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Professional soldier sailed from Glasgow Feb. 1942 aboard troop transport S.S.\ALMANZURA. Journey to India via Dakar ,Cape Town, Durban to Bombay. From Bombay to the plains around Poona to join the 20th Indian Division commanded by the Major General Douglas Gracey. Together with the 19th Indian Division and 2nd British Division the 3 Divisions were to form the spearhead of the 14th (forgotten) Army commander by the finest general since the Duke of Wellington General Sir William Slim (Uncle Bill).

The Division moved into Assam and then on the Burma crossing the River Chindwin at TAMU. No serious fighting occurred until we reached the plains of Imphal. At Imphal the guns of the regiment were in constant support of the Ghurkha infantry who now fully trained and equipped were beating the desperate and fanatical enemy at their own game. Leaving the Imphal plains dense jungle again was reached and our next serious fighting began as we neared the Irrawaddy river at this time in full flow something like one mile in width. Reaching the west bank of the river just south of Mandalay preparations began to produce a terrific barrage from the guns as 19th Division began to cross to the north of Mandalay.

Mandalay was an easier target that was thought as the Japanese withdrew using the darkness of night. After crossing the river our next serious engagement was as MAGWE. We reached our gun position just before dark sitting the guns on the riverbank and over the river on the other side we could see the Japanese driving nose to tail due south unaware that we were in the position to engage them. They were driving with the vehicle lights on. A splendid target for all the guns — shooting over open sights using H.E and armour piercing shells. We could see the damage we were causing eventually we had to cease firing owing the dark clouding sky, approx 7pm. During the night we then began digging in and replenishing ammunition supplies, during the night the Japanese had collected and organised what artillery they had and we were a sitting duck.

As usual their accuracy was first class and the regiment surfaced accordingly. We gave shell for shell although they achieved some good shots on our command post and one or two gun pits.

Sometime later our efforts were recognised and several awards were given one or two MM’s, one MC and I received a ‘Mention’.

We then carried on driving south passing Allamago Taugou, until we reached a small town just north of Rangoon Tharrawaddy. Here we rested and began preparing for a sea-borne assault on the Malaya peninsular — 20th Division was the only Division in the 14th Army that had sea-borne training. Suddenly news reached us that the Japanese had surrendered — we just could not believe this unless it was a trick of some sort.
Bill Slim in his memoirs wrote ‘Most nations boast that their Army would fight to the last man and the last bullet, the only one that did was the Japanese army’.
The after four years abroad two of them in dense jungle, Mount Batten ordered 20th Indian division onto Saigon — we couldn’t believe this, no-one had ever heard of Saigon. The Ghurkhas flew in by Dakota and we sailed from Rangoon on board an old ‘banana’ boat. Together with vehicles and guns we were told that we were hereby going to act as police as the French had no real army there and one or two Annamites, as the natives were called, had gained possession of some Japanese weapons but nothing serious, Saigon was a beautiful city and their French crossed with Annamites had produced some beautiful females. As all the troops had seen for the past two years were monkeys the Senior NCO’s and the Officers had as much to worry about as they did wondering if we were ever going to get back to Blighty.

In the six months we were there the Ghurkhas lost 32 men and we suffered far less although we had many calls from the Ghurkhas who were supporting the remnants of the French overseas troops who had surrendered everything to the Japanese. In 1942 on one ‘call out’ we took a gun to a position near to Saigon airport about five miles north of the city. About six rebel Japanese and one or two Viet Kong were dug in beneath a planter’s house and efficiently held up\approximately 200 French Infantry.

The Company commander of a company of the 1/1 Ghurkhas was sitting in his jeep together with two Ghurkha riflemen and his driver, I knew him from the Burma days and after positioning the guns I strolled over to chat to him. He had a broad simile on his face and I remember his greeting, ‘Salam Sergeant Major, just look at this lot. I could get six of my Ghurkhas with one Corporal and they would finish this lot in ten minutes’.

We had several incidents like this and just after one more serous occasion I had to use my jeep and trailer to drive into a burning village under enemy fire to rescue six wounded French Paratroops and a small boy and his young sister from a burning ‘basha’ where their parents lay dead. I put all of them onto the canopy of my jeep trailer and drove to the nearest French dressing station, a pre-war convent. The Doctor and the nuns helped unload the Para’s (two were dead), but they would not accept the two young children. We eventually kept the two children until the Red Cross came to Saigon.

A few months later after the Regiment had pulled out of Saigon into Singapore, I received a ‘Certificate of Gallantry’ signed by Louis Mountbatten thanking me.
Mountbatten was Commander in Chief South East Asia Command.

During our time in Saigon he arrived to take the Japanese surrender from Count Terrauchi the CIC of the Japanese in South East Asia. Terrauchi was a cousin of Emperor Hirohito. The surrender parade was held in August in the Cathedral square in Saigon, our regiments formed and open square together with the 1/1 Ghurkhas. All of Terrauchis headquarters paraded, his two swords were `taken by ‘Dickie’ (soldiers name for Mountbatten, if he couldn’t hear you!!!). Then all of Terrauchi HQ staff approximately thirty or forty senior officers unfastened their swords, gave a deep bow, about turned and marched off. A few months later Douglas came marching home carrying a ‘Samurai’ sword and twenty five years later he resigned from the gunners after thirty years man and boy, the best times of his life.

I must now remember those left behind, some of whom never reached twenty. The Kohima epitaph ‘when you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today’.

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