Quick update on my new family connections. Granddad's younger brother Frank served with the Yorks and Lancs in the 25th Infantry Division (India) in the Arakan region of Burma in 1944. (Enes, how incredible is that!!). One of his other brothers, Sid was killed in a road traffic accident in August 1945. He was with the 8th Reserve Regiment RA. I think the accident occurred whilst he was on duty, but am not 100% sure of that. Casualty Details
I've been up to Liverpool this weekend, mostly on Chindit business involving the Museum of Liverpool Life. On the journey home, I diverted to the National Arboretum at Alrewas. The diversion was to at last visit the Far East section of the Arboretum to view a new plaque, which contains the names of several Chindits who took part on the operations in 1943 and 1944. The name of my grandfather, Arthur Leslie Howney was included on the memorial in recognition of the work I have put in on behalf of the men from Chindit 1. I was incredibly honoured and overwhelmed by this gesture, as you might all appreciate.
Hi Steve, Well that is incredible. Seems that your connection with Burma is really strong. Do you maybe know which battalion? If I'm not wrong there were two battalions of the York & Lancs in the 25th, 8th and 9th I think. I have some short history of 25th Indian Division that I could send you by email if you are interested Cheers Enes
Hi Enes, Yes, it was the 8th and 9th battalions. I do not know which one as yet, but I hope to speak with my newly found family connections soon. It is possible that they will not know much themselves, but I intend to encourage them to apply for his service records in any case, so we should find out. I would be grateful for the paperwork you mention plea. Best wishes Steve
Today I received several photographs of my grandfather's younger brother, Fred. Here is a photograph, I will add more detail in relation to his WW2 service later.
Roll back a line or two... you had two members of the family who were in Burma and it had totally slipped by you...? Well go t' foot of our stairs...
Yes, how incredible is that, and Frank served in the same division as the 3/2 Gurkhas during their follow on action in the Arakan after being on Longcloth. Anyway, try and keep up mate.
On the approach to my website's 6th anniversary, here are some numbers: Website hits: 899611 Chindit veterans contacted: 11 Longcloth families found via the site: 279 Thanks for all your help WW2Talk.
It looks fabulous. As a newbie to the site I would like to see a short summary of who the Chindits are and what they did Hope that helps Regards Barbara
Thanks Barbara. I've been meaning to take a look at how I might re-vamp the informational pages on the site.
As I slept last night, my website hit counter went past one million!! Who would have thought it? Thanks to everyone for their support over the past 5 years or so and for helping me achieve this landmark.
Hi Steve, Glad to see you're still on it, I need to go through the site and get back up to speed! Regards Pete