, it is suggested that Major Norman McLeod of the Indian Medical Service performed the actual surgery on Corporal Usher:
McLeod also performed some remarkably difficult operations in Rangoon Jail. I was not present at any of these, but saw some of the results he obtained, when amputating without anaesthetics. One case in which he achieved a wonderful result was when he removed the leg of a sturdy little Welshman, Corporal J. Usher from Wrexham, just below the thigh. Thanks to the skill of McLeod, Usher made an excellent recovery and was amongst the party that was liberated when the British eventually re-entered Rangoon.
Corporal Usher spent just under two years living in cell block no. 6 with the rest of the men captured during the first Wingate expedition. He had been given the POW number 105 and had to recite this number in the Japanese language, at both morning and evening roll call. According to the information on the reverse of his POW index card, John was one of a group of men who were marched out of the jail by the Japanese guards and who were subsequently given their freedom close to the Burmese town of Pegu on the 29th April 1945. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that Corporal Usher, with his obvious disability, would have been chosen by the senior British officers, as one of the men deemed fit enough to make the march that April. It seems more probable that he would have remained at the jail with the rest of the prisoners and was liberated from this location a few days later on the 2nd May.
After liberation, the men freed from Rangoon Jail were sent back to India aboard HMHS Karapara and spent a period of time recuperating in hospital at Calcutta. Most men were then posted back to their regiment before capture, which in Corporal Usher's case would have been the 13th King's at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. John was repatriated a few weeks later, arriving back in the United Kingdom on the 17th August 1945. He then spent sometime at Calderstones Hospital in the village of Whalley near Blackburn. John Albert Usher died aged 69 in the winter of 1985, he was residing in the Blackpool area at the time.
Seen below are some more images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
After seven days, we were taken to Maymyo, where we found other POW’s from our column including the unlucky boat party. Just before the monsoons in May, 100 of us were sent to Rangoon prison, where 300 men from the 1942 campaign had already done 18 months. My God, I thought, I’ll never do that long.
At Rangoon, the Japs amputated a leg from Corporal Usher of Wrexham, and an arm from Pte. Roche from Liverpool. They took them from the cells one morning to the general hospital and brought them back again on stretchers, and were putting them into a (communal) cell again, when I suggested that another cell could be used. Our own interpreter asked the Japs and they saw the light and they opened a disused block and put the two boys in a dirty cell and gave them six bananas to eat. Because I had been doing the dirty medical work for the Japs when they dressed the wounded on the way to Maymyo, I volunteered to stay with them (Usher and Roche). Those wounds had a lousy stink, and the Japs, even with their proverbial gauze masks, had me take off the old bandages before they treated the wounds. They were very short of medical kit. Those two boys suffered terrible nerve pains and for a few nights there wasn’t much peace for them.
Corporal Usher had suffered with severe and infected jungle sores for several weeks before he became a prisoner of war at Zinbon. With little medical attention given by the Japanese, these had become ulcerated and it became necessary to remove his right leg from just above the knee. In the book, Operation Rangoon Jail, by Colonel K.P. Mackenzie, another of the British Army doctors present inside the jail, it is suggested that Major Norman McLeod of the Indian Medical Service performed the actual surgery on Corporal Usher:
McLeod also performed some remarkably difficult operations in Rangoon Jail. I was not present at any of these, but saw some of the results he obtained, when amputating without anaesthetics. One case in which he achieved a wonderful result was when he removed the leg of a sturdy little Welshman, Corporal J. Usher from Wrexham, just below the thigh. Thanks to the skill of McLeod, Usher made an excellent recovery and was amongst the party that was liberated when the British eventually re-entered Rangoon.
Corporal Usher spent just under two years living in cell block no. 6 with the rest of the men captured during the first Wingate expedition. He had been given the POW number 105 and had to recite this number in the Japanese language, at both morning and evening roll call. According to the information on the reverse of his POW index card, John was one of a group of men who were marched out of the jail by the Japanese guards and who were subsequently given their freedom close to the Burmese town of Pegu on the 29th April 1945. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that Corporal Usher, with his obvious disability, would have been chosen by the senior British officers, as one of the men deemed fit enough to make the march that April. It seems more probable that he would have remained at the jail with the rest of the prisoners and was liberated from this location a few days later on the 2nd May.
After liberation, the men freed from Rangoon Jail were sent back to India aboard HMHS Karapara and spent a period of time recuperating in hospital at Calcutta. Most men were then posted back to their regiment before capture, which in Corporal Usher's case would have been the 13th King's at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. John was repatriated a few weeks later, arriving back in the United Kingdom on the 17th August 1945. He then spent sometime at Calderstones Hospital in the village of Whalley near Blackburn. John Albert Usher died aged 69 in the winter of 1985, he was residing in the Blackpool area at the time.
Seen below are some more images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Update 14/12/2018.
I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Michael Clayton Usher, nephew of John Usher:
Hi Stephen,
My Uncle was Corporal John Usher and I have enjoyed reading about him and the other Chindits on your website. He came from a very large family, seven brothers and four sisters, sadly all have now passed away. I have many happy memories of my uncle from when I was a youngster and will without a doubt read through more of your pages. As with so many of those returning from war, he did not ever talk about his experiences as a prisoner of war, well certainly not to his family anyway. I guess he took those painful memories to his grave when he died in 1985. Many thanks again for this fantastic website.
I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Michael Clayton Usher, nephew of John Usher:
Hi Stephen,
My Uncle was Corporal John Usher and I have enjoyed reading about him and the other Chindits on your website. He came from a very large family, seven brothers and four sisters, sadly all have now passed away. I have many happy memories of my uncle from when I was a youngster and will without a doubt read through more of your pages. As with so many of those returning from war, he did not ever talk about his experiences as a prisoner of war, well certainly not to his family anyway. I guess he took those painful memories to his grave when he died in 1985. Many thanks again for this fantastic website.
Update 20/02/2021.
I was pleased to receive a copy of the official war photograph showing Major Norman McLeod, one of the medical officers held at Rangoon Jail during the years 1942-45, examining James Usher's leg after his amputation. This image has become one of the most well-known and iconic images in relation to the story of Rangoon Jail and the Allied prisoners held there during the war. Please click on either image to bring it forward on the page.
I was pleased to receive a copy of the official war photograph showing Major Norman McLeod, one of the medical officers held at Rangoon Jail during the years 1942-45, examining James Usher's leg after his amputation. This image has become one of the most well-known and iconic images in relation to the story of Rangoon Jail and the Allied prisoners held there during the war. Please click on either image to bring it forward on the page.
William Vandivert, India April 1943.
VANDIVERT, WILLIAM WILSON
Chindit Column: Honorary 8
William Wilson Vandivert was born in the U.S. state of Illinois on the 16th August 1912. He became a well known photographer for the American lifestyle magazine, Life and was renowned for his front line images from the many combat theatres of WW2.
William became involved with the Chindit story in April 1943, when he took a ride in a RAF Dakota aircraft, which was about to attempt a landing in the Burmese jungle, in order to rescue a number of sick and wounded Chindits. These men were from 8 Column under the command of Major Walter Purcell Scott of the King's Regiment. The photographs taken by Vandivert on that day, were to become the most recognisable photographs from the first Wingate expedition and some of the most iconic images from the Burma campaign overall. Of course, his exploits during what became known as the Piccadilly incident, resulted in Vandivert, and the pilot of the Dakota, Michael Vlasto, becoming honorary Chindits in the eyes of the men they extricated from the Burmese jungle.
To read more about the Dakota rescue at Sonpu, please click on the following link:
The Piccadilly Incident
William Vandivert, working at the time as a war correspondent for Illustrated Magazine, wrote an article about his adventure aboard the Dakota and his meeting with the beleaguered Chindits in April 1943. From the pages of Illustrated Magazine dated 10th July 1943:
Deep Jungle Sores
The Colonel, C.O. of one of the groups, sat a step apart at the rear of the plane. Beneath his collar I could see deep, open jungle sores. I stopped beside him as he fumbled through two small packets that were all he had brought with him. From a map folder he carefully drew a folded copy of Punch, and laughed helplessly—until a fit of coughing racked it short. It was a copy we had dropped on the Sunday.
A ruptured soldier was barely holding himself together, biting his lips in agony. Man-handling machine guns through the hills, he had ripped himself in a fall. He suddenly leaned over, vomiting. A toad from a Tommy's pack hopped aimlessly until it found a quiet corner. Leaning forward to catch it, a grenade spilled from the soldier's breast pocket and rolled down the floor. The toad disappeared and the soldier fondled the grenade. Clutching his head, the Burmese crumpled up, groaning, and we cleared a place to lay him rolled in blankets. He was suffering from severe malaria.
I sat beside the Colonel, and to the punctuation of that cough, I learned the story of his column. They had been hard on the offensive until a week across the Irrawaddy. They had scored well. Then after the final supply-drop they had split up to recross the river on their return journey and for the first time they had been hunted, not hunters. They had bumped into a Japanese patrol, fought well, and headed north. Under the hill by the Irrawaddy they had camped for two days, waiting. River steamer towns above and below them were heavily garrisoned now and all river traffic operated under protection. But on the third morning they had watched three small guard boats work upstream, followed, after half an hour, by a junk creeping up the opposite shore. She had tacked across and grounded on a mudbank right below.
The troops swarmed out like pirates, took her and hauled back three of her crew who had dived over the side. Less than two hours later they were all across the toughest hurdle, even their last mule. Two days later, however, she died and the radio she carried sent one last message for our supply drop. The mule was buried in the bush. They had no rations and, foraging in a village,‘ they had found only one cup of rice per man. Japanese patrols had stripped bare the whole countryside along the river. Two days before the rendezvous the men had begun eating jungle leaves and "succulent" bamboo. They began dropping like flies with hunger. The hardest thing in this warfare had been leaving casualties in the column's track. But that was a law by which all these forces had to move. " Right here," said the colonel, "we all came very close to God."
Our supplies had saved them. Sunday's drop had turned the tide of fortune. Some stragglers had come up. With rations and unexpected rest they now were fit again for the march to India, racing against time, monsoons and impassable rivers. That was the story. The pilot then gave permission to smoke. The corporal on the end seat, Fred Nightingale, of Lancaster, handed me a battered tin, saying : "Here, have one of mine. They fly them specially from India for me." A chunk of white parachute around Nightingale's neck made him look garish. Ulcers had worn him thin. The last two days to the rendezvous had been his last effort, and he had known it; will power had just kept him moving. He had straggled back to the rear of the column and seen men dropping by the dusty jungle track. It happened quietly.
One chum, with jungle sores deeply infecting his legs, just couldn't lift them again. He had dropped, saying softly : "Well, I guess I've had it." The column had moved slowly on and dust had settled. The ruptured soldier sat silently forward, elbows on knees. I asked him about the jungle and he only said: "It's bitter cruel." He was Corporal Jimmy Walker, who had dropped two days before the rendezvous with dysentery and infected hips. It was only his great will, too, that had brought him hobbling in the day before.
Then there were the gay ones. Private Jim Suddery, of Islington, North London, for example, fumbled through his purse and held out a light Japanese rifle slug. It had entered his back, rib high, and come out, a purple spot on his belly. " Souvenir," he chuckled, adding : " but you should have seen the ones we gave out."
We crossed the Chindwin through broken cloud and the men peered out, seeing in one hour and a quarter what they had marched across in previous weeks. Landing was a let down. Dead weariness set in again. In reaction to stand and file through the door-way became another incredible effort of will. Strangely, when they were on the ground, most of them stood unconscious again of packs, talking with fighter pilots who had brought us through. Two Japanese fighters had seen us, but had not made a pass at us. Ambulances finally arrived. Flight Sergeant May and I watched them roll away. He said : " Well, I guess that's helping England." H.Q. said no more landings, and we had to agree.
To learn more about William Vandivert and to view more of his photographic portfolio, please click on the following link:
photographyandarthistory.wordpress.com/category/william-vandivert/
William Vandivert sadly died on the 1st December 1989. Shown below are some images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Chindit Column: Honorary 8
William Wilson Vandivert was born in the U.S. state of Illinois on the 16th August 1912. He became a well known photographer for the American lifestyle magazine, Life and was renowned for his front line images from the many combat theatres of WW2.
William became involved with the Chindit story in April 1943, when he took a ride in a RAF Dakota aircraft, which was about to attempt a landing in the Burmese jungle, in order to rescue a number of sick and wounded Chindits. These men were from 8 Column under the command of Major Walter Purcell Scott of the King's Regiment. The photographs taken by Vandivert on that day, were to become the most recognisable photographs from the first Wingate expedition and some of the most iconic images from the Burma campaign overall. Of course, his exploits during what became known as the Piccadilly incident, resulted in Vandivert, and the pilot of the Dakota, Michael Vlasto, becoming honorary Chindits in the eyes of the men they extricated from the Burmese jungle.
To read more about the Dakota rescue at Sonpu, please click on the following link:
The Piccadilly Incident
William Vandivert, working at the time as a war correspondent for Illustrated Magazine, wrote an article about his adventure aboard the Dakota and his meeting with the beleaguered Chindits in April 1943. From the pages of Illustrated Magazine dated 10th July 1943:
Deep Jungle Sores
The Colonel, C.O. of one of the groups, sat a step apart at the rear of the plane. Beneath his collar I could see deep, open jungle sores. I stopped beside him as he fumbled through two small packets that were all he had brought with him. From a map folder he carefully drew a folded copy of Punch, and laughed helplessly—until a fit of coughing racked it short. It was a copy we had dropped on the Sunday.
A ruptured soldier was barely holding himself together, biting his lips in agony. Man-handling machine guns through the hills, he had ripped himself in a fall. He suddenly leaned over, vomiting. A toad from a Tommy's pack hopped aimlessly until it found a quiet corner. Leaning forward to catch it, a grenade spilled from the soldier's breast pocket and rolled down the floor. The toad disappeared and the soldier fondled the grenade. Clutching his head, the Burmese crumpled up, groaning, and we cleared a place to lay him rolled in blankets. He was suffering from severe malaria.
I sat beside the Colonel, and to the punctuation of that cough, I learned the story of his column. They had been hard on the offensive until a week across the Irrawaddy. They had scored well. Then after the final supply-drop they had split up to recross the river on their return journey and for the first time they had been hunted, not hunters. They had bumped into a Japanese patrol, fought well, and headed north. Under the hill by the Irrawaddy they had camped for two days, waiting. River steamer towns above and below them were heavily garrisoned now and all river traffic operated under protection. But on the third morning they had watched three small guard boats work upstream, followed, after half an hour, by a junk creeping up the opposite shore. She had tacked across and grounded on a mudbank right below.
The troops swarmed out like pirates, took her and hauled back three of her crew who had dived over the side. Less than two hours later they were all across the toughest hurdle, even their last mule. Two days later, however, she died and the radio she carried sent one last message for our supply drop. The mule was buried in the bush. They had no rations and, foraging in a village,‘ they had found only one cup of rice per man. Japanese patrols had stripped bare the whole countryside along the river. Two days before the rendezvous the men had begun eating jungle leaves and "succulent" bamboo. They began dropping like flies with hunger. The hardest thing in this warfare had been leaving casualties in the column's track. But that was a law by which all these forces had to move. " Right here," said the colonel, "we all came very close to God."
Our supplies had saved them. Sunday's drop had turned the tide of fortune. Some stragglers had come up. With rations and unexpected rest they now were fit again for the march to India, racing against time, monsoons and impassable rivers. That was the story. The pilot then gave permission to smoke. The corporal on the end seat, Fred Nightingale, of Lancaster, handed me a battered tin, saying : "Here, have one of mine. They fly them specially from India for me." A chunk of white parachute around Nightingale's neck made him look garish. Ulcers had worn him thin. The last two days to the rendezvous had been his last effort, and he had known it; will power had just kept him moving. He had straggled back to the rear of the column and seen men dropping by the dusty jungle track. It happened quietly.
One chum, with jungle sores deeply infecting his legs, just couldn't lift them again. He had dropped, saying softly : "Well, I guess I've had it." The column had moved slowly on and dust had settled. The ruptured soldier sat silently forward, elbows on knees. I asked him about the jungle and he only said: "It's bitter cruel." He was Corporal Jimmy Walker, who had dropped two days before the rendezvous with dysentery and infected hips. It was only his great will, too, that had brought him hobbling in the day before.
Then there were the gay ones. Private Jim Suddery, of Islington, North London, for example, fumbled through his purse and held out a light Japanese rifle slug. It had entered his back, rib high, and come out, a purple spot on his belly. " Souvenir," he chuckled, adding : " but you should have seen the ones we gave out."
We crossed the Chindwin through broken cloud and the men peered out, seeing in one hour and a quarter what they had marched across in previous weeks. Landing was a let down. Dead weariness set in again. In reaction to stand and file through the door-way became another incredible effort of will. Strangely, when they were on the ground, most of them stood unconscious again of packs, talking with fighter pilots who had brought us through. Two Japanese fighters had seen us, but had not made a pass at us. Ambulances finally arrived. Flight Sergeant May and I watched them roll away. He said : " Well, I guess that's helping England." H.Q. said no more landings, and we had to agree.
To learn more about William Vandivert and to view more of his photographic portfolio, please click on the following link:
photographyandarthistory.wordpress.com/category/william-vandivert/
William Vandivert sadly died on the 1st December 1989. Shown below are some images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Cap badge of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
VAUSE, BERNARD
Rank: Private
Service No: 4691027
Regiment/Service: 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Other details:
Bernard Vause served with the 2nd Battalion, the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and came from Pontefract in West Yorkshire. Bernard, who survived the retreat from Burma in early 1942, is credited with scouting for Operation Longcloth prior to 77 Brigade crossing the Chindiwn River in February 1943.
Rank: Private
Service No: 4691027
Regiment/Service: 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Other details:
Bernard Vause served with the 2nd Battalion, the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and came from Pontefract in West Yorkshire. Bernard, who survived the retreat from Burma in early 1942, is credited with scouting for Operation Longcloth prior to 77 Brigade crossing the Chindiwn River in February 1943.
VENKETSWAMY
Rank: Private
Service No: B/94
Regiment/Service: Attached 77 Brigade
Other details:
This man was recorded as missing from the first Wingate expedition as of the 10th July 1943 and is listed as a non-combatant. There were several Indian non-combatants on Operation Longcloth, mostly serving as cooks, water-carriers and servants, but nothing else is known about Venketswamy or his disappearance in Burma. Please click on the image (left) to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: B/94
Regiment/Service: Attached 77 Brigade
Other details:
This man was recorded as missing from the first Wingate expedition as of the 10th July 1943 and is listed as a non-combatant. There were several Indian non-combatants on Operation Longcloth, mostly serving as cooks, water-carriers and servants, but nothing else is known about Venketswamy or his disappearance in Burma. Please click on the image (left) to bring it forward on the page.
CWGC certificate for James Walker.
WALKER, JAMES
Rank: Private
Service No: 3656817
Date of Death: 06/03/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528218/walker,-james/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Pte. James Walker originally enlisted into the Prince of Wales Own Volunteers (South Lancashire) Regiment. He was then posted overseas to India in mid-1942 and was transferred to the King's Regiment, joining them at Saugor in the Central Provinces in late September that same year.
James was allocated to Chindit Column No. 8 during training and entered Burma with this unit on the 15th February 1943. His date of death, the 6th of March 1943, corresponds with the columns short battle with the Japanese along the Pinlebu/Kame Road. His entry within the missing in action reports for the 13th King's simply states that he was last seen withdrawing across a river near the village of Kame. This was most likely the Nanma Chaung (please see the map in the gallery below).
No. 8 Column under the command of Major Walter Purcell Scott, had been given the orders to secure and block the road out of Pinlebu on the 4th March in order to protect a large supply drop expected by the Chindits further to the east. From the column war diary:
4th and 5th March: column moved into the area around Pinlebu, there were said to be 600-1000 enemy troops in this locality. The Burma Rifle Officers had spoken to a native of the area, he turned out to be a Japanese spy and was shot. Water parties were sent out to replenish supplies, these units were engaged by enemy patrols but most managed to disengage and return to the main body.
More minor clashes with the Japanese were incurred late on 5th March, the column then moved to the agreed rendezvous on the Pinlebu-Kame Road. The party halted one mile north of Kame and settled down for the night. Their position was chosen by Major Scott and units were deployed to prevent any Japanese movement toward Pinlebu from this direction.
At first light on the 6th March, the Sabotage Squad led by Lieutenant Sprague and 16 Platoon set out toward Kame to secure the road block. At about 1100 hours Sprague’s men were attacked by the Japanese from all sides, he called dispersal in an attempt to extract his men, it was here that Lieutenant Callaghan was shot and killed. At 1600 hours the whole column moved away toward the Supply drop rendezvous area.
So as you can see the situation was very confused, with enemy troops engaging the column positions on several occasions during the three day period. It would seem likely that James was a member of Platoon 16 under Lt. Callaghan, as he does not feature in the nominal rolls for Lt. Sprague's commandos.
Another good source of information from this period can be found in the book Wingate Adventure by W.G. Burchett:
As No. 2 Group neared Pinlebu, Gilkes and Brigade HQ moved east to arrange a Supply drop zone, whilst Major Scott’s Column took up defensive positions around Pinlebu. On the 5th March, Scott occupied a village two and a half miles from Pinlebu and sent his patrols out covering all directions. The Japanese were everywhere, but usually betrayed their positions early by blazing away at the slightest movement or noise.
The minor battle lasted all day and into the night, dispersal was then called and the column moved away. Early on the 6th March, Scott set up roadblocks leading east and north out of Pinlebu, the supply drop continued unhindered. Scott had no sooner closed the roadblocks and was preparing to move off, when a Japanese patrol opened fire on one of the furthest placed groups. A brisk thirty-minute battle ensued, leaving six men killed or badly wounded. Column 8 withdrew to safer ground. For the loss of six men the column had held up the enemy for over 24 hours, covering Calvert and Fergusson’s dash to the railway and allowing HQ to secure a vital supply drop.
Sadly, Pte. Walker's body was never recovered after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial in Taukkyan War Cemetery. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this short story including photographs of two other Chindits lost on the Pinlebu/Kame Road. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3656817
Date of Death: 06/03/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528218/walker,-james/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Pte. James Walker originally enlisted into the Prince of Wales Own Volunteers (South Lancashire) Regiment. He was then posted overseas to India in mid-1942 and was transferred to the King's Regiment, joining them at Saugor in the Central Provinces in late September that same year.
James was allocated to Chindit Column No. 8 during training and entered Burma with this unit on the 15th February 1943. His date of death, the 6th of March 1943, corresponds with the columns short battle with the Japanese along the Pinlebu/Kame Road. His entry within the missing in action reports for the 13th King's simply states that he was last seen withdrawing across a river near the village of Kame. This was most likely the Nanma Chaung (please see the map in the gallery below).
No. 8 Column under the command of Major Walter Purcell Scott, had been given the orders to secure and block the road out of Pinlebu on the 4th March in order to protect a large supply drop expected by the Chindits further to the east. From the column war diary:
4th and 5th March: column moved into the area around Pinlebu, there were said to be 600-1000 enemy troops in this locality. The Burma Rifle Officers had spoken to a native of the area, he turned out to be a Japanese spy and was shot. Water parties were sent out to replenish supplies, these units were engaged by enemy patrols but most managed to disengage and return to the main body.
More minor clashes with the Japanese were incurred late on 5th March, the column then moved to the agreed rendezvous on the Pinlebu-Kame Road. The party halted one mile north of Kame and settled down for the night. Their position was chosen by Major Scott and units were deployed to prevent any Japanese movement toward Pinlebu from this direction.
At first light on the 6th March, the Sabotage Squad led by Lieutenant Sprague and 16 Platoon set out toward Kame to secure the road block. At about 1100 hours Sprague’s men were attacked by the Japanese from all sides, he called dispersal in an attempt to extract his men, it was here that Lieutenant Callaghan was shot and killed. At 1600 hours the whole column moved away toward the Supply drop rendezvous area.
So as you can see the situation was very confused, with enemy troops engaging the column positions on several occasions during the three day period. It would seem likely that James was a member of Platoon 16 under Lt. Callaghan, as he does not feature in the nominal rolls for Lt. Sprague's commandos.
Another good source of information from this period can be found in the book Wingate Adventure by W.G. Burchett:
As No. 2 Group neared Pinlebu, Gilkes and Brigade HQ moved east to arrange a Supply drop zone, whilst Major Scott’s Column took up defensive positions around Pinlebu. On the 5th March, Scott occupied a village two and a half miles from Pinlebu and sent his patrols out covering all directions. The Japanese were everywhere, but usually betrayed their positions early by blazing away at the slightest movement or noise.
The minor battle lasted all day and into the night, dispersal was then called and the column moved away. Early on the 6th March, Scott set up roadblocks leading east and north out of Pinlebu, the supply drop continued unhindered. Scott had no sooner closed the roadblocks and was preparing to move off, when a Japanese patrol opened fire on one of the furthest placed groups. A brisk thirty-minute battle ensued, leaving six men killed or badly wounded. Column 8 withdrew to safer ground. For the loss of six men the column had held up the enemy for over 24 hours, covering Calvert and Fergusson’s dash to the railway and allowing HQ to secure a vital supply drop.
Sadly, Pte. Walker's body was never recovered after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial in Taukkyan War Cemetery. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this short story including photographs of two other Chindits lost on the Pinlebu/Kame Road. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
CWGC certificate for Ronald Wallace.
WALLACE, RONALD JOHN
Rank: Private
Service No: 3781566
Date of Death: 24/04/1943
Age: 29
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528229/wallace,-ronald-john/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Pte. Ronald John Wallace was born on the 9th June 1913 and was the son of Joseph George and Alecia Wallace; and the husband of Margaret Wallace from Romiley in Cheshire. He began his Chindit training at the Saugor Camp in the Central Provinces of India in late July 1942 and was posted to No. 18 Platoon within 8 Column, under the command of Captain Raymond Edward Williams. This platoon became separated from the main body of 8 Column after approximately six weeks behind enemy lines in Burma.
From the War diary of 8 Column dated 1st April 1943:
Recce of the River Shweli carried out during the afternoon and we have decided to cross this evening near the Wingaba Cliffs, S.N. 2563. Column moved down to the river at dusk. Rope got across the river which was flowing very fast on the near side. Captain Williams with two other officers, Lieutenants Hobday and Horton and 29 British Other Ranks crossed the river to form a bridgehead. The next party under Sgt. Scruton got in to difficulties and drifted away down-stream. Both boats having been lost, the crossing was called off. Captain Williams and his party moved from the far bank at first light for the next agreed rendezvous. The rope across the river was withdrawn.
After an aborted crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March 1943, No. 8 Column led by Major W. P. Scott marched away from the other Chindit columns and headed east towards the Shweli River. As mentioned in the war diary quote above, Captain Williams' platoon were the only section of the column to cross the fast flowing Shweli River on the 1st April. After his group had crossed, a mix up occurred involving the power-rope which the column had secured across the river and no further soldiers could join Captain Williams on the far bank. In the end it was decided that his platoon should continue their march out of India under their own steam.
Captain Williams' platoon, of which Ronald Wallace was a member, suffered great misfortune from that moment on and were ambushed by the Japanese on no fewer than three occasions over the following weeks. Transcribed below, is a witness statement with mention of Pte. Wallace and some of the other men from Captain Williams' platoon during Operation Longcloth. The account, given by Corporal A. McCann, the only man from the unit to return safely to India in 1943, describes the third ambush suffered by the platoon and the subsequent death of Captain Williams.
Ambush on the 23rd April
I was with the above mentioned party under the command of Captain R.E. Williams. We crossed the Irrawaddy at Zinbon on or about the 18th April 1943 and travelled west. On the 23rd April we were on the banks of a river, name unknown (only 20 yards wide) when we were suddenly attacked. I found myself in the river with Captain Williams (afterwards killed). I was wounded whilst in the river but got to the other side. On looking back to the other side of the river I saw most of our men being taken prisoner by a numerically superior force. I saw quite clearly Ptes. Wallace and Satchell and then I collapsed. On regaining consciousness I searched the area but found no trace of any of the above party.
Neither Ronald Wallace or William Satchell, from Clayton in Manchester were ever seen or heard of again. After the war, no graves could be found for these two Chindits and so they are remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial at Taukkyan War Cemetery. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3781566
Date of Death: 24/04/1943
Age: 29
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528229/wallace,-ronald-john/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Pte. Ronald John Wallace was born on the 9th June 1913 and was the son of Joseph George and Alecia Wallace; and the husband of Margaret Wallace from Romiley in Cheshire. He began his Chindit training at the Saugor Camp in the Central Provinces of India in late July 1942 and was posted to No. 18 Platoon within 8 Column, under the command of Captain Raymond Edward Williams. This platoon became separated from the main body of 8 Column after approximately six weeks behind enemy lines in Burma.
From the War diary of 8 Column dated 1st April 1943:
Recce of the River Shweli carried out during the afternoon and we have decided to cross this evening near the Wingaba Cliffs, S.N. 2563. Column moved down to the river at dusk. Rope got across the river which was flowing very fast on the near side. Captain Williams with two other officers, Lieutenants Hobday and Horton and 29 British Other Ranks crossed the river to form a bridgehead. The next party under Sgt. Scruton got in to difficulties and drifted away down-stream. Both boats having been lost, the crossing was called off. Captain Williams and his party moved from the far bank at first light for the next agreed rendezvous. The rope across the river was withdrawn.
After an aborted crossing of the Irrawaddy on the 29th March 1943, No. 8 Column led by Major W. P. Scott marched away from the other Chindit columns and headed east towards the Shweli River. As mentioned in the war diary quote above, Captain Williams' platoon were the only section of the column to cross the fast flowing Shweli River on the 1st April. After his group had crossed, a mix up occurred involving the power-rope which the column had secured across the river and no further soldiers could join Captain Williams on the far bank. In the end it was decided that his platoon should continue their march out of India under their own steam.
Captain Williams' platoon, of which Ronald Wallace was a member, suffered great misfortune from that moment on and were ambushed by the Japanese on no fewer than three occasions over the following weeks. Transcribed below, is a witness statement with mention of Pte. Wallace and some of the other men from Captain Williams' platoon during Operation Longcloth. The account, given by Corporal A. McCann, the only man from the unit to return safely to India in 1943, describes the third ambush suffered by the platoon and the subsequent death of Captain Williams.
Ambush on the 23rd April
I was with the above mentioned party under the command of Captain R.E. Williams. We crossed the Irrawaddy at Zinbon on or about the 18th April 1943 and travelled west. On the 23rd April we were on the banks of a river, name unknown (only 20 yards wide) when we were suddenly attacked. I found myself in the river with Captain Williams (afterwards killed). I was wounded whilst in the river but got to the other side. On looking back to the other side of the river I saw most of our men being taken prisoner by a numerically superior force. I saw quite clearly Ptes. Wallace and Satchell and then I collapsed. On regaining consciousness I searched the area but found no trace of any of the above party.
Neither Ronald Wallace or William Satchell, from Clayton in Manchester were ever seen or heard of again. After the war, no graves could be found for these two Chindits and so they are remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial at Taukkyan War Cemetery. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
WAUGH, EDWARD RAYMOND
Rank: Captain
Service No: 130975
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
Edward Raymond Waugh was from Manchester and a typical Lancashire man with a warm-hearted nature and a knack of putting everyone he met at ease. His commission as a 2nd Lieutenant into the King's Regiment was announced in the London Gazette on the 31st May 1940 and he had joined the 13th King's while the battalion was stationed in Wales. After travelling with the battalion to India in December 1941, he settled with the King's at Secunderabad. An entry in the battalion war diary dated 3rd April 1942, states that he and another officer, Lt. Summerfield had been chosen to lead a party of 40 men on a training course at Mount Abu in Rajasthan State. Shortly after their return, the battalion was given over to Brigadier Wingate to use in his Long Range Penetration exercises in the Central Provinces of India.
Having performed well during the early weeks of Chindit training, Ted became the obvious choice to lead 5 Column when the King's moved up to Patharia and formed their base in the jungle scrub. Ted was something of a small arms expert in India and would often supplement his column's rations with game that he had shot whilst out on manoeuvres, animals including hare, peacock and monkey were regularly added to the cooking pot. One story, recounted by Lt. Leslie Cottrell, tells of an occasion when Ted shot a snake with his pistol which had reared up on top of a rock about 30 yards from where he stood.
Unfortunately, Captain Waugh became unwell a few months into Chindit training and was ultimately replaced by Bernard Fergusson as No. 5 Column commander on the 17th October 1942. In his book, Return via Rangoon, 5 Column officer Philip Stibbe recalled:
While the column was at Malthone, one change that did effect us all, was the departure of Ted Waugh, which all ranks regretted. George Borrow and I were particularly sorry, as he had been extremely good to us ever since our arrival, but he had been struggling against ill-health and it was clear that he could not go on.
It is not known where Captain Waugh went after leaving Chindit training in October 1942, presumably he joined another unit in India, possibly in an administration role, or perhaps training soldiers in the use of small arms.
In his book, Beyond the Chindwin, Bernard Fergusson remembered:
After speaking with Wingate, I went to meet some of my officers who were all very pleasant and the man I had come to replace could not have been kinder. I formed a high opinion of him and at the end of that week asked him to stay on as my second in command. Understandably, he felt his position might be difficult going forward and preferred to go. I am glad we parted the very best of friends.
Seen below is a photograph of the officers of the 13th King's, taken at Colchester Army Barracks in 1941. Ted Waugh can be seen in the second row, third from the right as we look. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Captain
Service No: 130975
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
Edward Raymond Waugh was from Manchester and a typical Lancashire man with a warm-hearted nature and a knack of putting everyone he met at ease. His commission as a 2nd Lieutenant into the King's Regiment was announced in the London Gazette on the 31st May 1940 and he had joined the 13th King's while the battalion was stationed in Wales. After travelling with the battalion to India in December 1941, he settled with the King's at Secunderabad. An entry in the battalion war diary dated 3rd April 1942, states that he and another officer, Lt. Summerfield had been chosen to lead a party of 40 men on a training course at Mount Abu in Rajasthan State. Shortly after their return, the battalion was given over to Brigadier Wingate to use in his Long Range Penetration exercises in the Central Provinces of India.
Having performed well during the early weeks of Chindit training, Ted became the obvious choice to lead 5 Column when the King's moved up to Patharia and formed their base in the jungle scrub. Ted was something of a small arms expert in India and would often supplement his column's rations with game that he had shot whilst out on manoeuvres, animals including hare, peacock and monkey were regularly added to the cooking pot. One story, recounted by Lt. Leslie Cottrell, tells of an occasion when Ted shot a snake with his pistol which had reared up on top of a rock about 30 yards from where he stood.
Unfortunately, Captain Waugh became unwell a few months into Chindit training and was ultimately replaced by Bernard Fergusson as No. 5 Column commander on the 17th October 1942. In his book, Return via Rangoon, 5 Column officer Philip Stibbe recalled:
While the column was at Malthone, one change that did effect us all, was the departure of Ted Waugh, which all ranks regretted. George Borrow and I were particularly sorry, as he had been extremely good to us ever since our arrival, but he had been struggling against ill-health and it was clear that he could not go on.
It is not known where Captain Waugh went after leaving Chindit training in October 1942, presumably he joined another unit in India, possibly in an administration role, or perhaps training soldiers in the use of small arms.
In his book, Beyond the Chindwin, Bernard Fergusson remembered:
After speaking with Wingate, I went to meet some of my officers who were all very pleasant and the man I had come to replace could not have been kinder. I formed a high opinion of him and at the end of that week asked him to stay on as my second in command. Understandably, he felt his position might be difficult going forward and preferred to go. I am glad we parted the very best of friends.
Seen below is a photograph of the officers of the 13th King's, taken at Colchester Army Barracks in 1941. Ted Waugh can be seen in the second row, third from the right as we look. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
The officers of the 13th King's at Colchester in 1941. Ted Waugh is seen in the second row, third from the right.
WAYMAN, FREDERICK ERNEST
Rank: Private
Service No: 5827143
Date of Death: 09/04/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528338/frederick-ernest-wayman/
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Frederick Wayman was the son of Smith and Gladys Wayman of Longstanton in Cambridgeshire. According to his Army service number, he was originally posted to the Suffolk Regiment before being transferred to the 142 Commando Company at Jubbulpore on the 1st July 1942. He was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth, but sadly no documentation exists explaining how Frederick was lost in Burma. The only information comes from the official missing lists for the expedition, stating that he was last seen on the evening of the 8th April 1943, at the Hintha Reserve Forest.
A number of men from No. 7 Column were lost around this time, after Major Gilkes the commanding officer of the column gave the order to break up the unit into smaller dispersal groups. To read more about this time and the dispersal party Frederick Wayman might have been a part of, please click on the following link: Rex Walker's Dispersal Group 4
With his missing date recorded as the 9th April, it might well be that Pte. Wayman was already lost to his column, previous to the order to disperse. Sadly, we will probably never know. His grave was never found after the war and for this reason Frederick is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Frederick is also remembered on a stone tablet in All Saints Church at Longstanton alongside three other men from the local area. Seen below is a photograph of Frederick's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 5827143
Date of Death: 09/04/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528338/frederick-ernest-wayman/
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Frederick Wayman was the son of Smith and Gladys Wayman of Longstanton in Cambridgeshire. According to his Army service number, he was originally posted to the Suffolk Regiment before being transferred to the 142 Commando Company at Jubbulpore on the 1st July 1942. He was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth, but sadly no documentation exists explaining how Frederick was lost in Burma. The only information comes from the official missing lists for the expedition, stating that he was last seen on the evening of the 8th April 1943, at the Hintha Reserve Forest.
A number of men from No. 7 Column were lost around this time, after Major Gilkes the commanding officer of the column gave the order to break up the unit into smaller dispersal groups. To read more about this time and the dispersal party Frederick Wayman might have been a part of, please click on the following link: Rex Walker's Dispersal Group 4
With his missing date recorded as the 9th April, it might well be that Pte. Wayman was already lost to his column, previous to the order to disperse. Sadly, we will probably never know. His grave was never found after the war and for this reason Frederick is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Frederick is also remembered on a stone tablet in All Saints Church at Longstanton alongside three other men from the local area. Seen below is a photograph of Frederick's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
Cap badge of the Gloucestershire Regiment.
WEBBER, P.
Rank: Private
Service No: 5182188
Regiment/Service: Gloucestershire Regiment attached 142 Commando Company
Chindit Column: N/A
Other details:
Pte. Webber had trained with 142 Commando at the Saugor Camp during the autumn of 1942. It is not known which Chindit column he had been allocated to, but it is known that he had fought with the Gloucestershire Regiment against the Japanese during the retreat from Burma earlier in the year (February/March).
On the 13th December, Pte. Webber, alongside three other men was despatched from the Chindit camp at Jhansi by train to an undisclosed destination, but thought to be Bombay.
The other soldiers were:
Lance Corporal 3054043 H. Emmerson (Royal Scots)
Pte. 4689086 J. Peace
Pte. 4688530 G. Diamond
No other information is available about this movement order and none of the above mentioned men can be confirmed as having served on the first Wingate expedition in Burma. I can say that all three men had served with the 2nd Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry previously and all three had come to 142 Commando via the Bush Warfare School at Maymyo. Seen below is the written order confirming their move from Jhansi dated 13th December 1942. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 5182188
Regiment/Service: Gloucestershire Regiment attached 142 Commando Company
Chindit Column: N/A
Other details:
Pte. Webber had trained with 142 Commando at the Saugor Camp during the autumn of 1942. It is not known which Chindit column he had been allocated to, but it is known that he had fought with the Gloucestershire Regiment against the Japanese during the retreat from Burma earlier in the year (February/March).
On the 13th December, Pte. Webber, alongside three other men was despatched from the Chindit camp at Jhansi by train to an undisclosed destination, but thought to be Bombay.
The other soldiers were:
Lance Corporal 3054043 H. Emmerson (Royal Scots)
Pte. 4689086 J. Peace
Pte. 4688530 G. Diamond
No other information is available about this movement order and none of the above mentioned men can be confirmed as having served on the first Wingate expedition in Burma. I can say that all three men had served with the 2nd Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry previously and all three had come to 142 Commando via the Bush Warfare School at Maymyo. Seen below is the written order confirming their move from Jhansi dated 13th December 1942. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
WEBSTER, SAMUEL
Rank: Private
Service No: 3770353
Date of Death: 30/04/1943
Age: 26
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528375/webster,-samuel/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Samuel Webster was the son of Samuel and Mary Ellen Webster from Anthony Street in Liverpool. He enlisted into the British Army and was posted to the 5th Battalion of the King's Regiment, before travelling to India and being transferred to the 13th King's at the Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of the country. Samuel was then allocated to No. 8 Column under the command of Major Walter Purcell Scott also of the King's Regiment.
Almost nothing is known about Pte. Webster and his experiences on the first Wingate expedition in 1943. A casualty report comprised on the 9th May 1944 by the Army Investigation Bureau simply states:
Officer commanding 13th King's (Colonel S.A. Cooke) replied that no further information seems to be available for L/Cpl. Curry or Ptes. Oppenshaw and Webster, all went missing at the same time and place.
The inclusion of L/Cpl. Curry's name does give a single clue to the eventual fate of Samuel, as it is known that Curry was killed in action at the Kaukkwe Chaung on the 30th April 1943. No. 8 Column had broken up into smaller dispersal groups in mid-April and were heading back to India at the time of this action against the Japanese. Scott's men were crossing a fast flowing river (Kaukkwe Chaung) near the Burmese village of Okthaik when they were ambushed by a large Japanese patrol. As the non-swimmers were being helped across the water, several of the more experienced NCOs attempted to hold off the enemy with their machine guns and grenades. Sadly, many men were killed or wounded at this engagement. To read more about the incident at the Kaukkwe Chaung, please click on the following link: Frank Lea, Ellis Grundy and the Kaukkwe Chaung
Nothing more was ever seen or heard of Samuel Webster and his grave was never found after the war was over. For this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. This memorial is located at Taukkyan War Cemetery located on the northern outskirts of Rangoon city and contains the names of 26,000 casualties from the Burma campaign who possess no known grave.
NB. Although Samuel was certainly a member of the 13th King's and served on Operation Longcloth in 1943, on his CWGC web page (see link above) he is incorrectly listed as being with the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment in Burma.
Pte. Webster made his Army Will on the 8th September 1939, which states that:
After payment of my just debts and funeral expenses, I leave all my worldly belongings to my mother, Mary Ellen Webster of 90 Anthony Street, Liverpool 5.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including a photograph of Samuel's name upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3770353
Date of Death: 30/04/1943
Age: 26
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528375/webster,-samuel/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Samuel Webster was the son of Samuel and Mary Ellen Webster from Anthony Street in Liverpool. He enlisted into the British Army and was posted to the 5th Battalion of the King's Regiment, before travelling to India and being transferred to the 13th King's at the Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of the country. Samuel was then allocated to No. 8 Column under the command of Major Walter Purcell Scott also of the King's Regiment.
Almost nothing is known about Pte. Webster and his experiences on the first Wingate expedition in 1943. A casualty report comprised on the 9th May 1944 by the Army Investigation Bureau simply states:
Officer commanding 13th King's (Colonel S.A. Cooke) replied that no further information seems to be available for L/Cpl. Curry or Ptes. Oppenshaw and Webster, all went missing at the same time and place.
The inclusion of L/Cpl. Curry's name does give a single clue to the eventual fate of Samuel, as it is known that Curry was killed in action at the Kaukkwe Chaung on the 30th April 1943. No. 8 Column had broken up into smaller dispersal groups in mid-April and were heading back to India at the time of this action against the Japanese. Scott's men were crossing a fast flowing river (Kaukkwe Chaung) near the Burmese village of Okthaik when they were ambushed by a large Japanese patrol. As the non-swimmers were being helped across the water, several of the more experienced NCOs attempted to hold off the enemy with their machine guns and grenades. Sadly, many men were killed or wounded at this engagement. To read more about the incident at the Kaukkwe Chaung, please click on the following link: Frank Lea, Ellis Grundy and the Kaukkwe Chaung
Nothing more was ever seen or heard of Samuel Webster and his grave was never found after the war was over. For this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. This memorial is located at Taukkyan War Cemetery located on the northern outskirts of Rangoon city and contains the names of 26,000 casualties from the Burma campaign who possess no known grave.
NB. Although Samuel was certainly a member of the 13th King's and served on Operation Longcloth in 1943, on his CWGC web page (see link above) he is incorrectly listed as being with the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment in Burma.
Pte. Webster made his Army Will on the 8th September 1939, which states that:
After payment of my just debts and funeral expenses, I leave all my worldly belongings to my mother, Mary Ellen Webster of 90 Anthony Street, Liverpool 5.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including a photograph of Samuel's name upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
WENLOCK, ALFRED LEONARD DENNIS
Rank: Private
Service No: 4038062
Date of Death: 18/10/1943
Age: 29
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 30th Bn.
Memorial: Grave 3.B.5. Kirkee War Cemetery
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2191274/alfred-leonard-dennis-wenlock/
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Alfred Wedlock was the son of Mr. and Mrs. T. Wedlock from Shrewsbury in Shropshire. According to his Army service number, he had originally enlisted into the King's Shropshire Light Infantry during WW2, before travelling to India and joining the 30th Battalion, the King's Regiment. Alfred's time and service in India is unclear. He appears in my listings for Operation Longcloth on the basis that the recoding of his regiment in India as the 30th King's Liverpool was an error and its was meant to state the 13th Battalion King's Liverpool. At this late stage in proceedings it is unlikely that we will ever know the answer to this question.
What we do know is that Alfred died on the 18th October 1943 at the Jhansi Cantonment in India, suffering from cerebral malaria. It is possible that he may have participated on the first Wingate expedition in Burma and managed to march back to the safety of Allied lines, only to perish from malaria contracted during the operation a few months later. His burial service at Jhansi was conducted by the Chaplain of Jhansi, the Reverend L.M.S. Powell. Alfred was originally buried at the Jhansi Cantonment with his remains later moved to Kirkee War Cemetery after the war.
Seen below is an image of his burial notice, recorded by LMS Powell on the 19th October 1943, the day of Alfred's funeral. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page. Alfred's family were asked to nominate an epitaph for his gravestone at Kirkee War Cemetery and decided upon the following:
Rank: Private
Service No: 4038062
Date of Death: 18/10/1943
Age: 29
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 30th Bn.
Memorial: Grave 3.B.5. Kirkee War Cemetery
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2191274/alfred-leonard-dennis-wenlock/
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Alfred Wedlock was the son of Mr. and Mrs. T. Wedlock from Shrewsbury in Shropshire. According to his Army service number, he had originally enlisted into the King's Shropshire Light Infantry during WW2, before travelling to India and joining the 30th Battalion, the King's Regiment. Alfred's time and service in India is unclear. He appears in my listings for Operation Longcloth on the basis that the recoding of his regiment in India as the 30th King's Liverpool was an error and its was meant to state the 13th Battalion King's Liverpool. At this late stage in proceedings it is unlikely that we will ever know the answer to this question.
What we do know is that Alfred died on the 18th October 1943 at the Jhansi Cantonment in India, suffering from cerebral malaria. It is possible that he may have participated on the first Wingate expedition in Burma and managed to march back to the safety of Allied lines, only to perish from malaria contracted during the operation a few months later. His burial service at Jhansi was conducted by the Chaplain of Jhansi, the Reverend L.M.S. Powell. Alfred was originally buried at the Jhansi Cantonment with his remains later moved to Kirkee War Cemetery after the war.
Seen below is an image of his burial notice, recorded by LMS Powell on the 19th October 1943, the day of Alfred's funeral. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page. Alfred's family were asked to nominate an epitaph for his gravestone at Kirkee War Cemetery and decided upon the following:
In Loving Memory. Sleep On Dear Son, Enjoy Your Rest. God Knows Best.
Return of Burials at Jhansi Cantonment for the winter months of 1943.
Cap badge of the Durham Light Infantry.
WESTON, ROBERT
Rank: Private
Service No: 4466933
Date of Death: 26/04/1943
Age: 32
Regiment/Service: Durham Light Infantry att. The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528402/WESTON,%20ROBERT
Chindit Column: Wingate's Brigade Head Quarters.
Other details:
Robert Weston was born during the summer months of 1910 in the city of Sunderland, County Durham and married Phyllis Potter, from Grangetown, Sunderland in December 1933. He enlisted into the Durham Light Infantry during the early years of WW2 and travelled overseas to India in the first half of 1942, before being transferred to the Yorks and Lancs Regiment on the 16th July that same year. It is highly likely that Robert spent some time at the large British Reinforcement Centre at Deolali, located around 100 miles northeast of Bombay. The centre was the fictional setting for the British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which aired during the 1970's.
Pte. Weston's time with the Yorks and Lancs was extremely short-lived and by September 1942, he had been posted to the 13th Battalion of the King's Regiment, joining his new unit at their Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of India. He was then chosen for special duties and placed into the 142 Commando Section of the newly formed 77th Indian Infantry Brigade (Chindits), taking up a place in the platoon designated for 2 Column under the command of Lt. William Nimmo, formerly of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Once behind enemy lines in Burma, Pte. Weston found himself part of Brigadier Wingate's own Brigade Head Quarters. It is not known whether he had been transferred to this unit before Operation Longcloth had begun in February 1943, or had been assimilated into Wingate's HQ after 2 Column had broken up following their disastrous engagement with the Japanese at Kyaikthin on the 2nd March. Either way, Robert was with his commander when the order to return to India was given in late March and the group set out to re-cross the Irrawaddy River close to the Burmese town of Inywa (see map below). The crossing at Inywa on the 29th March was compromised by a strong Japanese patrol on the far bank and had to be aborted. Wingate broke his HQ into smaller dispersal groups and took his own section of around 30 men deep into the jungle scrubland a few miles east of Inywa. Here they remained for the next seven days, in the hope that the heat would die down and the Japanese would move away from the area.
On 7th April, Wingate made a second attempt at crossing the Irrawaddy, this time 25 miles south of Inywa. For two days they had searched the east bank for boats, but Captain Aung Thin of the Burma Rifles could only find one boat and this could hold only seven people at a time. They began crossing late in the afternoon, but quite suddenly automatic fire was heard from the north and the native boatman made off with his boat, leaving the last party stranded on the east bank. Robert Weston was with this final party waiting to cross the river, alongside him were: Squadron Leader Longmore, Flight Lieutenant Tooth, Flight Sergeant Fidler, Lieutenant Rose of the Gurkhas, Eric Hutchins of the Royal Corps of Signals and Private Dermody of the King's.
Rank: Private
Service No: 4466933
Date of Death: 26/04/1943
Age: 32
Regiment/Service: Durham Light Infantry att. The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528402/WESTON,%20ROBERT
Chindit Column: Wingate's Brigade Head Quarters.
Other details:
Robert Weston was born during the summer months of 1910 in the city of Sunderland, County Durham and married Phyllis Potter, from Grangetown, Sunderland in December 1933. He enlisted into the Durham Light Infantry during the early years of WW2 and travelled overseas to India in the first half of 1942, before being transferred to the Yorks and Lancs Regiment on the 16th July that same year. It is highly likely that Robert spent some time at the large British Reinforcement Centre at Deolali, located around 100 miles northeast of Bombay. The centre was the fictional setting for the British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which aired during the 1970's.
Pte. Weston's time with the Yorks and Lancs was extremely short-lived and by September 1942, he had been posted to the 13th Battalion of the King's Regiment, joining his new unit at their Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of India. He was then chosen for special duties and placed into the 142 Commando Section of the newly formed 77th Indian Infantry Brigade (Chindits), taking up a place in the platoon designated for 2 Column under the command of Lt. William Nimmo, formerly of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Once behind enemy lines in Burma, Pte. Weston found himself part of Brigadier Wingate's own Brigade Head Quarters. It is not known whether he had been transferred to this unit before Operation Longcloth had begun in February 1943, or had been assimilated into Wingate's HQ after 2 Column had broken up following their disastrous engagement with the Japanese at Kyaikthin on the 2nd March. Either way, Robert was with his commander when the order to return to India was given in late March and the group set out to re-cross the Irrawaddy River close to the Burmese town of Inywa (see map below). The crossing at Inywa on the 29th March was compromised by a strong Japanese patrol on the far bank and had to be aborted. Wingate broke his HQ into smaller dispersal groups and took his own section of around 30 men deep into the jungle scrubland a few miles east of Inywa. Here they remained for the next seven days, in the hope that the heat would die down and the Japanese would move away from the area.
On 7th April, Wingate made a second attempt at crossing the Irrawaddy, this time 25 miles south of Inywa. For two days they had searched the east bank for boats, but Captain Aung Thin of the Burma Rifles could only find one boat and this could hold only seven people at a time. They began crossing late in the afternoon, but quite suddenly automatic fire was heard from the north and the native boatman made off with his boat, leaving the last party stranded on the east bank. Robert Weston was with this final party waiting to cross the river, alongside him were: Squadron Leader Longmore, Flight Lieutenant Tooth, Flight Sergeant Fidler, Lieutenant Rose of the Gurkhas, Eric Hutchins of the Royal Corps of Signals and Private Dermody of the King's.
Map of the area around Inywa on the Irrawaddy and the route taken by Wingate's dispersal party in early April 1943.
In his audio memoir, given at the Imperial War Museum on the 14th January 1995, Eric Hutchins remembered the moment the native boatman left the last group stranded at the Irrawaddy and ultimately what happened to Pte. Robert Weston on the march towards the Chindwin River:
The first six boat parties made their way safely to the opposite bank. Eventually the boat returned for us, but when we reached the opposite bank we could find no trace of the others. Wingate's excuse when we met him later, was he 'thought' we had been captured by the Japanese, whereas in truth he had abandoned us without maps or any means of finding our way back to our own lines. Such is my regard for a commander who later became world famous.
Many days later as we neared the Chindwin we found a small chaung in which were some pools of water containing fish. We caught one by swimming under water, but then became greedy and thought if we threw my grenade into the water we could have a real feast. This was not to be because the grenade failed to explode as I had forgotten to prime it.
On seeing the river valley of the Chindwin we now became over-confident and started to abandon our policy of avoiding footpaths. On rounding a bend we ran into a Japanese sentry guarding the path. We immediately plunged into the jungle to our left, but Weston was captured because he was too weak to react quickly. We were forced to stand in a marsh for thirty-six hours while the Japs set fire to it to try to draw us out. Meanwhile we could hear the screams of Weston as they slowly tortured him to death with their bayonets.
Nothing more was ever heard of Robert Weston and his body was never recovered after the war. For this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, located in the grounds of Taukkyan War Cemetery.
To read more about his journey from the Irrawaddy with Eric Hutchins and his untimely death just six miles from the relative safety of the Chindwin River, please click on the following link: Signalman Eric Hutchins
Seen below are some images in relation to this story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
The first six boat parties made their way safely to the opposite bank. Eventually the boat returned for us, but when we reached the opposite bank we could find no trace of the others. Wingate's excuse when we met him later, was he 'thought' we had been captured by the Japanese, whereas in truth he had abandoned us without maps or any means of finding our way back to our own lines. Such is my regard for a commander who later became world famous.
Many days later as we neared the Chindwin we found a small chaung in which were some pools of water containing fish. We caught one by swimming under water, but then became greedy and thought if we threw my grenade into the water we could have a real feast. This was not to be because the grenade failed to explode as I had forgotten to prime it.
On seeing the river valley of the Chindwin we now became over-confident and started to abandon our policy of avoiding footpaths. On rounding a bend we ran into a Japanese sentry guarding the path. We immediately plunged into the jungle to our left, but Weston was captured because he was too weak to react quickly. We were forced to stand in a marsh for thirty-six hours while the Japs set fire to it to try to draw us out. Meanwhile we could hear the screams of Weston as they slowly tortured him to death with their bayonets.
Nothing more was ever heard of Robert Weston and his body was never recovered after the war. For this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, located in the grounds of Taukkyan War Cemetery.
To read more about his journey from the Irrawaddy with Eric Hutchins and his untimely death just six miles from the relative safety of the Chindwin River, please click on the following link: Signalman Eric Hutchins
Seen below are some images in relation to this story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Signalman Byron White.
WHITE, BYRON
Rank: Signalman
Service No: 4805738
Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals, att. The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
From the book, Wild Green Earth, by Bernard Fergusson:
From behind my tree comes the sound of one of the wireless sets at work. Of all the hardships which signallers have to bear, the most cruel is the loss of the happy hour in evening bivouac, when men sit around their fires and sip their tea. Signals and ciphers fair ill in this respect. I have always been lucky in the men given me to discharge these all important duties. I was lucky in 1943, with the indomitable Foster and White, who, after their wireless sets were lost, turned themselves into first class infanteers for the trip home to India and were both mentioned in despatches.
Byron White was born on the 7th October 1915 and was from Grimsby, a large seaport in the county Lincolnshire. As with many of the men who survived Operation Longcloth and returned safely to India in 1943, not much is known about his early life or his service pathway before the first Chindit expedition, although we do know that he served as a Wireless Operator on the 204 Military Mission to China in 1942. After joining 5 Column, he partnered fellow Wireless Operator, Corporal George Foster who was from Hull in Humberside. As already stated by their commander, Major Bernard Fergusson, both men played a crucial role in keeping the column in communication with their fellow Chindit units inside Burma and Rear Base back in India. Throughout the expedition, Foster and White marched with Column Head Quarters and on most occasions alongside their Major.
Both Signalmen were temporarily lost to the column on the 28th March 1943, after being separated during dispersal following the engagement with the Japanese at the village of Hintha. Fortunately, both Signallers were re-united with Fergusson and the majority of the column a few hours later, at the secondary rendezvous point a few miles north-east of the village. By the 31st March, 5 Column were on the western banks of the Shweli River, where they searched for a suitable crossing point, cautiously approaching the river on two occasions, only to find before them, a fast flowing torrent with no sign of boats or local boatmen to assist with their aim. Finally, at the third attempt some miles north of Tokkin village they succeeded in locating two Burmese villagers, each possessing a small wooden, but somewhat decrepit canoe.
The Chindits were ferried across the river during the early hours of 1st April, being dropped off by the two Burmese boatmen on what they thought was the eastern bank, only to discover to their horror that they had been deposited onto a large sandbank in the middle of the river. Between them and the relative safety of the far bank was 80 yards of foaming treacherous water. Some men tried to wade across and were swept away, many others lost their nerve and remained on the sandbank refusing to take another step. Byron White gritted his teeth and waded into the water. He remembered:
It was soon up to shoulder height and so fast flowing that it was difficult to keep one's feet on the bottom. Just in front of me was one of our younger lads and we were trying to keep as quiet as possible, but he was shouting "Mother, Mother help me." I got close to him and in no uncertain terms told him to shut up. Afterwards I was sorry for what I said, but I never saw him again and sadly he didn't make the crossing. We moved on slowly against the fast flowing water, expecting to walk out on the far bank onto dry land. Instead, to our dismay the bank rose sheer out of the water, about ten or twelve feet above the water level. Some of the lads had managed to get out on top of the bank and were able to reach our outstretched arms and assist us up the slippery bank.
After a while the majority of the column were over and we sat waiting to see if any more men were coming. We then moved along the river side until we found a heavily wooded area in which to camp down and light our fires to dry ourselves and to brew tea. It was daylight when we woke up, we were somewhat refreshed but with many more miles to cover to reach safety. We later learned that over forty men had been left to their fate on the sandbank in the middle of the Shweli River.
To read more about the men from 5 Column who were lost at the Shweli sandbank, please click on the following link:
The Men of the Shweli Sandbank
Not long after the nightmare at the Shweli, the remaining constituents of the column, some 100 men were divided into three dispersal groups. Byron White was chosen to remain with his commanding officer and on the 10th April, Fergusson's group successfully crossed the Irrawaddy River and made directly west for the Chindwin. After two more weeks of hellish marches on scanty rations, the weary remnants of 5 Column re-crossed the Chindwin on the 24th April, close to the riverside village of Sahpe (see map in the Gallery below).
Signalman White was awarded a Mention in Despatches for his efforts on the first Wingate expedition. In Bernard Fergusson's book, Beyond the Chindwin, the author explained how an aversion to rice had almost compromised White's chances of making the trip back to India:
By early April, some of the men had stomach trouble, and I was particularly anxious about White the Signaller. He and Foster had taken to being infantrymen with great and praiseworthy enthusiasm, but rice did not agree with White, and we were at pains to buy chickens and eggs for him. At times I worried about Jim (Harman), Abdul and White, and wondered whether they could stick the journey. As we approached the village of Tonmakeng on the 20th April, Jim Harman had picked up somewhat and Abdul was almost cheerful, but White was still causing me me a lot of worry. As we approached the Chindwin, close to the village of Myene, four of my men, including White were so weak they could barely stumble along and were utterly unable to carry their packs, so I pressed local coolies into service to help them.
After a long period in hospital, followed by some weeks of rest and recuperation, Byron White returned to his original R.C.O.S. unit and continued his war service. It is not known if he recovered in time to volunteer for the second Chindit operation in 1944. His death, in the early months of 2002, was recorded in the Summer issue of the Burma Star Association magazine, Dekho. The one line obituary also suggested that he had been an active member of the Grimsby and Cleethorpes branch of the Burma Star Association for many years.
When recounting his original posting to the Royal Corps of Signals from the infantry. Byron White remarked:
Well there it was. I hadn’t asked for the posting, but I wasn’t turning it down either. I had grown philosophical about the war in general and how it might treat me. I was a very small pawn in a very big game. Whatever they wanted to do with me, they would do in any case. I wasn’t looking to place my neck on the line if I could help it. But, if there was trouble coming, I was determined to train hard and prepare myself to meet it head on. If the worst came to the worst, and odds being even, I wanted to be able to give as good as I might have to take and give more if I could.
To read more about the men from the Royal Corps of Signals that served on the first Chindit expedition, please click on the following link:
Signalman Arthur Nicholls and the RCOS Draft from China
Shown below are some images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Signalman
Service No: 4805738
Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals, att. The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
From the book, Wild Green Earth, by Bernard Fergusson:
From behind my tree comes the sound of one of the wireless sets at work. Of all the hardships which signallers have to bear, the most cruel is the loss of the happy hour in evening bivouac, when men sit around their fires and sip their tea. Signals and ciphers fair ill in this respect. I have always been lucky in the men given me to discharge these all important duties. I was lucky in 1943, with the indomitable Foster and White, who, after their wireless sets were lost, turned themselves into first class infanteers for the trip home to India and were both mentioned in despatches.
Byron White was born on the 7th October 1915 and was from Grimsby, a large seaport in the county Lincolnshire. As with many of the men who survived Operation Longcloth and returned safely to India in 1943, not much is known about his early life or his service pathway before the first Chindit expedition, although we do know that he served as a Wireless Operator on the 204 Military Mission to China in 1942. After joining 5 Column, he partnered fellow Wireless Operator, Corporal George Foster who was from Hull in Humberside. As already stated by their commander, Major Bernard Fergusson, both men played a crucial role in keeping the column in communication with their fellow Chindit units inside Burma and Rear Base back in India. Throughout the expedition, Foster and White marched with Column Head Quarters and on most occasions alongside their Major.
Both Signalmen were temporarily lost to the column on the 28th March 1943, after being separated during dispersal following the engagement with the Japanese at the village of Hintha. Fortunately, both Signallers were re-united with Fergusson and the majority of the column a few hours later, at the secondary rendezvous point a few miles north-east of the village. By the 31st March, 5 Column were on the western banks of the Shweli River, where they searched for a suitable crossing point, cautiously approaching the river on two occasions, only to find before them, a fast flowing torrent with no sign of boats or local boatmen to assist with their aim. Finally, at the third attempt some miles north of Tokkin village they succeeded in locating two Burmese villagers, each possessing a small wooden, but somewhat decrepit canoe.
The Chindits were ferried across the river during the early hours of 1st April, being dropped off by the two Burmese boatmen on what they thought was the eastern bank, only to discover to their horror that they had been deposited onto a large sandbank in the middle of the river. Between them and the relative safety of the far bank was 80 yards of foaming treacherous water. Some men tried to wade across and were swept away, many others lost their nerve and remained on the sandbank refusing to take another step. Byron White gritted his teeth and waded into the water. He remembered:
It was soon up to shoulder height and so fast flowing that it was difficult to keep one's feet on the bottom. Just in front of me was one of our younger lads and we were trying to keep as quiet as possible, but he was shouting "Mother, Mother help me." I got close to him and in no uncertain terms told him to shut up. Afterwards I was sorry for what I said, but I never saw him again and sadly he didn't make the crossing. We moved on slowly against the fast flowing water, expecting to walk out on the far bank onto dry land. Instead, to our dismay the bank rose sheer out of the water, about ten or twelve feet above the water level. Some of the lads had managed to get out on top of the bank and were able to reach our outstretched arms and assist us up the slippery bank.
After a while the majority of the column were over and we sat waiting to see if any more men were coming. We then moved along the river side until we found a heavily wooded area in which to camp down and light our fires to dry ourselves and to brew tea. It was daylight when we woke up, we were somewhat refreshed but with many more miles to cover to reach safety. We later learned that over forty men had been left to their fate on the sandbank in the middle of the Shweli River.
To read more about the men from 5 Column who were lost at the Shweli sandbank, please click on the following link:
The Men of the Shweli Sandbank
Not long after the nightmare at the Shweli, the remaining constituents of the column, some 100 men were divided into three dispersal groups. Byron White was chosen to remain with his commanding officer and on the 10th April, Fergusson's group successfully crossed the Irrawaddy River and made directly west for the Chindwin. After two more weeks of hellish marches on scanty rations, the weary remnants of 5 Column re-crossed the Chindwin on the 24th April, close to the riverside village of Sahpe (see map in the Gallery below).
Signalman White was awarded a Mention in Despatches for his efforts on the first Wingate expedition. In Bernard Fergusson's book, Beyond the Chindwin, the author explained how an aversion to rice had almost compromised White's chances of making the trip back to India:
By early April, some of the men had stomach trouble, and I was particularly anxious about White the Signaller. He and Foster had taken to being infantrymen with great and praiseworthy enthusiasm, but rice did not agree with White, and we were at pains to buy chickens and eggs for him. At times I worried about Jim (Harman), Abdul and White, and wondered whether they could stick the journey. As we approached the village of Tonmakeng on the 20th April, Jim Harman had picked up somewhat and Abdul was almost cheerful, but White was still causing me me a lot of worry. As we approached the Chindwin, close to the village of Myene, four of my men, including White were so weak they could barely stumble along and were utterly unable to carry their packs, so I pressed local coolies into service to help them.
After a long period in hospital, followed by some weeks of rest and recuperation, Byron White returned to his original R.C.O.S. unit and continued his war service. It is not known if he recovered in time to volunteer for the second Chindit operation in 1944. His death, in the early months of 2002, was recorded in the Summer issue of the Burma Star Association magazine, Dekho. The one line obituary also suggested that he had been an active member of the Grimsby and Cleethorpes branch of the Burma Star Association for many years.
When recounting his original posting to the Royal Corps of Signals from the infantry. Byron White remarked:
Well there it was. I hadn’t asked for the posting, but I wasn’t turning it down either. I had grown philosophical about the war in general and how it might treat me. I was a very small pawn in a very big game. Whatever they wanted to do with me, they would do in any case. I wasn’t looking to place my neck on the line if I could help it. But, if there was trouble coming, I was determined to train hard and prepare myself to meet it head on. If the worst came to the worst, and odds being even, I wanted to be able to give as good as I might have to take and give more if I could.
To read more about the men from the Royal Corps of Signals that served on the first Chindit expedition, please click on the following link:
Signalman Arthur Nicholls and the RCOS Draft from China
Shown below are some images in relation to this story, please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Update 22/04/2017.
From the pages of the Daily Mail dated May 21st 1943 and under the headline, Hull Men in Commando Raid:
According to a Reuters message, L/Cpl. George Foster and Signalman Byron White of Grimsby, were among the men who took part in the commando operations in Burma as reported today. British and native troops, led by a Brigadier, penetrated the Japanese lines in Burma, and for three months wrecked railways and bridges far behind the frontline and killed Japanese wherever they found them. The important Mandalay-Myitkhina railway was cut in at least seventy-five places, four large steel bridges were destroyed along the line and at least 500 Japanese killed.
Brigadier Orde Charles Wingate led the expedition, which was composed of British Commando veterans, Gurkhas, Nepalese, Kachin and Shan troops. In the middle of February the force filtered through on the Upper Chindwin and now, three months later, they are trickling back after having done a magnificent job.
NB: In a letter to author Phil Chinnery, Byron White remarked that some years after the war he and George Foster lived quite close to each other and that they socialised together on a regular basis, until George's death in 1997. He also stated that he had reached the age of 82 years without too many health issues considering the trials and tribulations he had experienced in Burma.
From the pages of the Daily Mail dated May 21st 1943 and under the headline, Hull Men in Commando Raid:
According to a Reuters message, L/Cpl. George Foster and Signalman Byron White of Grimsby, were among the men who took part in the commando operations in Burma as reported today. British and native troops, led by a Brigadier, penetrated the Japanese lines in Burma, and for three months wrecked railways and bridges far behind the frontline and killed Japanese wherever they found them. The important Mandalay-Myitkhina railway was cut in at least seventy-five places, four large steel bridges were destroyed along the line and at least 500 Japanese killed.
Brigadier Orde Charles Wingate led the expedition, which was composed of British Commando veterans, Gurkhas, Nepalese, Kachin and Shan troops. In the middle of February the force filtered through on the Upper Chindwin and now, three months later, they are trickling back after having done a magnificent job.
NB: In a letter to author Phil Chinnery, Byron White remarked that some years after the war he and George Foster lived quite close to each other and that they socialised together on a regular basis, until George's death in 1997. He also stated that he had reached the age of 82 years without too many health issues considering the trials and tribulations he had experienced in Burma.
Update 21/09/2022.
Shown below is a transcription of a letter dated 11th July 1954 from Bernard Fergusson and sent to Byron White. Byron had recently written to his former commander after hearing a radio programme on the BBC Home Service during which Fergusson reminisced about his time with the Chindits in Burma:
Dear White,
I was delighted to hear from you out of the blue after all these years. And I’m glad that you happened to be listening to the radio while I was saying thank you and your fellow Signalmen. I have not seen many of our comrades from 5 Column lately. I know that Peter Dorans has seven children now and is working down the pits near to where I used to live. I have a house in Scotland still, about 25 miles away from my mother, who now lives in my old house, with my father being dead.
I am still soldiering, but have been abroad for most of the time since the war. I saw Mr. Menzies’ (Duncan Campbell Menzies) sister about two months ago, just before she sailed for Australia. I see Mr. Stibbe from time to time and have seen Mr. Smyly and Mr. Whitehead this year. Sadly, Mr. Harman was killed in a motor car smash in South Africa. Mr. Fraser I believe is currently in Ceylon.
Please remember me to Foster the next time you write to him. We all owed a lot to you two back then. I remember being very worried about yourself on the way out, the last 100 miles or so; but Signalmen take a lot of killing!
Thank you again very much for writing. Your letter gave me immense pleasure.
Yours sincerely, Bernard Fergusson.
There now follows a transcription of Bernard Fergusson's BBC Home Service interview, broadcast on the 4th July 1954:
Shown below is a transcription of a letter dated 11th July 1954 from Bernard Fergusson and sent to Byron White. Byron had recently written to his former commander after hearing a radio programme on the BBC Home Service during which Fergusson reminisced about his time with the Chindits in Burma:
Dear White,
I was delighted to hear from you out of the blue after all these years. And I’m glad that you happened to be listening to the radio while I was saying thank you and your fellow Signalmen. I have not seen many of our comrades from 5 Column lately. I know that Peter Dorans has seven children now and is working down the pits near to where I used to live. I have a house in Scotland still, about 25 miles away from my mother, who now lives in my old house, with my father being dead.
I am still soldiering, but have been abroad for most of the time since the war. I saw Mr. Menzies’ (Duncan Campbell Menzies) sister about two months ago, just before she sailed for Australia. I see Mr. Stibbe from time to time and have seen Mr. Smyly and Mr. Whitehead this year. Sadly, Mr. Harman was killed in a motor car smash in South Africa. Mr. Fraser I believe is currently in Ceylon.
Please remember me to Foster the next time you write to him. We all owed a lot to you two back then. I remember being very worried about yourself on the way out, the last 100 miles or so; but Signalmen take a lot of killing!
Thank you again very much for writing. Your letter gave me immense pleasure.
Yours sincerely, Bernard Fergusson.
There now follows a transcription of Bernard Fergusson's BBC Home Service interview, broadcast on the 4th July 1954:
Bernard Fergusson.
Ten Years Back
For me as for thousands of others, this year has been rich in anniversaries. I am perfectly certain that all of us, from time to time, have broken off suddenly from what we were doing, and said to ourselves: "By Jove ten years ago today! It doesn't seem as long ago as that!"
To me at least it seems fantastic that it should be more than ten years since I left Burma for the last time. For two and a half years all the doings of my friends and myself had been bound up with that little known country that lay beyond the river Chindwin; and for two years, with a break of only one month, we had been living in jungle, with no personal possessions of any kind beyond what we could carry on our backs. Life was extremely simple and war had come to seem a permanent part of life.
The first Wingate Expedition in 1943 had cost us a lot in casualties. We had spent three months behind the enemy lines blowing up the enemy's communications. I commanded one of the seven columns. We went into Burma in January, 318 strong; and we came out at the end of April 95 strong. Most of our casualties were not so much from enemy action as from starvation.
But in 1944, the year of the second expedition, the force was a great deal larger, about 20,000 men. And most of us were flown in behind the enemy lines, in aircraft or in gliders, taking only two hours to cover a distance which had taken us two months to walk in the previous year. Once in, of course, we had to resort to foot-slogging again as our only means of transport. The Brigade which I commanded was the only one to walk in; and a very long and tedious walk it was.
We walked in single file, for neither the game tracks which we discovered, nor the few man-made tracks which already existed, nor the special tracks which we cut for ourselves, were wide enough to allow two men to walk side by side. So, we had the ludicrous business of 4,000 men and 700 animals being strung out 65 miles from end to end. To give you an idea of what that means, let's put it this way: if the leading man was in Richmond Park, the last man would be in the New Forest; or, if I may put it for my own countrymen in Scotland, if the leading man was on Glasgow Green, then tail-end Charlie would have been in Fort William or Portpatrick, or Roxburgh or Carnoustie. That is quite a thought; and remember too that the intervening hills were half as high again as those in the West Highlands and covered with jungle as well. But that wasn't peculiar to my lot; it was the same for us all when on the march, as we usually were. That in itself made it an off sort of campaign, for whereas in most theatres of war the infantry, where it doesn't ride in lorries, marches side by side, with muckers slogging along together, in our show your mucker was in front of you or behind you. And mighty tired you got of his back view, especially if he happened to be a mule.
The mule-leaders by the way, had the worst job of anybody, for they had to tug a mule along with them, and to take care of the mule's load as well as their own; to make sure that the mule's back didn't get as sore as their own backs did. For if the mule got a sore back, or fell over the cliff, then we had no means of carrying the mule's load; and the most important loads were those on the backs of the mules; the heavy weapons, such as the mortars and the machine guns, the ammunition and the medical stores; most important of all, the wireless sets and the charging engines which kept them on the air. If either of these last items went out of order we could neither receive nor transmit orders; we could not communicate with our base away back in India, and we could not receive any further supplies from the air. To go off the air was the thing we dreaded most. It happened to my Column in March 1943, when the mule carrying my wireless set was killed in a skirmish and tumbled over a cliff with the set and ciphers on its back. Unknown to me Lance-Corporal Lee went skidding down the cliff-face to try and get back the ciphers; it was a gallant and worthwhile act for which he lost his liberty and later his life as a prisoner. Thence forward we had no wireless, no food, no supply drops; we had to live on next to nothing until we reached India six or seven weeks later. From the 30th March till the 9th April, we only had one square meal; and that period of want was too much for some of us, who lacked the strength to struggle to their feet after our frequent halts.
Another set of people in whose debt we were very deep was the signallers and cipher-operators. Their work began when ours finished; we depended on them for our operational orders and for our food. They could only function at the halt; and the halt, for us, was the one blessed part of the day, while we relaxed, they worked; and to them, as to the mule-leaders, after the lapse of ten years, I take pleasure in raising my hat this evening. While we brewed up, and cooked, and rested, and sun-bathed, the signallers and cipher-operators sent off our signals and our requirements in food and supplies, made our reports and received our orders from Force H.Q. There was no rest for them, either then or in the evening, when the rest of us were eating and dossing down, so as to get as much sleep as possible before dawn got us on the move again. Ten years ago, the signallers were our real heroes. I wonder where they have all got to now, Rudd, and Walsh, and Foster and White, and all the rest of them? I can still see them in my mind's eye, getting into bivouac, cheerfully swinging a stone weight with the end of the aerial bound round it, away up into the trees, trusting to hook it over a branch, so that they could communicate with far away India, while the evening drew in. It was they who provided my breathing tube, my Schnorkel so to speak, with the outside world. It was through them that I learned what was going on, and how this little force of mine could be swung this way or that, as far behind the enemy's lines, to influence the battle.
There was a lot of nonsense talked in those days about the Forgotten Army. I was always ashamed of it; I'm still ashamed of it. Towards the end, we were not only not forgotten, we were almost over-written by those nice friendly people the journalists. We did have our bad times. Often we had so much rain that for weeks at a time we didn't know what it was to be dry. The very wood we cooked with had to be shredded down with hatchets, which we called by the local Burmese name of dah, which were so much our best friends that they were never out of our hands by day or night. Sometimes by contrast we were without water for two or three days at a time; and it is still a revelation to me how long a man can carry on without food; but how short a time he can carry on without water. Leeches and ticks, there were plenty of them. Another source of discomfort to us was the enormous weights which we had to carry. A man's load varied from 72 lb just after a supply drop to 57 lb just before one; that is, from five and a half stone to just over four stone. That is a lot to carry on your back, especially if you are not a big man. And you had to be prepared to fight as well.
For me as for thousands of others, this year has been rich in anniversaries. I am perfectly certain that all of us, from time to time, have broken off suddenly from what we were doing, and said to ourselves: "By Jove ten years ago today! It doesn't seem as long ago as that!"
To me at least it seems fantastic that it should be more than ten years since I left Burma for the last time. For two and a half years all the doings of my friends and myself had been bound up with that little known country that lay beyond the river Chindwin; and for two years, with a break of only one month, we had been living in jungle, with no personal possessions of any kind beyond what we could carry on our backs. Life was extremely simple and war had come to seem a permanent part of life.
The first Wingate Expedition in 1943 had cost us a lot in casualties. We had spent three months behind the enemy lines blowing up the enemy's communications. I commanded one of the seven columns. We went into Burma in January, 318 strong; and we came out at the end of April 95 strong. Most of our casualties were not so much from enemy action as from starvation.
But in 1944, the year of the second expedition, the force was a great deal larger, about 20,000 men. And most of us were flown in behind the enemy lines, in aircraft or in gliders, taking only two hours to cover a distance which had taken us two months to walk in the previous year. Once in, of course, we had to resort to foot-slogging again as our only means of transport. The Brigade which I commanded was the only one to walk in; and a very long and tedious walk it was.
We walked in single file, for neither the game tracks which we discovered, nor the few man-made tracks which already existed, nor the special tracks which we cut for ourselves, were wide enough to allow two men to walk side by side. So, we had the ludicrous business of 4,000 men and 700 animals being strung out 65 miles from end to end. To give you an idea of what that means, let's put it this way: if the leading man was in Richmond Park, the last man would be in the New Forest; or, if I may put it for my own countrymen in Scotland, if the leading man was on Glasgow Green, then tail-end Charlie would have been in Fort William or Portpatrick, or Roxburgh or Carnoustie. That is quite a thought; and remember too that the intervening hills were half as high again as those in the West Highlands and covered with jungle as well. But that wasn't peculiar to my lot; it was the same for us all when on the march, as we usually were. That in itself made it an off sort of campaign, for whereas in most theatres of war the infantry, where it doesn't ride in lorries, marches side by side, with muckers slogging along together, in our show your mucker was in front of you or behind you. And mighty tired you got of his back view, especially if he happened to be a mule.
The mule-leaders by the way, had the worst job of anybody, for they had to tug a mule along with them, and to take care of the mule's load as well as their own; to make sure that the mule's back didn't get as sore as their own backs did. For if the mule got a sore back, or fell over the cliff, then we had no means of carrying the mule's load; and the most important loads were those on the backs of the mules; the heavy weapons, such as the mortars and the machine guns, the ammunition and the medical stores; most important of all, the wireless sets and the charging engines which kept them on the air. If either of these last items went out of order we could neither receive nor transmit orders; we could not communicate with our base away back in India, and we could not receive any further supplies from the air. To go off the air was the thing we dreaded most. It happened to my Column in March 1943, when the mule carrying my wireless set was killed in a skirmish and tumbled over a cliff with the set and ciphers on its back. Unknown to me Lance-Corporal Lee went skidding down the cliff-face to try and get back the ciphers; it was a gallant and worthwhile act for which he lost his liberty and later his life as a prisoner. Thence forward we had no wireless, no food, no supply drops; we had to live on next to nothing until we reached India six or seven weeks later. From the 30th March till the 9th April, we only had one square meal; and that period of want was too much for some of us, who lacked the strength to struggle to their feet after our frequent halts.
Another set of people in whose debt we were very deep was the signallers and cipher-operators. Their work began when ours finished; we depended on them for our operational orders and for our food. They could only function at the halt; and the halt, for us, was the one blessed part of the day, while we relaxed, they worked; and to them, as to the mule-leaders, after the lapse of ten years, I take pleasure in raising my hat this evening. While we brewed up, and cooked, and rested, and sun-bathed, the signallers and cipher-operators sent off our signals and our requirements in food and supplies, made our reports and received our orders from Force H.Q. There was no rest for them, either then or in the evening, when the rest of us were eating and dossing down, so as to get as much sleep as possible before dawn got us on the move again. Ten years ago, the signallers were our real heroes. I wonder where they have all got to now, Rudd, and Walsh, and Foster and White, and all the rest of them? I can still see them in my mind's eye, getting into bivouac, cheerfully swinging a stone weight with the end of the aerial bound round it, away up into the trees, trusting to hook it over a branch, so that they could communicate with far away India, while the evening drew in. It was they who provided my breathing tube, my Schnorkel so to speak, with the outside world. It was through them that I learned what was going on, and how this little force of mine could be swung this way or that, as far behind the enemy's lines, to influence the battle.
There was a lot of nonsense talked in those days about the Forgotten Army. I was always ashamed of it; I'm still ashamed of it. Towards the end, we were not only not forgotten, we were almost over-written by those nice friendly people the journalists. We did have our bad times. Often we had so much rain that for weeks at a time we didn't know what it was to be dry. The very wood we cooked with had to be shredded down with hatchets, which we called by the local Burmese name of dah, which were so much our best friends that they were never out of our hands by day or night. Sometimes by contrast we were without water for two or three days at a time; and it is still a revelation to me how long a man can carry on without food; but how short a time he can carry on without water. Leeches and ticks, there were plenty of them. Another source of discomfort to us was the enormous weights which we had to carry. A man's load varied from 72 lb just after a supply drop to 57 lb just before one; that is, from five and a half stone to just over four stone. That is a lot to carry on your back, especially if you are not a big man. And you had to be prepared to fight as well.
Signalmen throw their wireless aerial up into the nearest tree whilst operating in Burma.
Bernard Fergusson's radio interview concludes:
But there were a lot of pleasant things too. The fact that all we owned was on our backs, so we got a new sense of values. Trivial luxuries. Ordinary rations, dropped from the skies, were cunningly and scientifically designed to combine scanty weight with a gargantuan scale of calories. But every now and then, when we were out of immediate contact with the enemy, we were sent what was called a luxury drop. It was a genuine shock to us, after we got out, to hear other people complaining of things which had been to us, the high peak of a luxury drop. To us, bully beef, dehydrated potatoes and bread, after four or five months of just hard biscuit had been much more than manna. I am trying to make no more subtle point than this: when luxuries are scarce, simple things are treasures. I have never, thank God, been a prisoner of war; but every prisoner of war will confirm this very simple philosophy.
Another odd thing about living in the jungle, was how little we saw of the sky. Whatever type of forest you are in the trees usually close over your head so that you hardly ever get a view. Sometimes in the mountains you would come out into a clearing, perhaps a patch of green round a village; and then we used to have an extra rest to celebrate the few minutes that you were out of the forest. It was always an effort to heave your pack on to your shoulders again and start off, thinking rather miserably of how many hundreds of miles were still to be covered. But again, there were consolations in the extreme beauty of the country, of the leaping streams, of the flashing birds, the cool water to drink, the never-failing delight of a cup of tea, though sometimes I must admit the sight of a peaceful Burmese village, with blue smoke rising in the evening from its fires, made one long to take a week off and bask in its peace.
The comradeship was such as I have never known, before or since; and the stronger because we were so very much on our own. We had a wonderful esprit de corps. It survived all sorts of set-backs. We were a superbly happy family, proof against every assault on our morale. We were self-contained; we trained together, went on leave together, fought together and boasted together. Our world was bounded by Special Force.
I must say something about the astounding personality of General Wingate. He had the ability to make us believe in ourselves and to be confident that we could achieve the impossible. The most characteristic story that I can tell of him is this. He wanted to send a patrol into an area of jungle near Tamanthi, on the Chindwin, which I knew to be impenetrable and I was rash enough to say so. General Wingate rolled a contemptuous eye upon me, and added to his orders that: No patrol will report any jungle impenetrable until he has penetrated it. He was a man of deep religious convictions and of fierce determination; and when he was killed in an air crash at the end of March 1944, Sir Winston Churchill described him as: a man of genius who might have been a man of destiny.
My own brigade came out of Burma in May of 1944, footsore, tired, emaciated and needing a rest. We were sent to Bangalore in Southern India to recuperate. I wondered where to spend my leave. I wanted to go somewhere different, and I decided on Pondicherry, the French Indian colony near Madras. I have always been a lover of the French in general and the French Army in particular. So I went there; and was invited on my second day to luncheon with the Governor General, a Monsieur Bouvin.
After luncheon His Excellency turned on the wireless set in order to listen to the news. It was the 6th June 1944; and over the air came the news that the Allies had landed on the shores of France. From time to time, we in Burma had felt that we were fighting a battle far remote from the true seat of war. We had lacked the encouragement of the prospect of early victory. But from that moment in Pondicherry I saw beyond doubt that our sufferings in the deep and remote forests had been related to the big pattern. We had been far away from the centre; but our blood, out toil, our tears and sweat had not been less sacred or less effective than those of our comrades in Africa or Europe.
We had come a long way from what the Prime Minister had called The End of the Beginning, we were now within sight of the end. The war in Europe would soon be over, and our victorious comrades would soon be coming to sally from the breach which we had held so long. We were very conscious in those days of our companions who had not lived to see this prospect dawning, and whose graves, many of them unmarked, were scattered far and wide all over that country. And presently, when the reinforcements began to come along, these seemed to be fitting words:
Oh comrades all, the known and the unknown,
Sleep still at last, your vigil is despatched.
The black defences of the night are down,
The outmost wicket of the day unlatched.
This day beyond your graves our armies reach,
The hosts are come for whom you made the breach,
And now at length the enemy is matched.
Sleep still at last, your vigil is despatched.
The black defences of the night are down,
The outmost wicket of the day unlatched.
This day beyond your graves our armies reach,
The hosts are come for whom you made the breach,
And now at length the enemy is matched.
WHITE, LESLIE RONALD PETER
Rank: Private
Service No: 3968474
Date of Death: 25/04/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528433/leslie-ronald-peter-white/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Leslie White was the son of Augustus William and Mabel Matilda Elizabeth White from Southampton in Hampshire. From his Army service number it is likely that Leslie first served with the Welch Regiment in WW2, before being transferred to the 13th King's in India in the autumn of 1942. He was allocated to No. 8 Column on operation Longcloth and entered Burma with this unit on the 15th February 1943. Sadly, very little is known about his time behind Japanese lines, apart for the official missing lists for the battalion stating that he was left in the Kachin Hills on the 25th April 1943. Thankfully, a witness statement does exists, which explains the fate of Pte. White in slightly more detail.
Eye Witness Statement made by Cpl. 3781608 J. Carroll in respect of Pte. 3968474 L. White:
I was in a party, making our way out of Burma under the command of Lt. Jones (highly likely to be Lt. J. Stewart-Jones of the Gurkha Rifles). Pte. White was with us, but developed malaria and could not carry on. Lt. Jones gave him money and White made his own way back to a friendly village we had just passed through with a Gurkha who was also ill. Lt. Jones told White that he would try and arrange for guides to bring him out when they were well again. This was in the Kachin Hills and the approximate date was 25th April 1943. He has not been seen since.
After dispersal was called on the 29th March 1943, some groups chose to exit Burma via the northern Kachin Hills, some aiming for the Chinese borders and others for Fort Hertz, a Burmese outpost still thought to be in Allied hands. Lt. Stewart-Jones of the Gurkha Rifles had teamed up with No. 8 Column (from his original position with No. 4 Column) earlier in the expedition and had led his dispersal party towards Fort Hertz. It seems likely that Leslie White was with this party, but had fallen ill along the way and had to be left in the friendly village as described by Corporal Carroll.
No grave was ever found for Pte. White and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Seen below is Leslie's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3968474
Date of Death: 25/04/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528433/leslie-ronald-peter-white/
Chindit Column: 8
Other details:
Leslie White was the son of Augustus William and Mabel Matilda Elizabeth White from Southampton in Hampshire. From his Army service number it is likely that Leslie first served with the Welch Regiment in WW2, before being transferred to the 13th King's in India in the autumn of 1942. He was allocated to No. 8 Column on operation Longcloth and entered Burma with this unit on the 15th February 1943. Sadly, very little is known about his time behind Japanese lines, apart for the official missing lists for the battalion stating that he was left in the Kachin Hills on the 25th April 1943. Thankfully, a witness statement does exists, which explains the fate of Pte. White in slightly more detail.
Eye Witness Statement made by Cpl. 3781608 J. Carroll in respect of Pte. 3968474 L. White:
I was in a party, making our way out of Burma under the command of Lt. Jones (highly likely to be Lt. J. Stewart-Jones of the Gurkha Rifles). Pte. White was with us, but developed malaria and could not carry on. Lt. Jones gave him money and White made his own way back to a friendly village we had just passed through with a Gurkha who was also ill. Lt. Jones told White that he would try and arrange for guides to bring him out when they were well again. This was in the Kachin Hills and the approximate date was 25th April 1943. He has not been seen since.
After dispersal was called on the 29th March 1943, some groups chose to exit Burma via the northern Kachin Hills, some aiming for the Chinese borders and others for Fort Hertz, a Burmese outpost still thought to be in Allied hands. Lt. Stewart-Jones of the Gurkha Rifles had teamed up with No. 8 Column (from his original position with No. 4 Column) earlier in the expedition and had led his dispersal party towards Fort Hertz. It seems likely that Leslie White was with this party, but had fallen ill along the way and had to be left in the friendly village as described by Corporal Carroll.
No grave was ever found for Pte. White and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Seen below is Leslie's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
L/Cpl. Ernest Wilde.
WILDE, ERNEST
Rank: Lance Corporal
Service No: 3778651
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: Unknown
Other details:
On the 8th January 2023, I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Jordan Hall:
My great grandad Ernest Wilde, service number - 3778651, was in the 13th battalion, King's Regiment. I don’t have many belongings or photographs from his war time and I would like to find out more if you could point me in the right direction please.
However, one possession I do have is a trophy that he won in 1944-45, playing for the 13th battalion's football team in India. I will send photos and details about him on reply to this email, as I can’t attach files to this contact form. Many thanks for your work on keeping the memory of these soldiers alive. Kind regards, Jordan Hall.
I replied:
Dear Jordan,
Thank you for you email contact via my website in relation to your great grandfather. I have not come across Ernest in my research before and it is exciting for me to discover a new Kingsman in this way. From his service number, it would seem that Ernest enlisted straight into the King's Liverpool Regiment probably on the outset of WW2. It is not unusual for soldiers such as Ernest to go under the radar, so to speak, in the research that I have done, as most of the men who survived their time in India and Burma with the 13th King's tend not be mentioned in war diaries and the like. After Operation Longcloth ended, the survivors were at first sent to various hospitals throughout India to recover from the ailments and diseases received from their time in the jungle. After this, in September 1943 the 13th Battalion were sent to a new location at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. It was probably after this move that Ernest and the other men began to play sports such as football.
I do have a photograph of four men who played for the 13th King's football team at Karachi. I'm not exactly sure when the image was taken, but it was most likely in late 1944. I will send this to you after you have acknowledged this reply. During 1944 and 1945, many of the 13th Kingsmen either moved over to the 1st Battalion of the King's to train for further Chindit operations, or by mid-1945 began to be sent home having completed the wartime service. Thanks for your reply and the scans you have sent over. Seeing that Ernest has what was known as the Longcloth participation certificate, it is more likely that he was with the two columns led by Colonel S.A. Cooke (who designed and signed the certificate) and Major Scott. These were Northern Group Head Quarters (Cooke) and No. 8 Column (Scott). Almost all of the other men who possess the certificate that I am aware of, were with the above-mentioned columns.
Jordan sent this reply:
Hi Steve,
Thank you so much for sending this information through to me. I’m going to sit down with my father to look through the large photograph you sent, as I can’t spot Ernest at the moment. My father has many stories, both funny and scary as he puts it, to relay to me. I’m also speaking with my grandmother in regards to applying for the full Army service records. As promised, please find attached a photo of the football winners trophy, hopefully this is of some interest to you. The trophy was originally silver plated and I will be getting it restored soon, also adding the black wooden base that it originally had but seems to have gone missing.
Kind regards, Jordan.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including the photograph of the silver football trophy mentioned by Jordan. Please click on any image image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Lance Corporal
Service No: 3778651
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: Unknown
Other details:
On the 8th January 2023, I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Jordan Hall:
My great grandad Ernest Wilde, service number - 3778651, was in the 13th battalion, King's Regiment. I don’t have many belongings or photographs from his war time and I would like to find out more if you could point me in the right direction please.
However, one possession I do have is a trophy that he won in 1944-45, playing for the 13th battalion's football team in India. I will send photos and details about him on reply to this email, as I can’t attach files to this contact form. Many thanks for your work on keeping the memory of these soldiers alive. Kind regards, Jordan Hall.
I replied:
Dear Jordan,
Thank you for you email contact via my website in relation to your great grandfather. I have not come across Ernest in my research before and it is exciting for me to discover a new Kingsman in this way. From his service number, it would seem that Ernest enlisted straight into the King's Liverpool Regiment probably on the outset of WW2. It is not unusual for soldiers such as Ernest to go under the radar, so to speak, in the research that I have done, as most of the men who survived their time in India and Burma with the 13th King's tend not be mentioned in war diaries and the like. After Operation Longcloth ended, the survivors were at first sent to various hospitals throughout India to recover from the ailments and diseases received from their time in the jungle. After this, in September 1943 the 13th Battalion were sent to a new location at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. It was probably after this move that Ernest and the other men began to play sports such as football.
I do have a photograph of four men who played for the 13th King's football team at Karachi. I'm not exactly sure when the image was taken, but it was most likely in late 1944. I will send this to you after you have acknowledged this reply. During 1944 and 1945, many of the 13th Kingsmen either moved over to the 1st Battalion of the King's to train for further Chindit operations, or by mid-1945 began to be sent home having completed the wartime service. Thanks for your reply and the scans you have sent over. Seeing that Ernest has what was known as the Longcloth participation certificate, it is more likely that he was with the two columns led by Colonel S.A. Cooke (who designed and signed the certificate) and Major Scott. These were Northern Group Head Quarters (Cooke) and No. 8 Column (Scott). Almost all of the other men who possess the certificate that I am aware of, were with the above-mentioned columns.
Jordan sent this reply:
Hi Steve,
Thank you so much for sending this information through to me. I’m going to sit down with my father to look through the large photograph you sent, as I can’t spot Ernest at the moment. My father has many stories, both funny and scary as he puts it, to relay to me. I’m also speaking with my grandmother in regards to applying for the full Army service records. As promised, please find attached a photo of the football winners trophy, hopefully this is of some interest to you. The trophy was originally silver plated and I will be getting it restored soon, also adding the black wooden base that it originally had but seems to have gone missing.
Kind regards, Jordan.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including the photograph of the silver football trophy mentioned by Jordan. Please click on any image image to bring it forward on the page.
WILKINSON, CYRIL
Rank: Private
Service No: Unknown
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: Unknown
Other details:
From the pages of the Nelson Leader newspaper dated 6th June 1947, comes this incredibly sad story in regards former Operation Longcloth Chindit, Cyril Wilkinson:
Nelson Young Man’s Suicide.
A verdict of suicide, whilst not of a sound mind, was returned at the inquest conducted by the East Lancashire Coroner, (Mr. F. Rowland) on Saturday, in regards Cyril Wilkinson – one of Brigadier Wingate’s original Chindits – who gassed himself at his home, 93 Reedyford Road, Nelson, on Friday 30th May. Evidence revealed that Wilkinson had suffered considerably from dysentery, had malaria eight or nine times, and yellow jaundice.
The father, John Henry Wilkinson, stated that his son had enjoyed good health up to joining the forces in April 1940. He served in Burma for a long period, and was in hospital for a long time with dysentery. He returned to England at the beginning of March 1946, and spent his demobilisation leave at home, after which he commenced work at Haighton’s Foundry, but after six months became ill as a result of dysentery, and had not been in employment since.
On Friday afternoon, the witness met his wife outside their house, being unable to gain admittance. When they did enter the house, they found their son lying on his back in the scullery, close to the gas oven.
In answer to the Coroner, the father stated that no application had been made for a pension, as his son had come out of the Army graded A1.
The Coroner said that if application had been made, backed by medical evidence, he thought something could have been done for the young man, whose condition was obviously the direct result of his war service in Burma.
Rank: Private
Service No: Unknown
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: Unknown
Other details:
From the pages of the Nelson Leader newspaper dated 6th June 1947, comes this incredibly sad story in regards former Operation Longcloth Chindit, Cyril Wilkinson:
Nelson Young Man’s Suicide.
A verdict of suicide, whilst not of a sound mind, was returned at the inquest conducted by the East Lancashire Coroner, (Mr. F. Rowland) on Saturday, in regards Cyril Wilkinson – one of Brigadier Wingate’s original Chindits – who gassed himself at his home, 93 Reedyford Road, Nelson, on Friday 30th May. Evidence revealed that Wilkinson had suffered considerably from dysentery, had malaria eight or nine times, and yellow jaundice.
The father, John Henry Wilkinson, stated that his son had enjoyed good health up to joining the forces in April 1940. He served in Burma for a long period, and was in hospital for a long time with dysentery. He returned to England at the beginning of March 1946, and spent his demobilisation leave at home, after which he commenced work at Haighton’s Foundry, but after six months became ill as a result of dysentery, and had not been in employment since.
On Friday afternoon, the witness met his wife outside their house, being unable to gain admittance. When they did enter the house, they found their son lying on his back in the scullery, close to the gas oven.
In answer to the Coroner, the father stated that no application had been made for a pension, as his son had come out of the Army graded A1.
The Coroner said that if application had been made, backed by medical evidence, he thought something could have been done for the young man, whose condition was obviously the direct result of his war service in Burma.
Cyril Wilkinson, an Iron Foundry Fitter by trade was born on the 17th January 1916 and was the son of John Henry and Isabella Wilkinson, both former Cotton Weavers from Nelson in Lancashire. His sad story was brought to my attention by Simon Jervis, a fellow WW2 researcher with an interest in soldiers from the King's Regiment that fought in Burma with the Chindits.
WILKINSON, WILLIAM FRANK
Rank: Private
Service No: 3659428
Date of Death: 04/09/1943
Age: 28
Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Grave 3.B.3. Gauhati War Cemetery
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2222538/william-frank-wilkinson/
Chindit Column: 3
Other details:
William Frank Wilkinson was the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Wilkinson and husband of Edith Wilkinson from Denton in Lancashire. He began his WW2 service with the South Lancashire Regiment before being transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals and ultimately the 13th Battalion of the King's Regiment in India. William was allocated to No. 3 Column on Operation Longcloth and served as a muleteer in charge of the wireless set and part of the RAF section of the column led by Flight-Lieutenant Robert Thompson.
Robert Thompson remembered from his book, Make for the Hills, published in 1989:
My first job in 1942, detailed by Wingate as a result of my being able to ride, was to train and fit out thirty mountain artillery mules, all reportedly from Missouri in the United States, to carry our wireless sets, charging engines and fuel. These mules were far bigger than the Indian-bred mules which carried all the other Army equipment.
All the mule-leaders for these animals were British and we had a lot of fun working up and I certainly became a great admirer of my mules. My mule-leaders were Privates Hall, Wilkinson and Pratt of the 13th King's. The mules were called Yankee, Daisy and the third's name for some reason I cannot remember, perhaps because we eventually ate it. As every farmer knows, it is much better that meals remain anonymous.
In 1943 at the conclusion of Operation Longcloth, Thompson was given the job of leading one of the small dispersal groups of around 30-35 men. His previous experience in evading the Japanese when he walked out of Hong Kong via China in 1941, ensured that he and his group were the first party from No. 3 Column to return safely to India. Alongside him when re-crossing the Chindwin River, were his RAF Sergeant, George Morris, Ptes. Hall, Wilkinson and Pratt and Yankee the mule.
William Wilkinson had a short period of rest and recuperation after his time on Operation Longcloth, before taking up a role in the 17th Indian Division, Signals Corps with the rank of Lance Sergeant. It is not known how, but William died on the 4th September 1943 and was buried at Gauhati War Cemetery (please click on the image below) located in Assam, northeast India. His family were asked to nominate an epitaph for his gravestone and decided upon.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3659428
Date of Death: 04/09/1943
Age: 28
Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Grave 3.B.3. Gauhati War Cemetery
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2222538/william-frank-wilkinson/
Chindit Column: 3
Other details:
William Frank Wilkinson was the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Wilkinson and husband of Edith Wilkinson from Denton in Lancashire. He began his WW2 service with the South Lancashire Regiment before being transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals and ultimately the 13th Battalion of the King's Regiment in India. William was allocated to No. 3 Column on Operation Longcloth and served as a muleteer in charge of the wireless set and part of the RAF section of the column led by Flight-Lieutenant Robert Thompson.
Robert Thompson remembered from his book, Make for the Hills, published in 1989:
My first job in 1942, detailed by Wingate as a result of my being able to ride, was to train and fit out thirty mountain artillery mules, all reportedly from Missouri in the United States, to carry our wireless sets, charging engines and fuel. These mules were far bigger than the Indian-bred mules which carried all the other Army equipment.
All the mule-leaders for these animals were British and we had a lot of fun working up and I certainly became a great admirer of my mules. My mule-leaders were Privates Hall, Wilkinson and Pratt of the 13th King's. The mules were called Yankee, Daisy and the third's name for some reason I cannot remember, perhaps because we eventually ate it. As every farmer knows, it is much better that meals remain anonymous.
In 1943 at the conclusion of Operation Longcloth, Thompson was given the job of leading one of the small dispersal groups of around 30-35 men. His previous experience in evading the Japanese when he walked out of Hong Kong via China in 1941, ensured that he and his group were the first party from No. 3 Column to return safely to India. Alongside him when re-crossing the Chindwin River, were his RAF Sergeant, George Morris, Ptes. Hall, Wilkinson and Pratt and Yankee the mule.
William Wilkinson had a short period of rest and recuperation after his time on Operation Longcloth, before taking up a role in the 17th Indian Division, Signals Corps with the rank of Lance Sergeant. It is not known how, but William died on the 4th September 1943 and was buried at Gauhati War Cemetery (please click on the image below) located in Assam, northeast India. His family were asked to nominate an epitaph for his gravestone and decided upon.
Treasured Memories of You, Dear One, Loved and Always Remembered
Gauhati War Cemetery, Assam.
Captain Robert Wilkinson.
WILKINSON, ROBERT
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 268976
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Robert Wilkinson was commissioned into the Leicestershire Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant on the 15th November 1942. He had been previously posted to India and from here was sent over to join the 13th King's at their training centre at Jhansi on the 20th December 1942. Very little is known about Lt. Wilkinson's time with the Chindits and he does not feature in any of the books written about the first Wingate expedition.
We do know that he was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth, commanded by Major Kenneth Gilkes, formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment and was responsible for leading Rifle Platoon No. 13, which he took control of on the 30th January 1943. Robert had joined the 13th King's at the same time as three other young officers: Gerry Roberts, John Kelly and Edwin Horton and they all became good friends during the last period of Chindit training in 1942 and on the rail journey from Jhansi to the last Brigade assembly area at Imphal. Gerry Roberts' personal diary often mentions the other men, including calling Lt. Wilkinson, Bob. The four men were split up into the various Chindit columns in late January 1943, with Gerry Roberts going to No. 5 Column, Edwin Horton to No. 8 Column and Robert Wilkinson and John Kelly joining No. 7 Column.
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.
Several platoons from No. 7 Column were ordered to cross the river using local country boats in order to secure a bridgehead on the west bank. It is likely that Lt. Wilkinson led his platoon across at this point. Unfortunately, the Japanese were waiting on the far banks and began firing at the Chindit parties as they crossed; heavy mortar and machine gun fire took a heavy toll on the men from 7 Column, but a group of around 40 did make it ashore and dispersed quickly into the jungle adjacent to the river. The rest of the crossing was duly abandoned and the remainder of 7 Column turned tail from Inywa and marched east for the Shweli River. Major Gilkes eventually exited Burma via Yunnan Province (China), a march that would last for over six weeks.
Robert Wilkinson led his platoon westwards in the hope of reaching the Chindwin River and Allied held territory. On the 5th April, close to a village called Senam his party was ambushed by an enemy patrol and three of his men were lost: Pte. Thomas Humphries, Pte. Samuel Robertson and Pte. George Spears, none of whom were ever seen again. To read a dispersal story similar to that of Robert Wilkinson's party, please click on the following link: Robert Valentine Hyner
Lt. Wilkinson, alongside the remaining platoon members, which included Ptes. Griffin and Elliots reached the safety of India after three weeks of arduous and hungry marching. After a period in hospital and then four weeks rest and recuperation, the surviving Chindits from Operation Longcloth returned to their units. For Robert Wilkinson and his platoon, this meant re-joining the 13th King's at their new base, the Napier Barracks in Karachi. On the 20th October 1943, he took part in forming a Guard of Honour, sharing this duty with Captain Leslie Cottrell and Lt. Gerry Roberts, for the visit of Viceroy Lord Wavell, as he came to inspect the surviving Chindits from the first Wingate expedition. We also know from the 13th King's War diary for 1944, that Robert won a medal for the best shot using a light machine gun (paired with Pte. Allen of the King's), at an inter-battalion shooting contest held in Karachi on the 26th March.
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 268976
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Robert Wilkinson was commissioned into the Leicestershire Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant on the 15th November 1942. He had been previously posted to India and from here was sent over to join the 13th King's at their training centre at Jhansi on the 20th December 1942. Very little is known about Lt. Wilkinson's time with the Chindits and he does not feature in any of the books written about the first Wingate expedition.
We do know that he was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth, commanded by Major Kenneth Gilkes, formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment and was responsible for leading Rifle Platoon No. 13, which he took control of on the 30th January 1943. Robert had joined the 13th King's at the same time as three other young officers: Gerry Roberts, John Kelly and Edwin Horton and they all became good friends during the last period of Chindit training in 1942 and on the rail journey from Jhansi to the last Brigade assembly area at Imphal. Gerry Roberts' personal diary often mentions the other men, including calling Lt. Wilkinson, Bob. The four men were split up into the various Chindit columns in late January 1943, with Gerry Roberts going to No. 5 Column, Edwin Horton to No. 8 Column and Robert Wilkinson and John Kelly joining No. 7 Column.
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.
Several platoons from No. 7 Column were ordered to cross the river using local country boats in order to secure a bridgehead on the west bank. It is likely that Lt. Wilkinson led his platoon across at this point. Unfortunately, the Japanese were waiting on the far banks and began firing at the Chindit parties as they crossed; heavy mortar and machine gun fire took a heavy toll on the men from 7 Column, but a group of around 40 did make it ashore and dispersed quickly into the jungle adjacent to the river. The rest of the crossing was duly abandoned and the remainder of 7 Column turned tail from Inywa and marched east for the Shweli River. Major Gilkes eventually exited Burma via Yunnan Province (China), a march that would last for over six weeks.
Robert Wilkinson led his platoon westwards in the hope of reaching the Chindwin River and Allied held territory. On the 5th April, close to a village called Senam his party was ambushed by an enemy patrol and three of his men were lost: Pte. Thomas Humphries, Pte. Samuel Robertson and Pte. George Spears, none of whom were ever seen again. To read a dispersal story similar to that of Robert Wilkinson's party, please click on the following link: Robert Valentine Hyner
Lt. Wilkinson, alongside the remaining platoon members, which included Ptes. Griffin and Elliots reached the safety of India after three weeks of arduous and hungry marching. After a period in hospital and then four weeks rest and recuperation, the surviving Chindits from Operation Longcloth returned to their units. For Robert Wilkinson and his platoon, this meant re-joining the 13th King's at their new base, the Napier Barracks in Karachi. On the 20th October 1943, he took part in forming a Guard of Honour, sharing this duty with Captain Leslie Cottrell and Lt. Gerry Roberts, for the visit of Viceroy Lord Wavell, as he came to inspect the surviving Chindits from the first Wingate expedition. We also know from the 13th King's War diary for 1944, that Robert won a medal for the best shot using a light machine gun (paired with Pte. Allen of the King's), at an inter-battalion shooting contest held in Karachi on the 26th March.
13th King's War diary entry for 20th October 1943 and the visit of Viceroy Archibald Wavell.
On the 25th March 1945, Robert Wilkinson, now promoted to Captain, led a large draft of ex-Chindits from the battalion to a training camp at Comilla. Although I cannot say for sure, I believe that a third Chindit Brigade was secretly being formed to fight the Japanese in Malaya, but this became unnecessary after the dropping of the two Atomic Bombs. He went on to command the battalion's Administration Company at Karachi, before being sent on the 26th September 1945 to the Homeward Bound Transportation Depot at Deolali in preparation for his repatriation to the UK.
On the 19th July 2018, I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Mark Wilkinson:
Hello, I am looking for any information on my grandfather Captain Robert Wilkinson who was one of Wingate's Raiders in Burma. As a family we know very little about his time during WW2, as he did not like to talk about his experiences from back then, like so many soldiers from that time. I know he was honoured with medals, but he never collected them. In fact my uncle collected them later on, but we never knew what the medals referred to or what really happened in Burma.
He had a good life after the war and worked in Croydon as a mental nurse. Then my parents moved to Greatstone in Kent and my grandfather and grandma moved next door to us which was great. He then got a job at the Dungeness Power Station from which he retired at the age of 65. Sadly, he only enjoyed a short retirement before passing away three years later in 1979, he was a good man and a wonderful grandfather and had a great sense of humour. I will find you some photographs of my grandfather and send them on to you, however, it may take a little while as we have just moved house and everything is in boxes.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. I would like to thank Mark Wilkinson for the information he sent to me about his grandfather and his life after the war.
On the 19th July 2018, I was delighted to receive the following email contact from Mark Wilkinson:
Hello, I am looking for any information on my grandfather Captain Robert Wilkinson who was one of Wingate's Raiders in Burma. As a family we know very little about his time during WW2, as he did not like to talk about his experiences from back then, like so many soldiers from that time. I know he was honoured with medals, but he never collected them. In fact my uncle collected them later on, but we never knew what the medals referred to or what really happened in Burma.
He had a good life after the war and worked in Croydon as a mental nurse. Then my parents moved to Greatstone in Kent and my grandfather and grandma moved next door to us which was great. He then got a job at the Dungeness Power Station from which he retired at the age of 65. Sadly, he only enjoyed a short retirement before passing away three years later in 1979, he was a good man and a wonderful grandfather and had a great sense of humour. I will find you some photographs of my grandfather and send them on to you, however, it may take a little while as we have just moved house and everything is in boxes.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. I would like to thank Mark Wilkinson for the information he sent to me about his grandfather and his life after the war.
WILLIAMS, EDWARD JOHN
Rank: Private
Service No: 3712133
Date of Death: 10/05/1943
Age: 20
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528497/edward-john-williams/
Chindit Column: Northern Group Head Quarters
Other details:
Edward John Williams began his WW2 service with the King's Own Royal Regiment, before being transferred to the 13th King's in India. He was allocated to the Northern Group Head Quarters section of 77 Brigade on Operation Longcloth, a unit that travelled for the most part in the company of No. 8 Column in Burma. After dispersal was called on the 29th March, both Northern Group HQ and No. 8 Column began their return journey to India together and it is presumed that Edward Williams was part of this group.
Very little is known about Pte. Williams' fate in Burma, but there is one witness statement that does throw some light on what happened to him:
In the case of Pte. 3712133 E. Williams
The above mentioned British Other Rank fell out on the line of march on the afternoon of May 10th 1943, near the village of Namkut (SB 2141). Pte. 5952110 A. Maunders stated that he (Williams) had fallen behind twice before this and it appeared that he wished to return to the friendly village of Namta on the Uyu River, where the party had halted the night before. On the third occasion the party waited sometime for him to catch up, but he did not re-join the party.
The official missing listings for Operation Longcloth simply state that Pte. Edward Williams was last seen near the village of Namkut on the 10th May 1943. By this stage most of the men from Northern Group HQ and No. 8 Column had broken down into smaller dispersal parties of 20-30 in each. The above witness statement was checked and signed off by Lt. George Borrow of the 13th King's and this might offer up a clue as to which dispersal group Edward belonged to in 1943, as Lt. Borrow was part of a party led by Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke and half of the Northern Group HQ personnel.
Sadly, after the war, no grave was ever found for Edward Williams and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including a photograph of Edward's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3712133
Date of Death: 10/05/1943
Age: 20
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528497/edward-john-williams/
Chindit Column: Northern Group Head Quarters
Other details:
Edward John Williams began his WW2 service with the King's Own Royal Regiment, before being transferred to the 13th King's in India. He was allocated to the Northern Group Head Quarters section of 77 Brigade on Operation Longcloth, a unit that travelled for the most part in the company of No. 8 Column in Burma. After dispersal was called on the 29th March, both Northern Group HQ and No. 8 Column began their return journey to India together and it is presumed that Edward Williams was part of this group.
Very little is known about Pte. Williams' fate in Burma, but there is one witness statement that does throw some light on what happened to him:
In the case of Pte. 3712133 E. Williams
The above mentioned British Other Rank fell out on the line of march on the afternoon of May 10th 1943, near the village of Namkut (SB 2141). Pte. 5952110 A. Maunders stated that he (Williams) had fallen behind twice before this and it appeared that he wished to return to the friendly village of Namta on the Uyu River, where the party had halted the night before. On the third occasion the party waited sometime for him to catch up, but he did not re-join the party.
The official missing listings for Operation Longcloth simply state that Pte. Edward Williams was last seen near the village of Namkut on the 10th May 1943. By this stage most of the men from Northern Group HQ and No. 8 Column had broken down into smaller dispersal parties of 20-30 in each. The above witness statement was checked and signed off by Lt. George Borrow of the 13th King's and this might offer up a clue as to which dispersal group Edward belonged to in 1943, as Lt. Borrow was part of a party led by Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke and half of the Northern Group HQ personnel.
Sadly, after the war, no grave was ever found for Edward Williams and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including a photograph of Edward's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring forward on the page.
Ernest aboard the troopship 'Oronsay' in January 1942.
WILLIAMS, ERNEST WALTER
Rank: Private
Service No: 4197586
Date of Death: 11/04/1943
Age: 25
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528499/WILLIAMS,%20ERNEST%20WALTER
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
From the West Wales War Memorial Project: http://www.wwwmp.co.uk/pembrokeshire-war-memorials/
Pte. Ernest Walter Williams was born in 1915, and was the nephew of E. A. Scourfield of The Court, Cresselly. He originally enlisted into the Royal Welch Fusiliers, but was later transferred into the 13th Battalion, King's Regiment, and was posted to Burma. Ernest was reported missing in April 1943, and it wasn't until April 1946 that his family received confirmation that he had been killed, the official date being given as 11th April 1943. Ernest was 25 years old, and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar and the Ammanford WW2 Memorial in Carmarthenshire.
In early April 1943, Major Kenneth Gilkes, commander of 7 Column decided to split his unit up into six dispersal groups in preparation for the return journey to Allied held territory. Although Gilkes intended to take the majority of his men out via the Chinese Yunnan Borders, he realised that some of the men in his care were in no fit state to make what would be a much longer trip. He therefore instructed Lieutenant Rex Walker along with the Medical Officer from 5 Column, Captain Aird to take a party of sick and wounded men back to India by the shortest route possible. Pte. Ernest Williams was placed into this group and on the 10th April, they began the long journey back to India.
Here is a quote from the Missing in Action reports for 1943 which was given by Leslie Cottrell, Adjutant of 7 Column on Operation Longcloth.
"On April 10th we were on the Mongmit-Myitson Road, Lieutenant Walker was ordered to take charge of a party of 3 officers and 25 BOR's. He was told to head westward toward the Irrawaddy and make for India by the most direct route. The group were armed and had ammunition, also they had two days hard scale rations per man. The officers had both maps and compasses. An air supply dropping was arranged for them just west of the Irrawaddy, but the party failed to make the rendezvous."
It seems very likely that the party were attacked almost straight away after splitting from the other dispersal groups of Column 7. The fact that two of the men, Reginald Milkins and Henry Aindow, were murdered by Burmese villagers on the 10th April, suggests to me that the vulnerable condition of the group had encouraged local villagers to attempt to capture the men in order to gain favour with the Japanese in the area and perhaps claim some sort of reward for doing so.
Although Walker's dispersal party was armed and had been given adequate rations for at least two days, the unit did not remain intact for very long. There seems to have been another enemy ambush on the group on the 11th April, this took place close to the Myitson-Mongmit Road and it was here that Ernest Williams was killed. The party was broken up and several men were taken prisoner and eventually ended up as POW's in Rangoon Jail. Of the 29 men that set out for the pre-arranged rendezvous at the Irrawaddy River, only five would survive to see the United Kingdom again and each of these would have to endure two years as a prisoner in Japanese hands.
To read more about Rex Walker's dispersal group, please click on the following link: Rex Walker's Dispersal Group 4
None of the bodies of the missing men were ever recovered after the war and for this reason, Pte. Ernest Walter Williams and his comrades are remembered upon the Rangoon Memorial at Taukkyan War Cemetery. This memorial forms the centre piece of the cemetery which is situated on the northern outskirts of Rangoon City and contains almost 27,000 names of casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave.
Seen below are some other images in relation to Ernest Williams and his story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 4197586
Date of Death: 11/04/1943
Age: 25
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2528499/WILLIAMS,%20ERNEST%20WALTER
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
From the West Wales War Memorial Project: http://www.wwwmp.co.uk/pembrokeshire-war-memorials/
Pte. Ernest Walter Williams was born in 1915, and was the nephew of E. A. Scourfield of The Court, Cresselly. He originally enlisted into the Royal Welch Fusiliers, but was later transferred into the 13th Battalion, King's Regiment, and was posted to Burma. Ernest was reported missing in April 1943, and it wasn't until April 1946 that his family received confirmation that he had been killed, the official date being given as 11th April 1943. Ernest was 25 years old, and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar and the Ammanford WW2 Memorial in Carmarthenshire.
In early April 1943, Major Kenneth Gilkes, commander of 7 Column decided to split his unit up into six dispersal groups in preparation for the return journey to Allied held territory. Although Gilkes intended to take the majority of his men out via the Chinese Yunnan Borders, he realised that some of the men in his care were in no fit state to make what would be a much longer trip. He therefore instructed Lieutenant Rex Walker along with the Medical Officer from 5 Column, Captain Aird to take a party of sick and wounded men back to India by the shortest route possible. Pte. Ernest Williams was placed into this group and on the 10th April, they began the long journey back to India.
Here is a quote from the Missing in Action reports for 1943 which was given by Leslie Cottrell, Adjutant of 7 Column on Operation Longcloth.
"On April 10th we were on the Mongmit-Myitson Road, Lieutenant Walker was ordered to take charge of a party of 3 officers and 25 BOR's. He was told to head westward toward the Irrawaddy and make for India by the most direct route. The group were armed and had ammunition, also they had two days hard scale rations per man. The officers had both maps and compasses. An air supply dropping was arranged for them just west of the Irrawaddy, but the party failed to make the rendezvous."
It seems very likely that the party were attacked almost straight away after splitting from the other dispersal groups of Column 7. The fact that two of the men, Reginald Milkins and Henry Aindow, were murdered by Burmese villagers on the 10th April, suggests to me that the vulnerable condition of the group had encouraged local villagers to attempt to capture the men in order to gain favour with the Japanese in the area and perhaps claim some sort of reward for doing so.
Although Walker's dispersal party was armed and had been given adequate rations for at least two days, the unit did not remain intact for very long. There seems to have been another enemy ambush on the group on the 11th April, this took place close to the Myitson-Mongmit Road and it was here that Ernest Williams was killed. The party was broken up and several men were taken prisoner and eventually ended up as POW's in Rangoon Jail. Of the 29 men that set out for the pre-arranged rendezvous at the Irrawaddy River, only five would survive to see the United Kingdom again and each of these would have to endure two years as a prisoner in Japanese hands.
To read more about Rex Walker's dispersal group, please click on the following link: Rex Walker's Dispersal Group 4
None of the bodies of the missing men were ever recovered after the war and for this reason, Pte. Ernest Walter Williams and his comrades are remembered upon the Rangoon Memorial at Taukkyan War Cemetery. This memorial forms the centre piece of the cemetery which is situated on the northern outskirts of Rangoon City and contains almost 27,000 names of casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave.
Seen below are some other images in relation to Ernest Williams and his story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
WILLIAMS, JOHN
Rank: Private
Service No: 3865864
Date of Death: 08/05/1943
Age: 26
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528508/john-williams/
Chindit Column: 2
Other details:
John Williams was the son of John (senior) and Ruth Williams and the husband of Emma Williams from Prescot in Lancashire. He had begun his service with the Loyal (North Lancs) Regiment in WW2, before being posted to the 142 Commando section of 77 Brigade at the Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of India. He was later allocated to the Commando Platoon of No. 2 Column on Operation Longcloth.
Pte. Williams entered Burma in mid-February 1943, crossing the Chindwin River at a place called Auktaung. No. 2 Column were part of Southern Section on Operation Longcloth, ordered by Brigadier Wingate to act as a decoy for the other units crossing the river further north. After the disastrous engagement with the Japanese at the rail station of Kyaikthin, where No. 2 Column was heavily defeated and broken up, John and a few other men joined up with No. 1 Column and became part of Major George Dunlop's Commando Platoon for the rest of the expedition.
According to the missing listings for Operation Longcloth, John Williams was last seen on the 8th May 1943, in a paddy field close to the banks of the Chindwin River. A witness statement exists that throws some more light on what happened that day, given by 2nd Lieutenant P.W. MacLagan an officer previously with No. 2 Column Commando Platoon:
In regard to Ptes. Belcher, Checkley, Roden, Barnes and Williams and Lance Corporal W. McMurran.
On the 8th May 1943 at mid-day, the party under Major Dunlop was attacked on the Katun Chaung about 3 miles from the Chindwin River. Major Dunlop led the party up a dry nullah into the surrounding hills. The above mentioned men were in a group led by Lance Corporal McMurran which went on with Major Dunlop.
The report then goes on to recommend that a statement is obtained from Major Dunlop in order to further clarify what happened to these men. In Dunlop's own debrief documents for 1943 he mentions that in the area close to the east banks of the Chindwin there were many Japanese and Burmese fighting patrols, all on the lookout for the Chindits attempting to escape back to India. To read more about the Southern Group commandos journey back to the Chindwin, please click on the following link: 'Young Ernie' Belcher
Sadly, nothing further is known about the fate of Pte. John Williams. No grave was ever found after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including a photograph of John's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3865864
Date of Death: 08/05/1943
Age: 26
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528508/john-williams/
Chindit Column: 2
Other details:
John Williams was the son of John (senior) and Ruth Williams and the husband of Emma Williams from Prescot in Lancashire. He had begun his service with the Loyal (North Lancs) Regiment in WW2, before being posted to the 142 Commando section of 77 Brigade at the Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of India. He was later allocated to the Commando Platoon of No. 2 Column on Operation Longcloth.
Pte. Williams entered Burma in mid-February 1943, crossing the Chindwin River at a place called Auktaung. No. 2 Column were part of Southern Section on Operation Longcloth, ordered by Brigadier Wingate to act as a decoy for the other units crossing the river further north. After the disastrous engagement with the Japanese at the rail station of Kyaikthin, where No. 2 Column was heavily defeated and broken up, John and a few other men joined up with No. 1 Column and became part of Major George Dunlop's Commando Platoon for the rest of the expedition.
According to the missing listings for Operation Longcloth, John Williams was last seen on the 8th May 1943, in a paddy field close to the banks of the Chindwin River. A witness statement exists that throws some more light on what happened that day, given by 2nd Lieutenant P.W. MacLagan an officer previously with No. 2 Column Commando Platoon:
In regard to Ptes. Belcher, Checkley, Roden, Barnes and Williams and Lance Corporal W. McMurran.
On the 8th May 1943 at mid-day, the party under Major Dunlop was attacked on the Katun Chaung about 3 miles from the Chindwin River. Major Dunlop led the party up a dry nullah into the surrounding hills. The above mentioned men were in a group led by Lance Corporal McMurran which went on with Major Dunlop.
The report then goes on to recommend that a statement is obtained from Major Dunlop in order to further clarify what happened to these men. In Dunlop's own debrief documents for 1943 he mentions that in the area close to the east banks of the Chindwin there were many Japanese and Burmese fighting patrols, all on the lookout for the Chindits attempting to escape back to India. To read more about the Southern Group commandos journey back to the Chindwin, please click on the following link: 'Young Ernie' Belcher
Sadly, nothing further is known about the fate of Pte. John Williams. No grave was ever found after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including a photograph of John's inscription upon Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial. Please click on any image to bring forward on the page.
WILLIAMS, RALPH ANDERSON
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 153850
Date of Death: 24/06/1943
Age: Unknown
Regiment/Service: South Staffordshire Regiment attached King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 14 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528515/ralph-williams/
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Ralph Williams was the husband of Joan Muriel Williams from Wembley in Middlesex. He had been commissioned into the South Staffordshire Regiment earlier in WW2, before being posted to the 13th King's at their temporary base in Jhansi on the 23rd December 1942. Ralph was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth, serving under Major Kenneth Gilkes formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment.
After dispersal was called on the 29th March 1943, Major Gilkes decided to lead the vast majority of his column out of Burma towards the Chinese borders. He was however, concerned about some of his men who were already suffering from disease and were in a weakened state. These men were unlikely to be fit enough to make the long and arduous march through the Kachin Hill tracts and over the Chinese border. Gilkes instructed Lt. Rex Walker to take these stricken men on and lead them westward to the Irrawaddy River and eventually to the safety of the Chindwin.
From the 7 Column war diary, 9th April 1943:
Column was divided today, Major Gilkes (group 1) took half the men east, intending to move out by the northern China route. Lieutenant Heald (group 2) took parties across the Irrawaddy, others went with Captain Cottrell (group 3), Lieutenant R. Walker (group 4), Lieutenant Musgrave-Wood (group 5) and Campbell-Paterson (group 6).
All the groups apart from Gilkes' main party were made up of 20-30 men. The four smaller dispersal groups were to rendezvous a little way further west after crossing over the Irrawaddy.
The war diary continued:
Lieutenant Walker’s party included, Captain Aird the former Medical officer of No. 5 Column, plus Lieutenant’s Hector and Anderson-Williams. A supply drop is being arranged by us for Walker’s party five days hence.
Sadly, the Lt. Walker's party never reached that supply drop rendezvous.To read more about this dispersal party and what happened to them over the coming days, please click on the following link: Rex Walker's Dispersal Group 4
Very little is known about the fate of Lt. Williams after the 10th April 1943, but we do know from records held at the National Archives in London, that he was captured by the Japanese at some point after reaching the east banks of the Irrawaddy River. He is then recorded as having died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail on the 30th June 1943, having been given the POW number 486 during his short time as a prisoner of war. Lt. Rex Walker also perished at Rangoon a few days earlier, on the 24th June.
Unfortunately, no grave for Ralph Williams could be found after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 14 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Most of the Chindit casualties that died in Rangoon Jail were originally buried at the English Cantonment Cemetery, located in the eastern sector of the city, near the Royal Lakes. However, some of the men who died soon after their arrival at Rangoon in late May were buried at St. Mary's, the local Catholic Cathedral situated in the Botahtaung district of the city. It is possible that Lt. Williams was also buried here and that his grave location could not be determined by the Graves Registration unit.
Footnote: More than 50 years later, the sister of Ralph Williams sent an appeal for information in regards her brother's fate to the Burma Star Association head quarters. This was published in the 1995 Winter edition of the Burma Star magazine, Dekho! I did send a letter to the address published in the appeal notice back in 2010, but sadly to no avail.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including the POW details for Ralph Williams and a photograph of his inscription upon Face 14 of the Rangoon War Memorial. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 153850
Date of Death: 24/06/1943
Age: Unknown
Regiment/Service: South Staffordshire Regiment attached King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Face 14 of the Rangoon Memorial, Taukkyan War Cemetery.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2528515/ralph-williams/
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Ralph Williams was the husband of Joan Muriel Williams from Wembley in Middlesex. He had been commissioned into the South Staffordshire Regiment earlier in WW2, before being posted to the 13th King's at their temporary base in Jhansi on the 23rd December 1942. Ralph was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth, serving under Major Kenneth Gilkes formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment.
After dispersal was called on the 29th March 1943, Major Gilkes decided to lead the vast majority of his column out of Burma towards the Chinese borders. He was however, concerned about some of his men who were already suffering from disease and were in a weakened state. These men were unlikely to be fit enough to make the long and arduous march through the Kachin Hill tracts and over the Chinese border. Gilkes instructed Lt. Rex Walker to take these stricken men on and lead them westward to the Irrawaddy River and eventually to the safety of the Chindwin.
From the 7 Column war diary, 9th April 1943:
Column was divided today, Major Gilkes (group 1) took half the men east, intending to move out by the northern China route. Lieutenant Heald (group 2) took parties across the Irrawaddy, others went with Captain Cottrell (group 3), Lieutenant R. Walker (group 4), Lieutenant Musgrave-Wood (group 5) and Campbell-Paterson (group 6).
All the groups apart from Gilkes' main party were made up of 20-30 men. The four smaller dispersal groups were to rendezvous a little way further west after crossing over the Irrawaddy.
The war diary continued:
Lieutenant Walker’s party included, Captain Aird the former Medical officer of No. 5 Column, plus Lieutenant’s Hector and Anderson-Williams. A supply drop is being arranged by us for Walker’s party five days hence.
Sadly, the Lt. Walker's party never reached that supply drop rendezvous.To read more about this dispersal party and what happened to them over the coming days, please click on the following link: Rex Walker's Dispersal Group 4
Very little is known about the fate of Lt. Williams after the 10th April 1943, but we do know from records held at the National Archives in London, that he was captured by the Japanese at some point after reaching the east banks of the Irrawaddy River. He is then recorded as having died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail on the 30th June 1943, having been given the POW number 486 during his short time as a prisoner of war. Lt. Rex Walker also perished at Rangoon a few days earlier, on the 24th June.
Unfortunately, no grave for Ralph Williams could be found after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon Face 14 of the Rangoon Memorial located at Taukkyan War Cemetery. The memorial is the centre-piece structure at Taukkyan and commemorates the casualties from the Burma campaign that have no known grave. Most of the Chindit casualties that died in Rangoon Jail were originally buried at the English Cantonment Cemetery, located in the eastern sector of the city, near the Royal Lakes. However, some of the men who died soon after their arrival at Rangoon in late May were buried at St. Mary's, the local Catholic Cathedral situated in the Botahtaung district of the city. It is possible that Lt. Williams was also buried here and that his grave location could not be determined by the Graves Registration unit.
Footnote: More than 50 years later, the sister of Ralph Williams sent an appeal for information in regards her brother's fate to the Burma Star Association head quarters. This was published in the 1995 Winter edition of the Burma Star magazine, Dekho! I did send a letter to the address published in the appeal notice back in 2010, but sadly to no avail.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including the POW details for Ralph Williams and a photograph of his inscription upon Face 14 of the Rangoon War Memorial. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
WILLIAMSON, THOMAS GLADSTONE
Rank: Aircraftsman 1st Class
Service No: 1082946
Date of Death: 31/01/1943
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: 31 Squadron RAF
Memorial: Column 429 of the Singapore Memorial
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1816673/thomas-gladstone-williamson/
Chindit Column: N/A
Other details:
Thomas Williamson was the son of Thomas (senior) and Frances Williamson and the husband of Margaret Brown Williamson from Seaton Delaval in Northumberland. He was serving with 31 Squadron RAF at their base in Agartala, northeast India during the training months for Operation Longcloth. On the 31st January 1943, Thomas volunteered to be a 'kicker-out' on a practice supply drop to the Chindits at a location near the Chindwin River.
Tragically, the plane never returned to Agartala that day and the crew was never recovered. For this reason, Thomas Williamson is remembered upon the Singapore Memorial, a monument partly created to record the names of RAF personnel from the Burma campaign who have no known grave. Thomas is also remembered upon the Seaton Delaval War Memorial in Northumberland. Seen below are photographs of the Singapore Memorial and Thomas' inscription on his hometown memorial. Please click on either image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Aircraftsman 1st Class
Service No: 1082946
Date of Death: 31/01/1943
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: 31 Squadron RAF
Memorial: Column 429 of the Singapore Memorial
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1816673/thomas-gladstone-williamson/
Chindit Column: N/A
Other details:
Thomas Williamson was the son of Thomas (senior) and Frances Williamson and the husband of Margaret Brown Williamson from Seaton Delaval in Northumberland. He was serving with 31 Squadron RAF at their base in Agartala, northeast India during the training months for Operation Longcloth. On the 31st January 1943, Thomas volunteered to be a 'kicker-out' on a practice supply drop to the Chindits at a location near the Chindwin River.
Tragically, the plane never returned to Agartala that day and the crew was never recovered. For this reason, Thomas Williamson is remembered upon the Singapore Memorial, a monument partly created to record the names of RAF personnel from the Burma campaign who have no known grave. Thomas is also remembered upon the Seaton Delaval War Memorial in Northumberland. Seen below are photographs of the Singapore Memorial and Thomas' inscription on his hometown memorial. Please click on either image to bring it forward on the page.
WILLIAMSON, HORACE F.
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 263390
Date of Death: N/A
Age: 26
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
Lt. Horace F. Williamson was allocated to No. 5 Column on Operation Longcloth. He is mentioned on a few occasions in the book, Beyond the Chindwin, written by No. 5 Column commander, Major Bernard Fergusson. Willie Williamson, as he was affectionately known within 5 Column was formerly a Regular NCO in the King's Regiment before the war and was commissioned in May 1942. He became the commander of the Machine Gun section of Captain Tommy Roberts' Support Platoon in 5 Column and entered Burma with this unit.
Lt. Williamson was one of the 100 or so men that became separated from the main body of the column, after the engagement with the Japanese at the village of Hintha on the 28th March 1943. For more information about this incident and the second ambush just a few hours after exiting Hintha, please click on the following link: Pte. Norman John Fowler
Many of the men lost to 5 Column on the 28/29th March 1943 were fortunate to meet up with No. 7 Column on the banks of the Shweli River just a few days later. Major Gilkes, the 7 Column commander took these men under his wing and allocated them to his pre-arranged dispersal groups of around 2-30 men in each. Lt. Williamson joined up with the men from No. 7 Column and began his journey out of Burma, heading northeast towards the Chinese borders. After successfully exiting Burma that year, he gave a witness statement for Pte. 3779346 David Clarke, another soldier in his party on dispersal, but also formerly from No. 5 Column:
I was an officer with No. 1 dispersal group, part of No. 7 Column on the Wingate expedition. On the 26th April 1943, the above mentioned British Other Rank fell back from the group at a river crossing, approximately 40 miles south west of Fort Morton. This was the last time he was seen by me and in my opinion, the last time by any other person. He had in his possession 20 rounds of .303 ammunition and his rifle.
This witness statement gives us an indication of the route taken by Lt. Williamson and his dispersal party in April/May 1943 and allows us to exclude him being with Major Gilkes and the vast majority of No. 7 Column, which exited Burma via the Chinese borders. It is more likely that he was with Lt. Heald's party, or perhaps Lt. George Astell's or possibly even the party led by Lt. Musgrave-Wood. All of these units exited Burma via Fort Hertz, a northern outpost still in Allied hands at that time.
In the 1944 war diary for the 13th King's, there is an entry dated 11th February confirming that Lt. H. Williamson left the battalion that day having been posted to the Home Establishment after long and continuous overseas service. It is likely that he went from Karachi to the Deolali Camp situated to the north of Bombay and awaited repatriation to the United Kingdom from there.
Seen below is an image of Lt. Williamson's witness statement for Pte. David Clarke. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about Pte. Clarke, please click on the following link and scroll alphabetically down the page: Roll Call A-E
Rank: Lieutenant
Service No: 263390
Date of Death: N/A
Age: 26
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
Lt. Horace F. Williamson was allocated to No. 5 Column on Operation Longcloth. He is mentioned on a few occasions in the book, Beyond the Chindwin, written by No. 5 Column commander, Major Bernard Fergusson. Willie Williamson, as he was affectionately known within 5 Column was formerly a Regular NCO in the King's Regiment before the war and was commissioned in May 1942. He became the commander of the Machine Gun section of Captain Tommy Roberts' Support Platoon in 5 Column and entered Burma with this unit.
Lt. Williamson was one of the 100 or so men that became separated from the main body of the column, after the engagement with the Japanese at the village of Hintha on the 28th March 1943. For more information about this incident and the second ambush just a few hours after exiting Hintha, please click on the following link: Pte. Norman John Fowler
Many of the men lost to 5 Column on the 28/29th March 1943 were fortunate to meet up with No. 7 Column on the banks of the Shweli River just a few days later. Major Gilkes, the 7 Column commander took these men under his wing and allocated them to his pre-arranged dispersal groups of around 2-30 men in each. Lt. Williamson joined up with the men from No. 7 Column and began his journey out of Burma, heading northeast towards the Chinese borders. After successfully exiting Burma that year, he gave a witness statement for Pte. 3779346 David Clarke, another soldier in his party on dispersal, but also formerly from No. 5 Column:
I was an officer with No. 1 dispersal group, part of No. 7 Column on the Wingate expedition. On the 26th April 1943, the above mentioned British Other Rank fell back from the group at a river crossing, approximately 40 miles south west of Fort Morton. This was the last time he was seen by me and in my opinion, the last time by any other person. He had in his possession 20 rounds of .303 ammunition and his rifle.
This witness statement gives us an indication of the route taken by Lt. Williamson and his dispersal party in April/May 1943 and allows us to exclude him being with Major Gilkes and the vast majority of No. 7 Column, which exited Burma via the Chinese borders. It is more likely that he was with Lt. Heald's party, or perhaps Lt. George Astell's or possibly even the party led by Lt. Musgrave-Wood. All of these units exited Burma via Fort Hertz, a northern outpost still in Allied hands at that time.
In the 1944 war diary for the 13th King's, there is an entry dated 11th February confirming that Lt. H. Williamson left the battalion that day having been posted to the Home Establishment after long and continuous overseas service. It is likely that he went from Karachi to the Deolali Camp situated to the north of Bombay and awaited repatriation to the United Kingdom from there.
Seen below is an image of Lt. Williamson's witness statement for Pte. David Clarke. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about Pte. Clarke, please click on the following link and scroll alphabetically down the page: Roll Call A-E
WILLIS, JAMES ARTHUR
Rank: Lance Corporal
Service No: 6103385
Date of Death: 11/09/1943
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals attached 77 Indian Infantry Brigade.
Memorial: Rangoon War Cemetery, Grave Reference 6. F. 2.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261418/WILLIS,%20JAMES%20ARTHUR
Chindit Column: Wingate's Brigade Head Quarters.
Other details:
James Arthur Willis was the son of William and Mary Willis and the husband of Mary Isobel Willis, from Slough in the English county of Berkshire. He was a last minute reinforcement to 77th Brigade and had also been on active service in China prior to joining Wingate's Brigade HQ in January 1943. James was the Head Quarters Wireless Operator on Operation Longcloth and was allocated to the dispersal group led by Captain Hosegood and Lieutenant Wilding on the 30th March.
By the time of his capture on the 2nd May, James was the only Chindit in the dispersal group still in possession of a serviceable rifle. No rifle oil had been dropped to the Chindits during their time behind enemy lines, but James with no little ingenuity had used his allocation of mosquito repellent cream to keep his weapon in good order. Alas, one rifle was never going to be enough to fend off the advancing enemy patrol and eventually Lt. Wilding decided to surrender.
Wilding recalled:
We split up into small groups and hid in the elephant grass, but on 2nd May the Japs, or possibly the Burmese police, set fire to it. The flames came very close, but I was not burnt. We then rendezvoused and discovered that only one rifle was serviceable, the one belonging to Lance-Corporal Willis. Since leaving Imphal eleven or twelve weeks before, nobody had thought of having more rifle oil dropped and now you could hardly move the bolts. Lance-Corporal Willis had used mosquito repellent cream, and it worked.
I would ask the reader if he would order his men to attack a well-armed enemy with rifles that would not work. We didn't even have bayonets. And so, alone and very frightened, I went into the village — and that was that. The Japs were away searching for us and the Burmese tied my wrists rather cruelly tight with a sort of bark string, the scars are still just visible. In spite of this discomfort, I curled up and slept for hours. It is a frightful thing to be a POW. You have failed. You have lost your liberty and you have a nagging feeling that you should have done better.
When the Japs returned to the village they were really quite decent. They released me from the very tight bonds on my wrists and let me sleep for another twenty-four hours. We proceeded to Tigyiang where we lived in what must have been the school house and were given three meals of curried chicken and rice each day. Shortly afterwards we set out for Wuntho, then on to Maymyo, where the missing Private Simons rejoined us. Our time in Maymyo was pretty ghastly. I think we were there for about a fortnight, but it seemed like years. Then another quite horrible railway journey to Rangoon. Our party when the Brigade broke up was thirty strong. Twenty-four of us arrived in Rangoon, only seven of us survived.
Unfortunately, James Willis would not be one of those seven survivors. He died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail on the 11th September 1943 and was buried alongside the other casualties from the first Chindit expedition at the English Cantonment Cemetery. His POW number whilst inside Rangoon was 557 and his grave reference in the Cantonment Cemetery was recorded as no. 73. After the war was over, all the POW burials from Rangoon Jail were removed from their original resting place and re-interred at the newly constructed Rangoon War Cemetery, where they remain to this day.
Seen below are some images in relation to James Willis and his story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about the dispersal group led by Captain Hosegood and Lt. Wilding, please click on the following link: Pte. Leonard Coffin
To read more about the men who formed the Royal Corps of Signals Section for the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, please click on the following link: Signalman Arthur Nicholls and the RCOS Draft from China
Rank: Lance Corporal
Service No: 6103385
Date of Death: 11/09/1943
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals attached 77 Indian Infantry Brigade.
Memorial: Rangoon War Cemetery, Grave Reference 6. F. 2.
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261418/WILLIS,%20JAMES%20ARTHUR
Chindit Column: Wingate's Brigade Head Quarters.
Other details:
James Arthur Willis was the son of William and Mary Willis and the husband of Mary Isobel Willis, from Slough in the English county of Berkshire. He was a last minute reinforcement to 77th Brigade and had also been on active service in China prior to joining Wingate's Brigade HQ in January 1943. James was the Head Quarters Wireless Operator on Operation Longcloth and was allocated to the dispersal group led by Captain Hosegood and Lieutenant Wilding on the 30th March.
By the time of his capture on the 2nd May, James was the only Chindit in the dispersal group still in possession of a serviceable rifle. No rifle oil had been dropped to the Chindits during their time behind enemy lines, but James with no little ingenuity had used his allocation of mosquito repellent cream to keep his weapon in good order. Alas, one rifle was never going to be enough to fend off the advancing enemy patrol and eventually Lt. Wilding decided to surrender.
Wilding recalled:
We split up into small groups and hid in the elephant grass, but on 2nd May the Japs, or possibly the Burmese police, set fire to it. The flames came very close, but I was not burnt. We then rendezvoused and discovered that only one rifle was serviceable, the one belonging to Lance-Corporal Willis. Since leaving Imphal eleven or twelve weeks before, nobody had thought of having more rifle oil dropped and now you could hardly move the bolts. Lance-Corporal Willis had used mosquito repellent cream, and it worked.
I would ask the reader if he would order his men to attack a well-armed enemy with rifles that would not work. We didn't even have bayonets. And so, alone and very frightened, I went into the village — and that was that. The Japs were away searching for us and the Burmese tied my wrists rather cruelly tight with a sort of bark string, the scars are still just visible. In spite of this discomfort, I curled up and slept for hours. It is a frightful thing to be a POW. You have failed. You have lost your liberty and you have a nagging feeling that you should have done better.
When the Japs returned to the village they were really quite decent. They released me from the very tight bonds on my wrists and let me sleep for another twenty-four hours. We proceeded to Tigyiang where we lived in what must have been the school house and were given three meals of curried chicken and rice each day. Shortly afterwards we set out for Wuntho, then on to Maymyo, where the missing Private Simons rejoined us. Our time in Maymyo was pretty ghastly. I think we were there for about a fortnight, but it seemed like years. Then another quite horrible railway journey to Rangoon. Our party when the Brigade broke up was thirty strong. Twenty-four of us arrived in Rangoon, only seven of us survived.
Unfortunately, James Willis would not be one of those seven survivors. He died in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail on the 11th September 1943 and was buried alongside the other casualties from the first Chindit expedition at the English Cantonment Cemetery. His POW number whilst inside Rangoon was 557 and his grave reference in the Cantonment Cemetery was recorded as no. 73. After the war was over, all the POW burials from Rangoon Jail were removed from their original resting place and re-interred at the newly constructed Rangoon War Cemetery, where they remain to this day.
Seen below are some images in relation to James Willis and his story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about the dispersal group led by Captain Hosegood and Lt. Wilding, please click on the following link: Pte. Leonard Coffin
To read more about the men who formed the Royal Corps of Signals Section for the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, please click on the following link: Signalman Arthur Nicholls and the RCOS Draft from China
Sgt. E. Wingate, India 1945.
WINGATE, E.
Rank: Private
Service No: Not known
Age: Not known
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Pte. E. Wingate (christian name unknown) was from Chichester in West Sussex. He was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth and exited Burma in May/June 1943 in the company of his column commander, Major Kenneth Gilkes MC, formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment. I can only imagine the ribbing Pte. Wingate would have received from his Chindit comrades during training and in Burma, for sharing the same surname as his inspirational leader Brigadier Orde Wingate.
A photograph exists of E. Wingate, by now a Sergeant with the 13th King's Regiment, as part of the Administration Company Group at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. I suspect this image is from 1945 and is the only evidence of his Chindit credentials, apart from a fleeting mention in a newspaper article from the Brighton & Hove Gazette dated 16th October 1943. The narrative describes Major Gilkes' exploits in Burma and briefly outlines No. 7 Column's journey behind enemy lines and beyond:
Hove Major Leads Jungle Exploit
One of those stirring chapters of the war which justify the word epic has come to light, by the return to India, via China, of a section of Brigadier Wingate's expedition. They spent four months, under the most hazardous conditions of jungle warfare, in harassing the Japanese inside Burma. Major Kenneth Gilkes, of Queen's Gardens, Hove, youngest son of Mr. Harry Gilkes JP, was the commander of the column which crossed into the Chinese border after their months of hide-and-seek with the Japanese rearguard and joined up with Chinese guerrillas.
There was a brief pause in their spartan regime of fighting, marching and looking after their animals and weapons, and incidentally, growing beards, because of the Brigadier's objection to the time wasted in shaving; while the main forces engaged the enemy in the battle on the River Salween. Then as promised, the Chinese pushed the Japanese back and and the column was able to resume its journey. They had wanted to push on through the Japanese lines, but their Chinese hosts were too solicitous for the safety of the British soldiers who had harried the enemy so successfully for four months in the jungle; so they were persuaded to await the outcome of the battle before trekking on again.
It is a matter of military history, how Wingate's men in crossing the Chindwin River last February, took the Japanese by complete surprise, ambushed them day after day and ran them round in circles. Soon after their arrival in China, Major Gilkes' column received lavish hospitality from a Chinese General, who gave a very costly dinner in honour of the British soldiers, "whose trousers are not creased." (a remark aimed at the rather starchy British officers encountered thus far). The rich Chinese food was like a dream come true to the men who had been subsisting on rice, mule, buffalo and even python as their daily fare. The fame of their exploits has spread wide in the Far East theatre.
It is a happy coincidence that Major Gilkes, a Sussex man, should have been posted to a Staffordshire Regiment as a subaltern, because in the last war his elder brothers, Major John Ewart Gilkes and Major Arthur Gilkes, both now on active service in other fields, were also originally posted to Staffordshire regiments. In Burma, Major Gilkes, now an officer with the King's Regiment worked alongside such Sussex men as Lt. Peter Bennett, Lt. David Rowlands, Lt. Philip Heald of the Burma Rifles and Pte. Wingate from Chichester. Also amongst his comrades was Captain David Hastings, the son of Sir Patrick Hastings KC, the famous London barrister. Sadly, at the time of writing both Rowlands and Hastings are posted as missing.
When asked if he had any disappointment from his time behind enemy lines, Gilkes remarked that he wished that he had seen and heard the Bells of Mandalay famed in Kipling's poem. The nearest they came to the Road to Mandalay was some ninety miles.
Rank: Private
Service No: Not known
Age: Not known
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 7
Other details:
Pte. E. Wingate (christian name unknown) was from Chichester in West Sussex. He was allocated to No. 7 Column on Operation Longcloth and exited Burma in May/June 1943 in the company of his column commander, Major Kenneth Gilkes MC, formerly of the North Staffordshire Regiment. I can only imagine the ribbing Pte. Wingate would have received from his Chindit comrades during training and in Burma, for sharing the same surname as his inspirational leader Brigadier Orde Wingate.
A photograph exists of E. Wingate, by now a Sergeant with the 13th King's Regiment, as part of the Administration Company Group at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. I suspect this image is from 1945 and is the only evidence of his Chindit credentials, apart from a fleeting mention in a newspaper article from the Brighton & Hove Gazette dated 16th October 1943. The narrative describes Major Gilkes' exploits in Burma and briefly outlines No. 7 Column's journey behind enemy lines and beyond:
Hove Major Leads Jungle Exploit
One of those stirring chapters of the war which justify the word epic has come to light, by the return to India, via China, of a section of Brigadier Wingate's expedition. They spent four months, under the most hazardous conditions of jungle warfare, in harassing the Japanese inside Burma. Major Kenneth Gilkes, of Queen's Gardens, Hove, youngest son of Mr. Harry Gilkes JP, was the commander of the column which crossed into the Chinese border after their months of hide-and-seek with the Japanese rearguard and joined up with Chinese guerrillas.
There was a brief pause in their spartan regime of fighting, marching and looking after their animals and weapons, and incidentally, growing beards, because of the Brigadier's objection to the time wasted in shaving; while the main forces engaged the enemy in the battle on the River Salween. Then as promised, the Chinese pushed the Japanese back and and the column was able to resume its journey. They had wanted to push on through the Japanese lines, but their Chinese hosts were too solicitous for the safety of the British soldiers who had harried the enemy so successfully for four months in the jungle; so they were persuaded to await the outcome of the battle before trekking on again.
It is a matter of military history, how Wingate's men in crossing the Chindwin River last February, took the Japanese by complete surprise, ambushed them day after day and ran them round in circles. Soon after their arrival in China, Major Gilkes' column received lavish hospitality from a Chinese General, who gave a very costly dinner in honour of the British soldiers, "whose trousers are not creased." (a remark aimed at the rather starchy British officers encountered thus far). The rich Chinese food was like a dream come true to the men who had been subsisting on rice, mule, buffalo and even python as their daily fare. The fame of their exploits has spread wide in the Far East theatre.
It is a happy coincidence that Major Gilkes, a Sussex man, should have been posted to a Staffordshire Regiment as a subaltern, because in the last war his elder brothers, Major John Ewart Gilkes and Major Arthur Gilkes, both now on active service in other fields, were also originally posted to Staffordshire regiments. In Burma, Major Gilkes, now an officer with the King's Regiment worked alongside such Sussex men as Lt. Peter Bennett, Lt. David Rowlands, Lt. Philip Heald of the Burma Rifles and Pte. Wingate from Chichester. Also amongst his comrades was Captain David Hastings, the son of Sir Patrick Hastings KC, the famous London barrister. Sadly, at the time of writing both Rowlands and Hastings are posted as missing.
When asked if he had any disappointment from his time behind enemy lines, Gilkes remarked that he wished that he had seen and heard the Bells of Mandalay famed in Kipling's poem. The nearest they came to the Road to Mandalay was some ninety miles.
13th King's Administration Company, Karachi. Sgt. Wingate is seen far left (second row) and Lt. Peter Bennett, front row, fifth from the right.
CWGC certificate for Francis Withey.
WITHEY, FRANCIS
Rank: Private
Service No: 7016685
Date of Death: 29/01/1944
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Rangoon War Cemetery, Grave Reference 6.C.2.
CWGC link:http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261422/WITHEY,%20FRANCIS
Chindit Column: 7 (possibly attached Wingate's Brigade Head Quarters).
Other details:
Pte. Francis 'Frankie' Withey was the son of John Henry and Caroline Louise Withey from Tufnell Park, London. According to his Army number Francis served originally with the Royal Ulster Rifles, before being transferred to the 13th King's Liverpool, probably sometime before the battalion left for overseas duty in India. He was a member of C' Company within the King's which duly became Column 7 once Chindit training began in mid-1942.
Column 7 was led by Major Kenneth Gilkes during Operation Longcloth. Gilkes was a well liked and respected leader, who would never ask a man to perform a duty that he would not be willing to carry out himself. Generally speaking the column shadowed Wingate and his Brigade Head Quarters for much of their time in Burma, but, was often split up into smaller sub-units in order to perform various tasks required by Wingate as the operation unfolded in 1943. This often left senior officers, such as Leslie Cottrell and Erik Petersen in temporary charge of large groups of men and away from the comfort and security of the main column strength.
By late March 1943, Columns 7 and 8 along with Wingate's Brigade HQ had reached the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River, close to the village of Inywa. The order to return to India had been given and Wingate proposed that the three units attempt to re-cross the river at this point, judging that the Japanese would not expect them to return to the same place they had used previously on the outward journey. He was sadly mistaken.
The Japanese were waiting on the opposite bank and attacked the lead Chindit boats with machine gun and mortar fire. Many men were killed and the river crossing had to be abandoned. According to the missing in action reports for the 13th King's in 1943, this was the last time that Pte. Francis Withey was recorded as being with his unit.
For more information about the failed crossing of the Irrawaddy River on the 29-30th March, please follow the link below and scroll down the story of Lance-Sergeant William Royle:
William Royle
There follows a transcription of a missing in action report in concern of Pte. Withey. It was written by Major G. Menzies-Anderson of the 13th King's Regiment. Anderson was the Brigade-Major in Wingate's HQ and he states in his report that Francis Withey along with another man, Pte. Stanley Chapman were both attached to the Brigade HQ from their original placements in Column 7.
Statement of evidence in accordance with Battalion Instruction no. K 089019, dated 24/07/1943 in respect of:
No. 5119255 Pte. S. Chapman and No. 7016685 Pte. F. Withey.
"The above men were attached to HQ 77th Indian Infantry Brigade during the operation in Burma. I was acting Brigade-Major. I last saw them on the east bank of the Irrawaddy on the 30th March 1943, when Brigade HQ split up into dispersal groups. They went with one of these groups and they have not yet reported back to India."
So, it seems from Menzies-Anderson's account, that Withey and Chapman were not part of the group who attempted to cross the river at that time, but had been allocated into a dispersal group and headed off, probably in a south-easterly direction, away from the Irrawaddy in order to escape the enemy, who were by now closing in on the ailing Chindits.
Seen below is a map of Irrawaddy River and the town of Inywa. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 7016685
Date of Death: 29/01/1944
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Rangoon War Cemetery, Grave Reference 6.C.2.
CWGC link:http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2261422/WITHEY,%20FRANCIS
Chindit Column: 7 (possibly attached Wingate's Brigade Head Quarters).
Other details:
Pte. Francis 'Frankie' Withey was the son of John Henry and Caroline Louise Withey from Tufnell Park, London. According to his Army number Francis served originally with the Royal Ulster Rifles, before being transferred to the 13th King's Liverpool, probably sometime before the battalion left for overseas duty in India. He was a member of C' Company within the King's which duly became Column 7 once Chindit training began in mid-1942.
Column 7 was led by Major Kenneth Gilkes during Operation Longcloth. Gilkes was a well liked and respected leader, who would never ask a man to perform a duty that he would not be willing to carry out himself. Generally speaking the column shadowed Wingate and his Brigade Head Quarters for much of their time in Burma, but, was often split up into smaller sub-units in order to perform various tasks required by Wingate as the operation unfolded in 1943. This often left senior officers, such as Leslie Cottrell and Erik Petersen in temporary charge of large groups of men and away from the comfort and security of the main column strength.
By late March 1943, Columns 7 and 8 along with Wingate's Brigade HQ had reached the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River, close to the village of Inywa. The order to return to India had been given and Wingate proposed that the three units attempt to re-cross the river at this point, judging that the Japanese would not expect them to return to the same place they had used previously on the outward journey. He was sadly mistaken.
The Japanese were waiting on the opposite bank and attacked the lead Chindit boats with machine gun and mortar fire. Many men were killed and the river crossing had to be abandoned. According to the missing in action reports for the 13th King's in 1943, this was the last time that Pte. Francis Withey was recorded as being with his unit.
For more information about the failed crossing of the Irrawaddy River on the 29-30th March, please follow the link below and scroll down the story of Lance-Sergeant William Royle:
William Royle
There follows a transcription of a missing in action report in concern of Pte. Withey. It was written by Major G. Menzies-Anderson of the 13th King's Regiment. Anderson was the Brigade-Major in Wingate's HQ and he states in his report that Francis Withey along with another man, Pte. Stanley Chapman were both attached to the Brigade HQ from their original placements in Column 7.
Statement of evidence in accordance with Battalion Instruction no. K 089019, dated 24/07/1943 in respect of:
No. 5119255 Pte. S. Chapman and No. 7016685 Pte. F. Withey.
"The above men were attached to HQ 77th Indian Infantry Brigade during the operation in Burma. I was acting Brigade-Major. I last saw them on the east bank of the Irrawaddy on the 30th March 1943, when Brigade HQ split up into dispersal groups. They went with one of these groups and they have not yet reported back to India."
So, it seems from Menzies-Anderson's account, that Withey and Chapman were not part of the group who attempted to cross the river at that time, but had been allocated into a dispersal group and headed off, probably in a south-easterly direction, away from the Irrawaddy in order to escape the enemy, who were by now closing in on the ailing Chindits.
Seen below is a map of Irrawaddy River and the town of Inywa. Please click on the image to bring it forward on the page.
The Irrawaddy River and the town of Inywa.
On the official missing in action listings for the 13th King's, both Withey and Chapman are stated as last seen on the 31st March 1943. Nothing more is known about these men or the dispersal group they became part of on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River. What we do know however, is that both men were captured by the Japanese and became prisoners of war. By late May or early June they were being held with the rest of the Chindit POW's in Rangoon Central Jail.
For more information about the jail and the Chindits time there, please follow the link below:
Chindit POW's
Ptes. Withey and Chapman were held in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail and sadly this is where they both perished, Stanley Chapman on the 20th October 1943 and Francis Withey just over three months later on the 29th January 1944. There are no POW index cards for either of the men, but we do know from the recorded death lists for Block 6 that their POW numbers were 540 (Chapman) and 554 for Francis Withey.
Stanley Chapman had enlisted in to the Army early on in the war and had originally joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment before being transferred to the 13th King's in mid-1942. He was part of a small draft of Warwick's that had been sent up to the Chindit training camp at Saugor on the 26th September as reinforcements for the men who had fallen out sick from the original King's battalion. He, like Francis Withey had been placed into Chindit Column 7 during training, but once inside Burma had been attached to Brigadier Wingate's own Head Quarters.
Pte. Chapman was from the Wimbledon area of London and according to the CWGC next of kin details, was married to Mrs. H.E. Chapman. Stanley was also posted as missing in action on the 31st March 1943 and presumably had been captured at a similar time to Pte. Withey, it is possible that the two men were even friends.
Francis Withey was buried in the English Cantonment Cemetery, just a few short miles from the jail and close to the Royal Lakes in the eastern sector of the city. This is where the majority of the Chindit casualties who died in Rangoon Jail were buried during the two years between May 1943 and April 1945. After the war was over the Imperial War Graves Commission moved all these graves over to the newly constructed Rangoon War Cemetery.
Stanley Chapman however was not buried at the Cantonment Cemetery and no record of his last resting place exists, he is therefore remembered upon the Rangoon Memorial, situated at Taukkyan War Cemetery on the outskirts of Rangoon, the Memorial records the names of those casualties from the Burma Campaign who have no known grave. It is impossible to speculate why Stanley was not buried at the Cantonment Cemetery, it could be that he was working outside of the jail at the time of his death and was buried immediately where he fell, sadly, I feel we will never know. Here are Pte. Stanley Chapman's CWGC details:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2507142/CHAPMAN,%20STANLEY
For more information about the Rangoon Memorial and the English Cantonment Cemetery, please click on the link below and scroll down to the relevant section on the page:
Memorials and Cemeteries
Seen below are some images and photographs relating to the story of Francis Withey and Stanley Chapman. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
For more information about the jail and the Chindits time there, please follow the link below:
Chindit POW's
Ptes. Withey and Chapman were held in Block 6 of Rangoon Jail and sadly this is where they both perished, Stanley Chapman on the 20th October 1943 and Francis Withey just over three months later on the 29th January 1944. There are no POW index cards for either of the men, but we do know from the recorded death lists for Block 6 that their POW numbers were 540 (Chapman) and 554 for Francis Withey.
Stanley Chapman had enlisted in to the Army early on in the war and had originally joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment before being transferred to the 13th King's in mid-1942. He was part of a small draft of Warwick's that had been sent up to the Chindit training camp at Saugor on the 26th September as reinforcements for the men who had fallen out sick from the original King's battalion. He, like Francis Withey had been placed into Chindit Column 7 during training, but once inside Burma had been attached to Brigadier Wingate's own Head Quarters.
Pte. Chapman was from the Wimbledon area of London and according to the CWGC next of kin details, was married to Mrs. H.E. Chapman. Stanley was also posted as missing in action on the 31st March 1943 and presumably had been captured at a similar time to Pte. Withey, it is possible that the two men were even friends.
Francis Withey was buried in the English Cantonment Cemetery, just a few short miles from the jail and close to the Royal Lakes in the eastern sector of the city. This is where the majority of the Chindit casualties who died in Rangoon Jail were buried during the two years between May 1943 and April 1945. After the war was over the Imperial War Graves Commission moved all these graves over to the newly constructed Rangoon War Cemetery.
Stanley Chapman however was not buried at the Cantonment Cemetery and no record of his last resting place exists, he is therefore remembered upon the Rangoon Memorial, situated at Taukkyan War Cemetery on the outskirts of Rangoon, the Memorial records the names of those casualties from the Burma Campaign who have no known grave. It is impossible to speculate why Stanley was not buried at the Cantonment Cemetery, it could be that he was working outside of the jail at the time of his death and was buried immediately where he fell, sadly, I feel we will never know. Here are Pte. Stanley Chapman's CWGC details:
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2507142/CHAPMAN,%20STANLEY
For more information about the Rangoon Memorial and the English Cantonment Cemetery, please click on the link below and scroll down to the relevant section on the page:
Memorials and Cemeteries
Seen below are some images and photographs relating to the story of Francis Withey and Stanley Chapman. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
In August 2013 Elizabeth Withey, the great niece of Pte. Francis Withey made contact with me via the Special Forces Roll of Honour website run by John Robertson. Elizabeth, who is from Philadelphia in the United States enquired:
My great uncle was a Chindit in Burma. He was Private Francis Withey, 13th Bn King's Regiment (Liverpool), number 7016685. Sadly he died on 29th January 1944 aged 23, he was a POW. He was my father's uncle. I would love to know if anyone has any further information about him, possibly knew him or has any information to share about the 13th Bn.
Over the next few weeks we exchanged emails and this is what the Withey family remembered about Francis:
Dear Steve
Thank you so much for all of this information. As you can imagine it is quite emotional to see the actual drawings and photographs and yet it is comforting too. I never knew Frank but grew up sensing the profound impact of his loss on the family, but because of the devastation of the war little was discussed back then, it was too upsetting and of course there was this sense that everyone around had experienced it as well and therefore everyone had to "just carry on".
I am so impressed by your website and the extensive research you have done to honour your grandfather and grandmother. Your mission is exactly what I am interested in, the humanity behind the military procedures. Much like your own mission, I feel this sense of wanting to find out any personal anecdotes about Francis. I only wished I'd started sooner when there were more of the returning Chindits still alive.
Do you know of anyone who might have known Frankie (as his siblings called him) or might remember him? I realize this is a long shot. My reaction to the original hand written notes of when he went missing was quite something. To see something beyond official records was incredible, so thank you for that.
I will speak to my dad and see what additional information he might have. I believe he has a photograph. For now, here is what I can tell you about Francis Withey. He was from Kentish Town, in North London. The son of John and Caroline Withey. Frankie was one of 9 (4 boys and 5 girls). He was the youngest brother and I am pretty sure the youngest child. He was an amateur boxer at the Gainsford Boxing Club in Covent Garden. I have been told that he was a very good boxer and there was discussion of him going to the Olympics, however the war broke out and the Olympics were cancelled. My father has Frank's boxing trophies and medals, he also has his Burma Star that was awarded to him.
My Great Aunt Vi, Frankie's elder sister, told me in the mid-1990's that for ages during the war years they didn't have word as to his whereabouts. When soldiers returned and there were parades in the streets of London, they would go out and ask for any information about him. On one occasion in one such parade they found someone from East London who had been with him and were told he had died of dysentery. They were also told that the Japanese would often challenge Frank and were quite rough with him because they knew about his boxing history.
She knew Frank had been in the Chindits, what I don't know is if she found that out after the war or during the war. I have also wondered if he really died of dysentery or if that is what the family was told to "soften the blow". Three of Frankie's brothers were in the war and fortunately all three returned home, including my grandfather who had been in North Africa. He sadly died of a diabetic stroke at the age of 46 and this was always blamed on the poor war diet. My father has a photo of the four brothers who all ran into each in North Africa and were together for a short while, this would be the last time they would ever see Uncle Frank. If I am able to get copies of the photos from my father I will certainly share them with you.
Uncle Frank never married and never had children, he died before he had the chance. If you can think of any other avenues that might lead to more information, we would be so grateful. I truly appreciate what you have provided for us, your website is an incredible tribute.
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Elizabeth, for providing all the new family details about Francis and his time before the war. These have been priceless in building a more developed picture of the man and his personality.
Update 11/05/2015.
As already mentioned by Elizabeth, Frank was a very accomplished amateur boxer in the years before WW2. In 1938 he reached the final of the Amateur Boxing Association National Championships held at the Royal Albert Hall. Fighting in the 'Featherweight' class, Frank defeated D.M. Cameron of England in the preliminary rounds, before beating fellow countrymen, J. Oberg and Albert Ives on points in the following two matches. All these first three bouts took place on April 6th. The next day, April 7th, Frank contested the final against Welshman, Cyril Gallie. Gallie proved too strong for Frank, who sadly lost the final on a TKO or technical knockout.
Update 17/01/2023.
I was delighted recently (December 2022) to receive another email (via the Chindit Society) from Elizabeth Withey-Vandiver:
Hello Steve,
I hope this email finds you well. Several years ago I wrote to you about my great uncle Francis Withey who was a Chindit and part of Operation Longcloth. In the time since we last communicated have you possibly discovered any additional information? I noticed that a woman wrote to you about her grandfather and had a journal. Is Frankie possibly mentioned in it or another journal? I believe I shared with you that I took my husband and two young sons to Myanmar back in 2017, as it turned out days before the genocide began. We were the first and possibly will be the only relatives to ever visit his grave. It was thanks to you and your information we were able to find it. Thank you! If any information about Francis Withey surfaces will you please let me know? Your work is so important and deeply impactful.
I replied:
Hello Elizabeth,
It was wonderful to hear from you again and I hope you and the family are well. There has not been any more information about Frank I'm afraid. The journals you mention were of interest but did not refer to him or the other men originally from the Royal Ulster Rifles. I wondered if you might like to write a couple of paragraphs about your family's visit to Rangoon, which I could then add to Frank's story on my website as an update. Let me know your thoughts and thank you once again for your message.
Seasons Greetings, Steve.
I hope to hear from Elizabeth again soon.
Copyright © Steve Fogden and Elizabeth Withey July 2014-15.
My great uncle was a Chindit in Burma. He was Private Francis Withey, 13th Bn King's Regiment (Liverpool), number 7016685. Sadly he died on 29th January 1944 aged 23, he was a POW. He was my father's uncle. I would love to know if anyone has any further information about him, possibly knew him or has any information to share about the 13th Bn.
Over the next few weeks we exchanged emails and this is what the Withey family remembered about Francis:
Dear Steve
Thank you so much for all of this information. As you can imagine it is quite emotional to see the actual drawings and photographs and yet it is comforting too. I never knew Frank but grew up sensing the profound impact of his loss on the family, but because of the devastation of the war little was discussed back then, it was too upsetting and of course there was this sense that everyone around had experienced it as well and therefore everyone had to "just carry on".
I am so impressed by your website and the extensive research you have done to honour your grandfather and grandmother. Your mission is exactly what I am interested in, the humanity behind the military procedures. Much like your own mission, I feel this sense of wanting to find out any personal anecdotes about Francis. I only wished I'd started sooner when there were more of the returning Chindits still alive.
Do you know of anyone who might have known Frankie (as his siblings called him) or might remember him? I realize this is a long shot. My reaction to the original hand written notes of when he went missing was quite something. To see something beyond official records was incredible, so thank you for that.
I will speak to my dad and see what additional information he might have. I believe he has a photograph. For now, here is what I can tell you about Francis Withey. He was from Kentish Town, in North London. The son of John and Caroline Withey. Frankie was one of 9 (4 boys and 5 girls). He was the youngest brother and I am pretty sure the youngest child. He was an amateur boxer at the Gainsford Boxing Club in Covent Garden. I have been told that he was a very good boxer and there was discussion of him going to the Olympics, however the war broke out and the Olympics were cancelled. My father has Frank's boxing trophies and medals, he also has his Burma Star that was awarded to him.
My Great Aunt Vi, Frankie's elder sister, told me in the mid-1990's that for ages during the war years they didn't have word as to his whereabouts. When soldiers returned and there were parades in the streets of London, they would go out and ask for any information about him. On one occasion in one such parade they found someone from East London who had been with him and were told he had died of dysentery. They were also told that the Japanese would often challenge Frank and were quite rough with him because they knew about his boxing history.
She knew Frank had been in the Chindits, what I don't know is if she found that out after the war or during the war. I have also wondered if he really died of dysentery or if that is what the family was told to "soften the blow". Three of Frankie's brothers were in the war and fortunately all three returned home, including my grandfather who had been in North Africa. He sadly died of a diabetic stroke at the age of 46 and this was always blamed on the poor war diet. My father has a photo of the four brothers who all ran into each in North Africa and were together for a short while, this would be the last time they would ever see Uncle Frank. If I am able to get copies of the photos from my father I will certainly share them with you.
Uncle Frank never married and never had children, he died before he had the chance. If you can think of any other avenues that might lead to more information, we would be so grateful. I truly appreciate what you have provided for us, your website is an incredible tribute.
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Elizabeth, for providing all the new family details about Francis and his time before the war. These have been priceless in building a more developed picture of the man and his personality.
Update 11/05/2015.
As already mentioned by Elizabeth, Frank was a very accomplished amateur boxer in the years before WW2. In 1938 he reached the final of the Amateur Boxing Association National Championships held at the Royal Albert Hall. Fighting in the 'Featherweight' class, Frank defeated D.M. Cameron of England in the preliminary rounds, before beating fellow countrymen, J. Oberg and Albert Ives on points in the following two matches. All these first three bouts took place on April 6th. The next day, April 7th, Frank contested the final against Welshman, Cyril Gallie. Gallie proved too strong for Frank, who sadly lost the final on a TKO or technical knockout.
Update 17/01/2023.
I was delighted recently (December 2022) to receive another email (via the Chindit Society) from Elizabeth Withey-Vandiver:
Hello Steve,
I hope this email finds you well. Several years ago I wrote to you about my great uncle Francis Withey who was a Chindit and part of Operation Longcloth. In the time since we last communicated have you possibly discovered any additional information? I noticed that a woman wrote to you about her grandfather and had a journal. Is Frankie possibly mentioned in it or another journal? I believe I shared with you that I took my husband and two young sons to Myanmar back in 2017, as it turned out days before the genocide began. We were the first and possibly will be the only relatives to ever visit his grave. It was thanks to you and your information we were able to find it. Thank you! If any information about Francis Withey surfaces will you please let me know? Your work is so important and deeply impactful.
I replied:
Hello Elizabeth,
It was wonderful to hear from you again and I hope you and the family are well. There has not been any more information about Frank I'm afraid. The journals you mention were of interest but did not refer to him or the other men originally from the Royal Ulster Rifles. I wondered if you might like to write a couple of paragraphs about your family's visit to Rangoon, which I could then add to Frank's story on my website as an update. Let me know your thoughts and thank you once again for your message.
Seasons Greetings, Steve.
I hope to hear from Elizabeth again soon.
Copyright © Steve Fogden and Elizabeth Withey July 2014-15.
John Wright's gravestone a Karachi War Cemetery.
WRIGHT, JOHN FRANCIS
Rank: Private
Service No: 3460510
Date of Death: 31/07/1945
Age: 32
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Karachi War Cemetery, Grave Reference 5.B.14.
CWGC link: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2178638/WRIGHT,%20JOHN%20FRANCIS
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Pte. John Francis Wright was the son of Cornelius and Esther Wright, of Blackpool, Lancashire. He had previously served with the Lancashire Fusiliers before joining the 13th King's in India at some point during the battalion's overseas service in WW2. John is not mentioned in any documents in relation to Operation Longcloth and it is my guess that he did not take part in the expedition in 1943.
At the time of Pte. Wright's death the 13th King's were stationed in Karachi at the Napier Barracks. The only real clue as to how he might of died, comes from the personal memoir of another 13th Kingsman, Pte. Frank Holland. Frank Holland had served on Operation Longcloth as a member of Chindit Column 8 commanded by Major Walter Purcell Scott.
On his return from Burma, Frank mentions in his diary:
"After a month we set off for Karachi. During the journey I developed malaria and by the time we arrived I was an ambulance case and went to hospital. Your first dose of malaria really puts you down, temperatures you’ve never heard of, deliriums and the quinine playing havoc with everything. The hospital in Karachi was a nice place and they did some important operations in the main building. Malaria, jaundice, typhoid and dysentery cases were kept in detached huts, but not isolated from one another.
If you could walk with malaria you had to fetch your bedding and mattress from the store and make the bed. There was one bright thing to it, malaria cases were given one bottle of beer each day for free. Back in barracks you were allowed one bottle per month on a coupon which you paid for. Napier Barracks were old regular Army barracks. They were two storey brick buildings with verandahs upstairs and down to draw the air in, because we had no fans or punkhas. Life was pretty good there, as we so called convalescents had been built up to full fitness."
Some time later Frank Holland recalled:
"Malaria was still pestering me, in and out of hospital quite regular. We buried a few of our lads as a result of it. We agreed to have photos taken of their graves and sent back to relatives, small comfort, but we always got letters of thanks back."
NB: By matching up the date of death and with location of burial noted as Karachi War Cemetery, I believe the following men from the 13th King's may have died from malaria as described in Frank Holland's memoir:
George Alcock
Francis Ball
Thomas Charles Grigg
William George Jones
George Thomas Puckett
Update 12/09/2014. From information found in the India Office records for burials, I now know that Pte. Wright died from a cerebral tumour, secondary to malaria. His funeral service was held at the Karachi Methodist Church and conducted by RAF Chaplain, Joseph Lowe.
John Francis Wright is remembered on his hometown War Memorial at Blackpool. Seen below are two images of the memorial, the second of which shows his inscription upon one of the panels, alongside his name are the other King's Regiment casualties who resided in the town.
Please click on either image to enlarge.
Rank: Private
Service No: 3460510
Date of Death: 31/07/1945
Age: 32
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Memorial: Karachi War Cemetery, Grave Reference 5.B.14.
CWGC link: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2178638/WRIGHT,%20JOHN%20FRANCIS
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Pte. John Francis Wright was the son of Cornelius and Esther Wright, of Blackpool, Lancashire. He had previously served with the Lancashire Fusiliers before joining the 13th King's in India at some point during the battalion's overseas service in WW2. John is not mentioned in any documents in relation to Operation Longcloth and it is my guess that he did not take part in the expedition in 1943.
At the time of Pte. Wright's death the 13th King's were stationed in Karachi at the Napier Barracks. The only real clue as to how he might of died, comes from the personal memoir of another 13th Kingsman, Pte. Frank Holland. Frank Holland had served on Operation Longcloth as a member of Chindit Column 8 commanded by Major Walter Purcell Scott.
On his return from Burma, Frank mentions in his diary:
"After a month we set off for Karachi. During the journey I developed malaria and by the time we arrived I was an ambulance case and went to hospital. Your first dose of malaria really puts you down, temperatures you’ve never heard of, deliriums and the quinine playing havoc with everything. The hospital in Karachi was a nice place and they did some important operations in the main building. Malaria, jaundice, typhoid and dysentery cases were kept in detached huts, but not isolated from one another.
If you could walk with malaria you had to fetch your bedding and mattress from the store and make the bed. There was one bright thing to it, malaria cases were given one bottle of beer each day for free. Back in barracks you were allowed one bottle per month on a coupon which you paid for. Napier Barracks were old regular Army barracks. They were two storey brick buildings with verandahs upstairs and down to draw the air in, because we had no fans or punkhas. Life was pretty good there, as we so called convalescents had been built up to full fitness."
Some time later Frank Holland recalled:
"Malaria was still pestering me, in and out of hospital quite regular. We buried a few of our lads as a result of it. We agreed to have photos taken of their graves and sent back to relatives, small comfort, but we always got letters of thanks back."
NB: By matching up the date of death and with location of burial noted as Karachi War Cemetery, I believe the following men from the 13th King's may have died from malaria as described in Frank Holland's memoir:
George Alcock
Francis Ball
Thomas Charles Grigg
William George Jones
George Thomas Puckett
Update 12/09/2014. From information found in the India Office records for burials, I now know that Pte. Wright died from a cerebral tumour, secondary to malaria. His funeral service was held at the Karachi Methodist Church and conducted by RAF Chaplain, Joseph Lowe.
John Francis Wright is remembered on his hometown War Memorial at Blackpool. Seen below are two images of the memorial, the second of which shows his inscription upon one of the panels, alongside his name are the other King's Regiment casualties who resided in the town.
Please click on either image to enlarge.
The Blackpool War Memorial.
|
John Francis Wright's inscription on the Blackpool War Memorial.
|
A Missouri Mule.
YANKEE
Rank: Mule
Age: 4
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 3
Other details:
From the memoirs of Flight-Lieutenant Robert Thompson, 3 Column's RAF Liaison Officer on Operation Longcloth:
My first job, detailed by Wingate as a result of my being able to ride, was to train and fit out thirty mountain artillery mules, all reportedly from Missouri in the United States, to carry our wireless sets, charging engines and fuel. These mules were far bigger than the Indian-bred mules which carried all the other Army equipment.
All the mule-leaders for these animals were British and we had a lot of fun working up and I certainly became a great admirer of my mules. My mule-leaders were Privates Hall, Wilkinson and Pratt of the 13th King's. The mules were called Yankee, Daisy and the third's name for some reason I cannot remember, perhaps because we eventually ate it. As every farmer knows, it is much better that meals remain anonymous.
It has often been mentioned in Chindit writings, that the real heroes of both campaigns were the transport mules. On Operation Longcloth there were about 1000 of these tough and hard working animals which were shared out between the various columns. Only a handful survived their time in the Burmese jungle during 1943. There were generally three different breeds used on Operation Longcloth; the smaller Indian mule which was employed to carry general supplies, rations, medical equipment and so on. The heavy equipment such as the wireless set and all its paraphernalia tended to be carried by much larger animals, these were sourced from Argentina and the 'Missouri' breed from the United States.
The health and well being of the mules was paramount and during training mule stewardship was given a high priority. There were qualified Veterinary Officers available, but usually the Animal Transport Officers and the mule handlers (muleteers) took care of the health of an animal. Wingate set high standards for these officers, often carrying out inspections at short notice and correcting any mistakes or mishandling. Some of the 13th King's were used as muleteers in 1943 and most grew to love their four-legged partners and were devastated when the animal finally perished along the tracks and pathways of Burma that year.
Mules were fed on fodder dropped for them during column air supply drops. Later on when this ran out and supply drops proved unrealistic, they were fed on fresh bamboo shoots from the surrounding jungle. After a time in Burma the animals began to suffer from leg galls, bloated stomachs (due to the lack of suitable fodder) and eventually anthrax. Most of these animals had to be destroyed. It is also well documented that when rations became scarce for the men, mules were sometimes eaten to supplement their diet; the ultimate sacrifice for these unfortunate creatures.
Rank: Mule
Age: 4
Regiment/Service: The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 3
Other details:
From the memoirs of Flight-Lieutenant Robert Thompson, 3 Column's RAF Liaison Officer on Operation Longcloth:
My first job, detailed by Wingate as a result of my being able to ride, was to train and fit out thirty mountain artillery mules, all reportedly from Missouri in the United States, to carry our wireless sets, charging engines and fuel. These mules were far bigger than the Indian-bred mules which carried all the other Army equipment.
All the mule-leaders for these animals were British and we had a lot of fun working up and I certainly became a great admirer of my mules. My mule-leaders were Privates Hall, Wilkinson and Pratt of the 13th King's. The mules were called Yankee, Daisy and the third's name for some reason I cannot remember, perhaps because we eventually ate it. As every farmer knows, it is much better that meals remain anonymous.
It has often been mentioned in Chindit writings, that the real heroes of both campaigns were the transport mules. On Operation Longcloth there were about 1000 of these tough and hard working animals which were shared out between the various columns. Only a handful survived their time in the Burmese jungle during 1943. There were generally three different breeds used on Operation Longcloth; the smaller Indian mule which was employed to carry general supplies, rations, medical equipment and so on. The heavy equipment such as the wireless set and all its paraphernalia tended to be carried by much larger animals, these were sourced from Argentina and the 'Missouri' breed from the United States.
The health and well being of the mules was paramount and during training mule stewardship was given a high priority. There were qualified Veterinary Officers available, but usually the Animal Transport Officers and the mule handlers (muleteers) took care of the health of an animal. Wingate set high standards for these officers, often carrying out inspections at short notice and correcting any mistakes or mishandling. Some of the 13th King's were used as muleteers in 1943 and most grew to love their four-legged partners and were devastated when the animal finally perished along the tracks and pathways of Burma that year.
Mules were fed on fodder dropped for them during column air supply drops. Later on when this ran out and supply drops proved unrealistic, they were fed on fresh bamboo shoots from the surrounding jungle. After a time in Burma the animals began to suffer from leg galls, bloated stomachs (due to the lack of suitable fodder) and eventually anthrax. Most of these animals had to be destroyed. It is also well documented that when rations became scarce for the men, mules were sometimes eaten to supplement their diet; the ultimate sacrifice for these unfortunate creatures.
Some mule-handling notes from Wingate's Operation Longcloth debrief.
One of the few mules to survive Operation Longcloth, was Robert Thompson's wireless mule, Yankee. From the pages of Wingate's Raiders:
When the column split up in late March, each party had taken its quota of mules. Before Calvert reached the Irrawaddy most of his mules were so badly galled that he ordered them to be shot. Yankee was still in good shape and Thompson was determined to bring him out alive. Calvert and Thompson reckoned that the Japanese would expect them to take the shortest route home, and decided to make a detour that would bring them down to the Irrawaddy at a point south of Tagaung. It took them two days to reach the river, and there Thompson, who had gone ahead with a runner to reconnoitre the crossing, found on the bank another party from their column commanded by the senior Burma Rifles officer, Taffy Griffiths.
A number of small boats were moving upstream under sail in the strong afternoon wind. Griffiths had already collected two or three of these, and Thompson signalled to the others to pull in to the bank. He and Griffiths bought their cargoes of rice, tomatoes and dhal and the boatmen agreed to ferry them over the Irrawaddy for two rupees a head. Thompson sent a runner back to Calvert with the message: " Ventre a terre, to the river." An hour later Calvert arrived with the rest of the party, and they sat down to a vegetable stew cooked by the Burmese boatmen. Calvert felt that with the large amount of traffic on the river they might just get across unnoticed. They decided to chance it, and crossed in the middle of the afternoon, towing Yankee behind one of the boats. The Japanese were within two miles of them to the north and south on both banks, but failed to spot them.
The next obstacle was the railway. Between the Irrawaddy and the line they hit a stretch of jungle so dense that one British trooper, who had moved off thirty yards with a message for Calvert, got lost and was never seen again. They ran out of water here, and several men collapsed from thirst and exhaustion and had to be left behind. These were their first casualties to the jungle. There were more to come. They reached the railway far to the south of all previous demolitions, but Calvert could not resist the temptation of blowing it up again at this point. This naturally brought Japanese patrols racing down to the line, and they were forced to hide in a thick clump of bamboo in the jungle.
That night they slipped across the tracks unnoticed. Thompson and Calvert, for security reasons, had now parted company. Thompson led his group out across the Mu Valley. In the valley one of his Burma Rifles, Lance Naik Ba Yin, got a bad attack of malaria. They put his pack and equipment on Yankee, and Sergeant George Morris and another Burma Rifleman took turns at helping him along. Whenever Thompson asked him if the pace was too fast he shook his head. Sweating and shivering, he kept moving, and in a few days with the help of extra rations from the other men, he had fully recovered.
As Thompson's men were approaching a village to buy food they again met up with Taffy Griffiths and his party and this time joined forces. Shortly afterwards they clashed with a Japanese patrol, but did not suffer any casualties. On April 10th they reached the foot of an escarpment, which rose two thousand feet above the Mu Valley. The going across the escarpment was incredibly tough. In one chaung Yankee kept slipping into deep pools, and at one point they had to build a ramp of stones to get him out. He was slowing up the party considerably, and the other officers wanted to leave him behind. Thompson firmly refused, insisting that a seasoned mountain artillery mule was worth his weight in gold.
Secretly Thompson had come to look upon Yankee as their good luck symbol, their talisman against disaster. Yankee had travelled with them every step of the way; he had survived the jungle and the Japs, hunger and thirst, river-crossings and mountain ranges. Somehow, Thompson felt, his future and theirs were linked. So long as Yankee stayed with them they were indestructible. On April 12th, after marching from dawn until mid-morning, the Chindits came upon a clear stream high up in the mountains in the middle of thick teak and bamboo forest, shaded from the sunlight by a dense covering of creepers. They were hungry and exhausted, and Thompson decided to rest for the day. Here he delighted the British members of the party by inviting them to share a large tin of porridge oats, which he had stored in his wireless set throughout the march in, then had carried in his pack for a special occasion. This was the special occasion as it was his twenty-seventh birthday.
Later in the day Thompson and three others went fishing with grenades in the pools beside the stream. The explosion of the bomb stunned the fish and brought them to the surface, first the small ones, then some three and four-pounders. The Chindits dived in to collect them; a tricky job as they slipped away very quickly. Thompson eventually had enough fish to give the seventy-five men half a pound apiece. The big fellows tasted rather like English carp. The Chindits grilled them on pointed bamboos over an open fire and ate them with rice. The approach to the Chindwin was uneventful, except for the hunger, thirst, sickness, and grinding fatigue. They came down into the Chindwin Valley along the Nangka Mu Chaung, swollen by recent rains. Burmese villagers told them that two British patrols were on the east bank of the Chindwin looking out for them.
In one village the Headman gave them bananas and, when they asked for a guide, volunteered to go with them himself. At 2pm on April 15th, Thompson's party was within three miles of the Chindwin River when a Sikh sentry stepped on to the track and challenged them. Thompson turned to Taffy Griffiths and they shook hands. The sentry led them to a Sikh Captain, who gave them a cup of tea with condensed milk and telephoned to his column to lay on boats to take them over the river.
At the river they were met by a wiry, grey-bearded Sikh Colonel, who for several days had been skirmishing heavily with Japanese patrols. The crossing was uneventful. Yankee was a bit unwilling to go down into the water, but Thompson patted him on the head, whispered, "Just one more river, old boy," and dragged him in. On the west bank Sergeant-Major Blain remembering his Army drill, formed the men into threes, and marched them like guardsmen to their billets. The Sikh Colonel gave them a wonderful curry dinner, and lent them ground-sheets and blankets. Thompson, with the RAF's aversion to marching, had taken pains to hit the Chindwin at the point nearest to where the jeep road began. Next morning they breakfasted with the Sikhs, then marched eleven miles to the jeep road-head.
On the way the Chindits, looking like the mutineers of the Bounty, met two American Colonels who were visiting the Chindwin front. They had heard all about Wingate's Raiders and recognised the filthy, bearded scarecrows plodding wearily up the track. They shook hands with Thompson's little group of officers and said warmly, "Everyone is very proud of you. You've given the Japs something to remember." At jeep-head the Chindits were congratulated by Major-General Reginald Savory, and they immediately asked him if Wingate had got back. Savory shook his head. Of the columns that had crossed the Irrawaddy in late March, theirs was the first large party out. There was no news of the Brigadier. General Savory had a tremendous lunch laid out for them. They had two helpings of everything; meat, vegetables, potatoes, bread and butter, canned peaches and pears, and tea with condensed milk.
After lunch they were loaded into jeeps and driven to Tamu on the Burmese/Indian border, which they reached in time for another enormous dinner. Yankee got a lift in a one-ton truck with all the grain he wanted. At Tamu the Chindits were deloused, given clean clothes, and taken in trucks to Imphal, where they were clapped into a hospital and put on a diet. As a parting present twenty-seven Japanese bombers with strong fighter escort flew over Imphal that day and pattern-bombed the area around the hospital, hitting one small block with an incendiary. It was the first time Imphal had been bombed in over ten months. This all took place on April 21st, but there was still no news of Wingate.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about the RAF Section from 3 Column, please click on the following link and scroll down the story of RAF Sgt. George Morris: Roll Call K-O
When the column split up in late March, each party had taken its quota of mules. Before Calvert reached the Irrawaddy most of his mules were so badly galled that he ordered them to be shot. Yankee was still in good shape and Thompson was determined to bring him out alive. Calvert and Thompson reckoned that the Japanese would expect them to take the shortest route home, and decided to make a detour that would bring them down to the Irrawaddy at a point south of Tagaung. It took them two days to reach the river, and there Thompson, who had gone ahead with a runner to reconnoitre the crossing, found on the bank another party from their column commanded by the senior Burma Rifles officer, Taffy Griffiths.
A number of small boats were moving upstream under sail in the strong afternoon wind. Griffiths had already collected two or three of these, and Thompson signalled to the others to pull in to the bank. He and Griffiths bought their cargoes of rice, tomatoes and dhal and the boatmen agreed to ferry them over the Irrawaddy for two rupees a head. Thompson sent a runner back to Calvert with the message: " Ventre a terre, to the river." An hour later Calvert arrived with the rest of the party, and they sat down to a vegetable stew cooked by the Burmese boatmen. Calvert felt that with the large amount of traffic on the river they might just get across unnoticed. They decided to chance it, and crossed in the middle of the afternoon, towing Yankee behind one of the boats. The Japanese were within two miles of them to the north and south on both banks, but failed to spot them.
The next obstacle was the railway. Between the Irrawaddy and the line they hit a stretch of jungle so dense that one British trooper, who had moved off thirty yards with a message for Calvert, got lost and was never seen again. They ran out of water here, and several men collapsed from thirst and exhaustion and had to be left behind. These were their first casualties to the jungle. There were more to come. They reached the railway far to the south of all previous demolitions, but Calvert could not resist the temptation of blowing it up again at this point. This naturally brought Japanese patrols racing down to the line, and they were forced to hide in a thick clump of bamboo in the jungle.
That night they slipped across the tracks unnoticed. Thompson and Calvert, for security reasons, had now parted company. Thompson led his group out across the Mu Valley. In the valley one of his Burma Rifles, Lance Naik Ba Yin, got a bad attack of malaria. They put his pack and equipment on Yankee, and Sergeant George Morris and another Burma Rifleman took turns at helping him along. Whenever Thompson asked him if the pace was too fast he shook his head. Sweating and shivering, he kept moving, and in a few days with the help of extra rations from the other men, he had fully recovered.
As Thompson's men were approaching a village to buy food they again met up with Taffy Griffiths and his party and this time joined forces. Shortly afterwards they clashed with a Japanese patrol, but did not suffer any casualties. On April 10th they reached the foot of an escarpment, which rose two thousand feet above the Mu Valley. The going across the escarpment was incredibly tough. In one chaung Yankee kept slipping into deep pools, and at one point they had to build a ramp of stones to get him out. He was slowing up the party considerably, and the other officers wanted to leave him behind. Thompson firmly refused, insisting that a seasoned mountain artillery mule was worth his weight in gold.
Secretly Thompson had come to look upon Yankee as their good luck symbol, their talisman against disaster. Yankee had travelled with them every step of the way; he had survived the jungle and the Japs, hunger and thirst, river-crossings and mountain ranges. Somehow, Thompson felt, his future and theirs were linked. So long as Yankee stayed with them they were indestructible. On April 12th, after marching from dawn until mid-morning, the Chindits came upon a clear stream high up in the mountains in the middle of thick teak and bamboo forest, shaded from the sunlight by a dense covering of creepers. They were hungry and exhausted, and Thompson decided to rest for the day. Here he delighted the British members of the party by inviting them to share a large tin of porridge oats, which he had stored in his wireless set throughout the march in, then had carried in his pack for a special occasion. This was the special occasion as it was his twenty-seventh birthday.
Later in the day Thompson and three others went fishing with grenades in the pools beside the stream. The explosion of the bomb stunned the fish and brought them to the surface, first the small ones, then some three and four-pounders. The Chindits dived in to collect them; a tricky job as they slipped away very quickly. Thompson eventually had enough fish to give the seventy-five men half a pound apiece. The big fellows tasted rather like English carp. The Chindits grilled them on pointed bamboos over an open fire and ate them with rice. The approach to the Chindwin was uneventful, except for the hunger, thirst, sickness, and grinding fatigue. They came down into the Chindwin Valley along the Nangka Mu Chaung, swollen by recent rains. Burmese villagers told them that two British patrols were on the east bank of the Chindwin looking out for them.
In one village the Headman gave them bananas and, when they asked for a guide, volunteered to go with them himself. At 2pm on April 15th, Thompson's party was within three miles of the Chindwin River when a Sikh sentry stepped on to the track and challenged them. Thompson turned to Taffy Griffiths and they shook hands. The sentry led them to a Sikh Captain, who gave them a cup of tea with condensed milk and telephoned to his column to lay on boats to take them over the river.
At the river they were met by a wiry, grey-bearded Sikh Colonel, who for several days had been skirmishing heavily with Japanese patrols. The crossing was uneventful. Yankee was a bit unwilling to go down into the water, but Thompson patted him on the head, whispered, "Just one more river, old boy," and dragged him in. On the west bank Sergeant-Major Blain remembering his Army drill, formed the men into threes, and marched them like guardsmen to their billets. The Sikh Colonel gave them a wonderful curry dinner, and lent them ground-sheets and blankets. Thompson, with the RAF's aversion to marching, had taken pains to hit the Chindwin at the point nearest to where the jeep road began. Next morning they breakfasted with the Sikhs, then marched eleven miles to the jeep road-head.
On the way the Chindits, looking like the mutineers of the Bounty, met two American Colonels who were visiting the Chindwin front. They had heard all about Wingate's Raiders and recognised the filthy, bearded scarecrows plodding wearily up the track. They shook hands with Thompson's little group of officers and said warmly, "Everyone is very proud of you. You've given the Japs something to remember." At jeep-head the Chindits were congratulated by Major-General Reginald Savory, and they immediately asked him if Wingate had got back. Savory shook his head. Of the columns that had crossed the Irrawaddy in late March, theirs was the first large party out. There was no news of the Brigadier. General Savory had a tremendous lunch laid out for them. They had two helpings of everything; meat, vegetables, potatoes, bread and butter, canned peaches and pears, and tea with condensed milk.
After lunch they were loaded into jeeps and driven to Tamu on the Burmese/Indian border, which they reached in time for another enormous dinner. Yankee got a lift in a one-ton truck with all the grain he wanted. At Tamu the Chindits were deloused, given clean clothes, and taken in trucks to Imphal, where they were clapped into a hospital and put on a diet. As a parting present twenty-seven Japanese bombers with strong fighter escort flew over Imphal that day and pattern-bombed the area around the hospital, hitting one small block with an incendiary. It was the first time Imphal had been bombed in over ten months. This all took place on April 21st, but there was still no news of Wingate.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page. To read more about the RAF Section from 3 Column, please click on the following link and scroll down the story of RAF Sgt. George Morris: Roll Call K-O
YATES, HERBERT ROBERT
Rank: Private
Service No: 5112654
Age: Not known
Regiment/Service: Royal Warwickshire Regiment attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Herbert Robert Yates enlisted into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during the early years of WW2, before being posted to the King's Regiment in January 1943 just before 77 Brigade moved to Imphal in readiness for Operation Longcloth. His Chindit column is unknown at this point in time, but I was delighted to receive an email contact from his son, Paul in November 2012:
Hi Steve, my late farther served with the Chindits and was involved in Operation Longcloth in 1943. I wish to trace his military records and any advice you could give on how to get started would be much appreciated. I do have his Army number and some of the regiments he served with and the relevant dates. His name was Herbert Robert Yates and he was in France from the 15th May 1940 until the 31st of the same month, presumably he was evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk? He was the posted to Ceylon from February 1942 and then to India on the 19th January 1943. His records state he remained in India until October 1945, when he returned to the UK. I recall my Mum always saying he volunteered for the Burma Campaign.
After my initial reply to Paul, he followed up his enquiry with a second email:
Hi Steve, thank you very much for the help it is most appreciated, I know for certain that my father was in the first Chindit operation because he would mention quite often about the march into Burma and the weight they carried, plus the problems with the mules they used. We still have my fathers Chindit bush hat which is in the safe keeping of my older brother.
Just a couple of stories he told us of what happened out there and I suppose you would call them gallows humour. His unit ambushed a Japanese patrol and killed them all without any loss themselves, they were then ordered to bury the bodies which was unusual, for as my farther said you got the hell out of there for fear more Japs would arrive having heard the gunfire. Anyway they dug the graves with the view that all Japs were short in stature and only dug them at 5 foot long, only to discover that the Japs they had killed were from the Imperial Guard and closer to 6 foot in height, so to save time they broke the soldiers' legs and tucked them under their bodies and dropped them in the graves that way.
Whilst in bivouac near a small lagoon some of the men decided to strip off and clean themselves, whilst others made a brew. One chap in the unit suffered from a bad stammer, he and a few others were on watch when a Japanese patrol came across them and opened fire. The chap with the stammer was hit in the lower jaw and his jaw was completely shot away, it stopped him stuttering my father said!
I only have one photo of my farther in uniform, he is in dress uniform of shorts with a pith helmet, this I assume would be from his pre-Chindit days. If this is of interest I would have to send it to you by post for you to copy and then you could return it. Thanks again for your help, I will certainly be contacting the address you sent and look forward to what information unfolds. Kind regards Paul.
For more details about the men from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and their pathway to Chindit service in 1943, please click on the following link:
8th Warwick's at Dunkirk
Rank: Private
Service No: 5112654
Age: Not known
Regiment/Service: Royal Warwickshire Regiment attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Herbert Robert Yates enlisted into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during the early years of WW2, before being posted to the King's Regiment in January 1943 just before 77 Brigade moved to Imphal in readiness for Operation Longcloth. His Chindit column is unknown at this point in time, but I was delighted to receive an email contact from his son, Paul in November 2012:
Hi Steve, my late farther served with the Chindits and was involved in Operation Longcloth in 1943. I wish to trace his military records and any advice you could give on how to get started would be much appreciated. I do have his Army number and some of the regiments he served with and the relevant dates. His name was Herbert Robert Yates and he was in France from the 15th May 1940 until the 31st of the same month, presumably he was evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk? He was the posted to Ceylon from February 1942 and then to India on the 19th January 1943. His records state he remained in India until October 1945, when he returned to the UK. I recall my Mum always saying he volunteered for the Burma Campaign.
After my initial reply to Paul, he followed up his enquiry with a second email:
Hi Steve, thank you very much for the help it is most appreciated, I know for certain that my father was in the first Chindit operation because he would mention quite often about the march into Burma and the weight they carried, plus the problems with the mules they used. We still have my fathers Chindit bush hat which is in the safe keeping of my older brother.
Just a couple of stories he told us of what happened out there and I suppose you would call them gallows humour. His unit ambushed a Japanese patrol and killed them all without any loss themselves, they were then ordered to bury the bodies which was unusual, for as my farther said you got the hell out of there for fear more Japs would arrive having heard the gunfire. Anyway they dug the graves with the view that all Japs were short in stature and only dug them at 5 foot long, only to discover that the Japs they had killed were from the Imperial Guard and closer to 6 foot in height, so to save time they broke the soldiers' legs and tucked them under their bodies and dropped them in the graves that way.
Whilst in bivouac near a small lagoon some of the men decided to strip off and clean themselves, whilst others made a brew. One chap in the unit suffered from a bad stammer, he and a few others were on watch when a Japanese patrol came across them and opened fire. The chap with the stammer was hit in the lower jaw and his jaw was completely shot away, it stopped him stuttering my father said!
I only have one photo of my farther in uniform, he is in dress uniform of shorts with a pith helmet, this I assume would be from his pre-Chindit days. If this is of interest I would have to send it to you by post for you to copy and then you could return it. Thanks again for your help, I will certainly be contacting the address you sent and look forward to what information unfolds. Kind regards Paul.
For more details about the men from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and their pathway to Chindit service in 1943, please click on the following link:
8th Warwick's at Dunkirk
YATES, WILLIAM
Rank: Private
Service No: 5116732
Age: 28
Regiment/Service: Royal Warwickshire Regiment attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
William Yates was born on the 15th April 1915 and was the son of Bertram and Katherine Josephine Yates from Birmingham. He began his WW2 service with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, before being posted to the 13th King's on the 26th September 1942 at the Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of India. Pte. Yates was then allocated to No. 5 Column under the command of Major Bernard Fergusson formerly of the Black Watch Regiment and took up a role in the Machine Gun section of the Support Platoon.
William Yates was one of the 100 or so men that became separated from the main body of the column, after the engagement with the Japanese at the village of Hintha on the 28th March 1943. For more information about this incident and the second ambush just a few hours after exiting Hintha, please click on the following link: Pte. Norman John Fowler
A witness statement made by RSM Jackie Cairns after returning to India in 1943, throws so more light on the matter:
In the case of 5116732 Pte. W. Yates and 5116731 Pte. H.K. Yeomans
The above mentioned men were detailed by Lieutenant H. Williamson to report to me during the action at Hintha on 28th March 1943, but neither they nor any other British Other Ranks from his platoon reported to me.
A footnote to this report was recorded suggesting that a secondary statement be sourced about the two missing men from Lt. H. Williamson. To learn more about this officer, please scroll back up this page alphabetically.
According to the official missing listings for Operation Longcloth, Pte. Yates was recorded as missing from the 28th March 1943. However, from his prisoner of war records, we know that he was not captured until three days later on the 1st April. Either way he fell into Japanese hands and was eventually sent down to Rangoon Jail, where he was placed into Block 6 of the prison alongside many other captured Chindits. William was given the POW number, 320 at Rangoon and he would have to recite this number at both the morning and evening roll calls. All prisoners at Rangoon were sent out on working parties, often serving as slave labour at the city docks, loading and unloading cargo from Japanese ships.
In late April 1945, 400 so called fit prisoners from Rangoon including William Yates, were marched out of the jail by their Japanese guards and proceeded to travel northeast towards the Burmese town of Pegu. After about four days march on the 29th April, the POWs were released by their captors on the road outside a village called Waw. To read more about this incident and about the Chindits time in Rangoon Jail more generally, please click on the following link: Chindit POW's
After their liberation at Waw, the British and other Allied POW's were flown back to India aboard USAAF Dakota aircraft and sent to hospital in Calcutta. From here most spent three or four weeks rest and recuperation in the Himalayan retreats of northern India, before returning to their original regimental centres, in William's case the 13th King's base at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. From here it is very likely that he would have been processed in readiness for repatriation to the United Kingdom.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including William Yates' POW index card and the witness statement given by RSM Cairns back in India. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Private
Service No: 5116732
Age: 28
Regiment/Service: Royal Warwickshire Regiment attached The King's Regiment (Liverpool) 13th Bn.
Chindit Column: 5
Other details:
William Yates was born on the 15th April 1915 and was the son of Bertram and Katherine Josephine Yates from Birmingham. He began his WW2 service with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, before being posted to the 13th King's on the 26th September 1942 at the Saugor training camp in the Central Provinces of India. Pte. Yates was then allocated to No. 5 Column under the command of Major Bernard Fergusson formerly of the Black Watch Regiment and took up a role in the Machine Gun section of the Support Platoon.
William Yates was one of the 100 or so men that became separated from the main body of the column, after the engagement with the Japanese at the village of Hintha on the 28th March 1943. For more information about this incident and the second ambush just a few hours after exiting Hintha, please click on the following link: Pte. Norman John Fowler
A witness statement made by RSM Jackie Cairns after returning to India in 1943, throws so more light on the matter:
In the case of 5116732 Pte. W. Yates and 5116731 Pte. H.K. Yeomans
The above mentioned men were detailed by Lieutenant H. Williamson to report to me during the action at Hintha on 28th March 1943, but neither they nor any other British Other Ranks from his platoon reported to me.
A footnote to this report was recorded suggesting that a secondary statement be sourced about the two missing men from Lt. H. Williamson. To learn more about this officer, please scroll back up this page alphabetically.
According to the official missing listings for Operation Longcloth, Pte. Yates was recorded as missing from the 28th March 1943. However, from his prisoner of war records, we know that he was not captured until three days later on the 1st April. Either way he fell into Japanese hands and was eventually sent down to Rangoon Jail, where he was placed into Block 6 of the prison alongside many other captured Chindits. William was given the POW number, 320 at Rangoon and he would have to recite this number at both the morning and evening roll calls. All prisoners at Rangoon were sent out on working parties, often serving as slave labour at the city docks, loading and unloading cargo from Japanese ships.
In late April 1945, 400 so called fit prisoners from Rangoon including William Yates, were marched out of the jail by their Japanese guards and proceeded to travel northeast towards the Burmese town of Pegu. After about four days march on the 29th April, the POWs were released by their captors on the road outside a village called Waw. To read more about this incident and about the Chindits time in Rangoon Jail more generally, please click on the following link: Chindit POW's
After their liberation at Waw, the British and other Allied POW's were flown back to India aboard USAAF Dakota aircraft and sent to hospital in Calcutta. From here most spent three or four weeks rest and recuperation in the Himalayan retreats of northern India, before returning to their original regimental centres, in William's case the 13th King's base at the Napier Barracks in Karachi. From here it is very likely that he would have been processed in readiness for repatriation to the United Kingdom.
Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including William Yates' POW index card and the witness statement given by RSM Cairns back in India. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
YOUNG, LESLIE GEORGE
Rank: Sergeant RAF
Service No: 1443453
Date of Death: 06/05/1943
Age: 22
Regiment/Service: RAF Section, 77 Indian Infantry Brigade
Memorial: Column 426 of the Singapore Memorial
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1816743/leslie-george-young/
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Leslie Young was the son of George and Elizabeth Young from Abbotts Langley in Hertfordshire. He had enlisted into the RAF during WW2 and was posted to 77 Brigade in the late autumn of 1942. Almost nothing is known about this man or his experiences in Burma during Operation Longcloth. Each Chindit column had within its ranks, a section from the RAF. All these men had volunteered to perform Air Liaison duties for the newly formed Special Force, which entailed radio communications with Air Supply at Rear Base, ground to air signalling during supply drops in the Burmese jungle and the selection and preparation of all supply drop locations, known as DZ's.
It must be presumed that Sergeant Young was a member of one of these RAF liaison sections on the first Wingate expedition and was lost to his column at some point before the 6th May 1943. The only piece of documentation that throws any light on Leslie's fate comes from a file (AIR38/80) at the National Archives in London, where on a list of RAF personnel lost to their units in Burma, it is simply recorded that he died in the jungle as a member of 77 Brigade. No date or location is given.
Leslie's body was never found after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon the Singapore Memorial located at Kanji War Cemetery, a monument partly created to record the names of RAF personnel from the Burma campaign who have no known grave. He is also recorded on his hometown memorial at Abbotts Langley. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including Sgt. Young's inscription on the Abbotts Langley War Memorial in Hertfordshire. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Rank: Sergeant RAF
Service No: 1443453
Date of Death: 06/05/1943
Age: 22
Regiment/Service: RAF Section, 77 Indian Infantry Brigade
Memorial: Column 426 of the Singapore Memorial
CWGC link: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1816743/leslie-george-young/
Chindit Column: Not known
Other details:
Leslie Young was the son of George and Elizabeth Young from Abbotts Langley in Hertfordshire. He had enlisted into the RAF during WW2 and was posted to 77 Brigade in the late autumn of 1942. Almost nothing is known about this man or his experiences in Burma during Operation Longcloth. Each Chindit column had within its ranks, a section from the RAF. All these men had volunteered to perform Air Liaison duties for the newly formed Special Force, which entailed radio communications with Air Supply at Rear Base, ground to air signalling during supply drops in the Burmese jungle and the selection and preparation of all supply drop locations, known as DZ's.
It must be presumed that Sergeant Young was a member of one of these RAF liaison sections on the first Wingate expedition and was lost to his column at some point before the 6th May 1943. The only piece of documentation that throws any light on Leslie's fate comes from a file (AIR38/80) at the National Archives in London, where on a list of RAF personnel lost to their units in Burma, it is simply recorded that he died in the jungle as a member of 77 Brigade. No date or location is given.
Leslie's body was never found after the war and for this reason he is remembered upon the Singapore Memorial located at Kanji War Cemetery, a monument partly created to record the names of RAF personnel from the Burma campaign who have no known grave. He is also recorded on his hometown memorial at Abbotts Langley. Seen below is a gallery of images in relation to this story, including Sgt. Young's inscription on the Abbotts Langley War Memorial in Hertfordshire. Please click on any image to bring it forward on the page.
Copyright © Steve Fogden April 2014.