大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Liz Andrew of the Lancshomeguard and added to the site with his permission.

I was thirty three years old and working for Dunlop Textiles in India when War broke out. After the Japanese invaded Hong Kong I volunteered for the Indian Army and was posted to Burma where I worked on transporting food and ammunition..

It was about April 1943 when the Japanese surrounded the 7th Indian Division in the Administative Box in the Nakidok Pass. We were surrounded for 12 days. The Japanese made raids on us and nearly caught our general in his pyjamas 鈥� but he managed to escape. Winston Churchill sent word that there was to be no retreat and that we were to hold fast. Our Air Force bombarded the Japanese. They ran out of food and the British Second Division came down behind the Japanese and finished them off.

After that our Division moved off and went up to Kohima where there was a terrible battle. It was my job to take food and arms to our troops who were beleaguered there. This battle signalled the end for the Japanese 鈥� they retreated after that.

One day I remember there was a hefty downpour of rain. We were to have taken all the rations up to the Front Line in our lorries but decided to hang back till it dried up because the roads were very rough. We had 120 lorries lined up and ready to go and we were just having our breakfast in the Mess on top of a hill when over came ten Japanese aeroplanes and four Zero fighters and they started to bomb our jetty. Our Bofors guns were just a little lower down the hill and they set up a beautiful pattern of anti aircraft fire. I watched the bombs dropping and the anti aircraft fire going up 鈥� it was all happening only a quarter of a mile away 鈥� and I thought , 鈥淭here, but for the Grace of God, go I.鈥� In the end the Japanese only managed to blow up some trees 鈥� they could have bombed our wagons but they never got them.

We were fighting in the Jungle. It was very humid and very sticky. I remember that the boys in the desert said they didn鈥檛 want to be sweating in the Jungle all day but we said that we didn鈥檛 want to be swallowing sand in the desert. I caught malaria despite taking mepocryn and was in hospital for two weeks. Then I was treated and cured with a new drug called Atapryn.

One day in Burma I remember saying to my pal, 鈥淭omorrow, I鈥檓 going native.鈥�
鈥淒on鈥檛 be daft,鈥� he said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 no women round here.鈥� And I replied, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean that. I鈥檓 fed up of bully beef and biscuits and I鈥檓 going on Indian food. From now on I鈥檓 going to have curry and rice. 鈥� The following day when I presented my enamel dish at the Mess, I had Indian food and I carried on eating it for the Duration.

My brother was a machine gunner in Burma. At one point we passed very close to his unit and I was taken to see him. He wasn鈥檛 expecting me and he was sitting behind his machine gun smoking a cigarette. It was a bit embarrassing because a little crowd had gathered around us and we didn鈥檛 know quite what to do. Later he was decorated for bravery 鈥� he shot up seventy Japanese 鈥� and went on to live till he was ninety.

I was Mentioned in Despatches too but it wasn鈥檛 for bravery! After I left Burma I served with the RIAS (Royal Indian Army Service Corps) in India, feeding the troops in a big supply depot. Later I was in charge of a large section of Indian Ambulance drivers. There was a grant of 400 rupees to set up some training for them which was to help them find employment once they were demobbed. I arranged some weaving, basket making and furniture making and when the General inspected what we鈥檇 been doing, he complimented me on my work.

I was getting ready to leave for home when there was a murder in my unit. Some Pathans had been transferred to our company; they had a feud and one of them was stabbed thirteen times. I was called out to get an ambulance to take him to Hospital but he died there. Some of the Pathans were charged with murder and I was held back as a witness. Going to a Murder trial in the Army was a terrible experience and I didn鈥檛 get home for another six months.

I was four years and eight months away in Burma and India. I had just one spell of leave 鈥� it was for twenty eight days. I went to visit my wife 鈥� she was in Southern India and I spent fourteen days travelling and fourteen days with her.

By the end of the War, I finished up a Captain. I鈥檓 glad that I did my bit 鈥� I could have sat back and just carried on working in the textile mills but I鈥檓 glad that I went.

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