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This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Don and Betty Tempest of the Lancshomeguard on behalf of Derek Pickles and added to the site with his permission.

In 1943, having trained as a ‘Special Wireless Operator’ in England, I was sent to India to complete my training. ´óÏó´«Ã½ was to involve the interception of enemy wireless communications.

My first post after training was in the Arakan area where I unwittingly volunteered for a posting. Passing through Kohima I carried on and found myself in the Kubaw, just in time for the Japanese attack on our Forces in that area, we beat a hasty retreat and managed to get to Imphal. There I was advised not to unpack as we were flying out in the morning.

We were duly transported to the Air-strip, where, instead of boarding an Air Craft, we set up our Aerials and our radios and continued with our duties in close proximity to the enemy. We have since learned how effective our work was in clocking the positions of the enemy.

After the relief of Imphal, our unit was transferred to Barrckpore for reforming as a new unit. We returned to the 14th. Army area and carried on down the river Irrawaddi. Here, I had a big decision to make. My name was drawn out of a Lottery to have L.I.A.P. leave, which entailed leaving my unit, flying out and making my way back to England. So my decision was that I would go.

Having enjoyed four weeks at home, the day came for me to travel to Liverpool and board a ship again, back to India. By this time my unit was in Southern Burma and I re-joined them. We were all ready for the next phase to carry on our wireless intercepting, when news was received that the Atomic Bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. We were the first to hear about it on our radios. We felt relieved that the war was now over, but we still had work to do.

Our unit was then transferred to Singapore and then to England where we carried on with our work.

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