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This story was entered onto the Peoples War Website by Rod Sutton on behalf of James Allan (Major), the author, with his full permission. He understands the sites terms and conditions.

In September 1939 I was a customs officer stationed in Dartmouth. Having gained a Cert ‘A’ when I was in my school’s OTC, I asked my departmental HQ for permission to enlist in the army. I also wrote to the War Office offering my services. Unfortunately my bosses refused and I had already been accepted by the War Office. I was thus a private soldier, so I resigned as a Customs Officer and reported to the Devonshire Regiment in Exeter where, after three months, I was selected for a commission and was posted to 162 OCTU (Officer Cadet Training Unit) on Salisbury Plain. Two months later I had a motorcycle accident which, however, did not affect my commission, although I was kept in a low medical category for two years. I was eventually upgraded and I applied for an active posting. This came in the form of a transfer to the XIV army in Burma where I was seconded to 2Bn., The Green Howards, as a platoon and then Company Commander. Our task was to prevent the enemy escaping from the Arakan through the town Taungup, which was the Japanese strong point reinforced by outlying defensive positions. My company (D) was given the task of capturing a hill (Pt.370) about three miles from Taungup. Two attempts had already failed and I found myself the only officer present. My efforts were successful and we took the hill and held it for six days when a fierce counter attack by the Japanese drove us off the hill. It was later re-occupied.

By now it was becoming more obvious that the war was nearly over for the enemy and I became somewhat careless when on patrol and as a result I led my men into an ambush, the first sign of which was the rattle of LMGs (Light Machine Guns) and then a terrible blow on my upper back and I fell to the ground. I tried to rise but found someone was holding me, but despite a terrible pain in my back, I was able to turn to find a Japanese was struggling with me to use the sword he had drawn. I knew then that I was fighting for my life and managed to draw the kukri I always carried which, being shorter, was superior to the sword and I was able to kill the Japanese. All round were the sounds of shouts and gunfire and I found movement was agonising. I was able to rejoin my men and discover that the trap had been laid but had failed and all the enemy had been killed by the skill of the sergeant and corporal. Their theory was that the Japanese were on their way to another position, heard our patrol and quickly set a trap into which we walked and I really deserved a rocket.

Back at the Battalion one or two of the officers took care of me, calling in the Medical Officer who said that I required treatment he could not provide and so he had arranged for the West Africans to have me evacuated to Ramree Island which we had captured four months earlier. This was where 125 BGH (British General Hospital) was. The next day a truck came for me and I was given a good farewell but 125 BGH did not have all the equipment the doctors needed as the landing craft carrying its medical necessities had been sunk during the invasion of the island, so I was transferred to 17 BGH Dacca, which was in the process of closing down. I was then further transferred to CMD (Convalescent Military Depot) because the 17 BGH doctors decided that I did not need any special treatment but the CMD got rid of me by transferring me to CMH (Combined Military Hospital) where I was x-rayed and the fractures of two vertebra were discovered. Following this discovery, I was put in a plastic jacket for six months, which ended in my evacuation to the UK in December 1945.

Not everyone’s injuries were received in action. I met a man in Delhi who had a fractured shoulder. I asked how he did it, knowing that he had parachuted in behind Japanese lines on many occasions – the reply was that he was on R & R and while celebrating had fallen off a balcony! He was related to Compton Mackenzie and his name was Camp.

After the war I became secretary of the Windsor branch of Burma Star. I think that there are still around 11,000 members of this organisation, although their numbers are now declining. I was responsible for the erection of a Memorial to the thousands who died in Burma, some of whom were my own men. As a result of breaking my back, as well as being invalided out I also discovered I was two inches shorter than before. Naturally, I have many other recollections, and I’ve written a book called ‘In the Trade of War’. I believe that there are copies in Truro library, and it is also available on the Internet.

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