1st Bn The King's Regiment, (Liverpool), Chindits.

Thank you. yep thats the report that blew me away. Who is the chap in the white cap?

 

Sorry Andy, that is Captain Coulthard. Just before the King's patrol went out that day, a party of seven Gurkhas were found piled high like logs, they had been used as bayonet practice by the Japanese.

Steve

 

Graham,

many thanks for the update regarding Harold Swindley. His service number would indicate that he enlisted in the Royal Corps of Signals as his service number is within the 2,303,001-2,604,000 block allocated to them. It is of course perfectly possible that he served in the T.A. with the East Lancashire Regiment before the war.

As to the garbled initial and address, I can only go on the primary sources that I stumble across until people such as yourself can provide the missing pieces. I can only assume that the original details were garbled in the cypher, transmit, decipher process. I am happy to update my spreadsheet now that I have more accurate information.

Anything else that you could tell me about Harold Swindley would be appreciated.

Simon.

 

Harold Swindley's entry in the casualty lists.

 

There were a great many more than nine men of the 1st King's Regiment killed on the 28th March 1944.

 

Hi Andy,

It would be great if your neighbour has a photograph of James that we could add to the thread here. If you wish to see a photograph of his grave at Taukkyan War Cemetery, just send his CWGC link and a request to this website and they will usually oblige: Home - asia war graves

 

Good morning, I have been trying to find out more details / pictures of my grandad Arthur Aspin & noticed your thread with his name in it. His wife recently past at 96 but we have no photos of him in his military uniform or with his regiment? Can you recommend anywhere I could try please? Regards Lee.

 

Hello Lee,

Arthur's Burma Star Association membership is on line. From his stated Army number, it looks like he began his WW2 service with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and must have transferred to the 1st battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment later on.

Here is his membership form:

 

Many thanks for this, I will make some enquiries to see if I can find any photos of him in uniform or with his regiment.
Kind regards
Lee.

 

There are a couple of group-photos that may also be on this group of pages, iirc... you never know, you may spot him in them... a very looooong shot, but stranger things have happened...
Paul Newton's site, noted above, also has them, or some of them...
A well known Gent who uses the moniker High Wood is our King's specialist and has posted any relevant imagery he has been lucky enough to dig out, so...

 

No worries Lee. With Arthur's Army number, you could if you wish send off for his Service records. Here is a link to read through. You would need his death certificate as proof that he is no longer with us, but the Army number gives you a good head start. Unfortunately, the service records take a good while to be processed, sometimes 6-9 months and corona virus has also added to any delay. So it might be a case of applying and then forgetting about them for a while!

Requests for personal data and service records: a detailed guide

 

Great stuff, I have emailed the Burma Star Association for any info also, thank you so much for all the help so far

 

Thank you I will have a look through to see if I can see anything

regards
Lee

 

HW,

Where do you think these casualties occurred? My guess would be that they were with the group that fought at Blackpool and then went north after the evacuation. Mogaung was concluded by late June, did Calvert's men fight on after this, I can't recall.

Steve

 

That is a very good question. I had wondered if it was something similar to that which occurred when the remnants of the 2nd battalion K.O.Y.L.I. arrived in India after the 1942 retreat. They seemed to have taken a head count and noticed that several individuals were unaccounted for, these men were officially reported missing with a May 1942 date, despite being missing weeks or months earlier.

I am certain that this is not the case with the July 1944 King's casualties as the Casualty List is very specific about dates.

 

Thanks HW,

I agree, Hebridean Chindit and I have discussed collective dates before. I think these were used for Chindit 1 due to the confused nature of dispersal and compiling MIA listings. I may be closing in on Sgt. Partington from the above list and this then connected my research to Thomas Hughes whose family member added to the thread a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully we can join something up in time.

 

Michael Calvert's Prisoners of Hope states that Mogaung was captured on the 25th June 1944, I had assumed that the 14th July 1944 casualties were from the fighting for Myitkyina.

 

I'll read through some of the other books tonight. I didn't think that 77 Brigade did any fighting after Mogaung when Calvert spat the dummy at Stilwell. Once again it has been amazing how many 1 KLR families find their way onto this thread. There was another lady last week who posted on this thread too, but she has not revisited the forum since:

Recce Graves in Myanmar (Burma)

 

There were 1/King's casualties reported missing as late as 30th July 1944.

3768651 Sgt Hugh McKee "died" on the 26th June 1944. I seem to remember that he had volunteered to help with supply drops and his aircraft crashed. He was previously listed missing on the night of the glider landings but made his way back to India.

14217434 Pte Phillip T Allcock was listed as Missing, 30th July 1944. Later corrected as listed in error.

14341602 Pte Sidney Arthur Worrall was listed as Missing on the 30th July 1944 and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial.