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

Kenneth Douglas Rose left above t.o.s 1/king 2.8.43 can any one add any thing about this photo of my father ? who is his mate ?. mike

 

Hi Mike,

The young Indian lad is quite well dressed, which makes me believe he might have been your father's orderly/servant in barracks. Usually one orderly would take care of 3 or 4 soldiers, who would pay him to take care of their kit, do their laundry etc. This is just an educated guess though.

 

My father was lance corporal George edward Ethersee. In row 7.Have only just started the long road to trace his chindit service.

 

Welcome to the forum John. Hopefully our member, High Wood will be able to assist you in your search for information. Do you have a photograph of George, as it is always wonderful to see these images. I have been researching the 13th Battalion and their contribution to the first Chindit expedition.

Steve

 

Welcome to the slippery slope to the event-horizon...

 

John,

welcome to the forum. Regrettably, I have only the sketchiest details of George Edward Ethersee on my database. His name appears on the Defence Medal roll as being a member of the HQ. Coy.
Any information about him that you can add would be welcome and may lead to us being able to place him into a particular column or location.

Simon

 

I see that there is an intention to create a website devoted to the 1st Btl King's (Liverpool) Regiment involved in Operation Thursday. My late father - Leslie Fred Horton - was a Chindit in WW2 and I have lately taken an interest in trying to establish how he was involved in the second Chindit operation. My Dad never talked about his experiences during the war, so I have little to go on other than a few of his photos and a 1942 road map of India which he annotated with his army number (which I have confirmed as 5115313), rank (corporal), notes that he was in the 1st Btl The Kings Regiment in 1943 and 16 Inf Bde 1944-6, together with a list of his itinerary round India & his leave dates and places. His army service record confirms that he was originally with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, went to Bombay & Deolali in 1943, transferred to the KIngs Reg on 12th Nov 1943 and was in the Concessional Area between 21 Jan 1944 and 11 Aug 1944. On the uploaded photos, my Dad (on the left) is with a fellow corporal Joe (Joseph?) Milner. I was wondering whether these photos (and a few others I have might be of use to your researches for your new site? And also, whether anyone has any reference to my father on lists for the 1st King's.

 

Hi Jungle Jackie,

I was pleased to see your post and the information about your father. He does feature on one of the medal rolls in the 1st King's War diary for 1945. Joe Milner wrote a semi-fictional book about his time during WW2, it is entitled, To Blazes with Glory.

I will let forum member High Wood catch up with your post and hopefully he might have more to add.

Best wishes

Steve

 

Hello Jackie,

I can tell you very little about your father other than that he was born on the 19th November 1919 in the Aston area of Birmingham and, as you say, initially enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He does not appear in the official casualty lists but does appear in the "C" Coy Defence Medal Roll. As I am sure you already know, he died in Birmingham in 1984 aged 64.

Joe Milner, whose Service Number 25746777, shows that he originally enlisted into the Royal Corps of Signals, also served in "C" Coy.

The website is still a very long way from becoming a reality due to my lack of experience in creating one and other outstanding commitments. I also keep getting side tracked by other research projects. I would of course like to use your photographs for the website if and when I get that far, and would like a copy for my database. Is it possible to post one in a format other than PDF as I cannot save them as a jpeg?

Simon

 

Hello Steve and Simon,
Thank you for your replies with the info about my Dad and Joe Milner. I was pleased to learn that you were able to tell me which company Dad served with - and Joe - and that they were in the same C coy. Dad left a leather bound double sided photo wallet in which he kept a cut down photo of Joe and another photo of a soldier named Roger Iveson (Cpl) so he must have held them both in high affection. That photo of Joe was annotated "Cpl "Joe" Milner. Taken on 20/08/44. Less than three weeks out of Burma. Not bad going!" How wonderful to learn that Joe wrote a book about the Chindit experiences, I will look to track a copy down. Thanks for the info, Steve. I have just learned that Joe had quite an interesting life in the fire service.
I'll certainly re-send a jpeg version of the double photo and some others I have of Dad in the next few days or so, Simon.
Not sure if the other soldier I mentioned above - Roger Iveson - was a Chindit too, as he is pictured in paratrooper cap. I know my Dad transferred to the 15th Para Bn in 1945 so guess he was a comrade from that time. But if you find Roger was in the 1st Kings too and you need/want his photo too, please let me know as I am very happy for these to supplement your researches and your website (if and when you manage to get it up and running .... I know the feeling, as I get very wrapped up in my own various family history researches....). Simon, were any other Royal Warwickshire soldiers transferred into the 1st Kings? I also have a few group photos of Dad's early army days pre India/Burma, with various soldiers named, which you can have copies of with pleasure if they help.
With very best wishes,
Jackie

 

Hi Jackie,

Thanks for your reply and the extra information. I never had the pleasure of meeting Joe Milner, but I did meet his wife Anne on the Royal British Legion trip to Burma in 2008. The group itinerary took us to many of the Chindit haunts from 1943-44, places like White City and Blackpool where Joe and presumably your Dad fought the Japanese.

Anne was very good to me, especially as it was her that first introduced me to the Chindit Old Comrades Association (sadly now defunct) at their annual dinner in 2009. Anne took some of Joe's ashes back with her to Burma and held a very poignant ceremony at Pagoda Hill (White City), in his honour.

Many of the surviving Chindits from the King's and the South Staffs became members of Parachute Battalions after their experiences on Operation Thursday. They were about to be deployed against the Japanese in Malaya, but the Atom Bombs made this unnecessary.

Steve

 

Welcome... the 16th assisted with helping my dad's lot out, unless I'm getting my numbers twisted again...

 

Hello guys,

Here are some photos now.
Lovely to hear about your contact with Joe's wife, Steve. Sadly, I've come to this very late in the game, but have just joined up to The Chindit Society and hope to be able to get along to their meetings next year. Are any of you members?

Also, wondering what your own connections are to the Chindits?

Best regards
Jackie

 

Hi Jackie,

These are great photos. It is interesting to see a Chindit after having moved on to the 15th Para Battalion. Good to hear that you have joined the Chindit Society. I am a member too and help out with the committee etc. Hopefully we might see you at some of our events in the future. My maternal grandfather served in the first Chindit expedition in 1943, sadly he did not survive and died as a POW in Rangoon Jail. I have worked on a website in his and his comrades honour, here is a link:

Chindit Chasing, Operation Longcloth 1943

 

Dad served with the 1st Cameronians on the 2nd Op... presently stalled researching the 111th Indian Infantry Division and entrenched deeply in 230 Sqn research... (flew out circa 500 Chindits; my dad amongst them)
Most of the Ladies and Gents here are family based researchers and found that the "event-horizon" is almost impossible to escape from if you venture too close...

 

Jackie,

many thanks for posting the photographs, it is appreciated. No mention of Roger Iveson on my database but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't be on it. I have added his name to my list of probables. I have details of 29 men of the Royal Warwickshires on my spread sheet and will be happy to post them if you need them.

Simon

 

Hi, I honestly don't know if anyone can help but my dad served in WW11 but never spoke much about his service or experiences at all. He was married twice and I was a result of his second marriage, he died when I was 19 (26 years ago), he suffered a series of strokes whilst I was growing up with the first being when I was 10, as a result I only have very limited information. I was under the impression that he was in the parachute regiment but recently I have been able to track down his granddaughter (from his first marriage) who informed me she thought he served in The Kings Regiment Liverpool, after a bit of of Googleing, it seems that the 1st battalion Kings Regiment amalgamated (?) after WW11. His name was James Joseph Holmes and I have a vivid memory of a brown plaque (possibly desk or door) with Sgt J J Holmes on it. He was born on 6th August 1916/17 or 18.
I appreciate this isn't much at all to go on but I will try to find more out, or if anyone could point me in the right direction I would be grateful, thanks

 

Hi Mark

Welcome

The very first step you need to take along this path of discovery is to obtain his official service records and they can only be found here - Request records of deceased service personnel - GOV.UK

They will tell you exactly which units (Regiments etc) he was in and when.

TD

 

Thank you

 

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum, TD has given you the best advice in applying for your father's service records. As you have read from the above posts, many men from the 1st King's did go on to form the 15th (King's) Parachute Battalion in 1945.

Good luck going forward.