Arthur Collet/Collet - RASC/RIASC, WW2 BURMA

Thank you.Yes, although h never had those extra names. The daughter is Susan.

 

Hi,Dad died in August 1996 in Sothampton Hampshire

 

Were there lots of different ranks of the RASC THEN? I naively presumed that it was one group who would have been stationed in Calcutta in October 1944.

 

I think all we know for certain about Arthurs military career is that the photo shows he was in the RASC when he married Joan, which alan8736 says was in India, and he was quoted in the birth notice as still serving with them when Trevor was born in Calcutta Oct 1944.

He married a girl whose home town was Calcutta, and although its probable he was at some time stationed at/near Calcutta, this is not yet proved & they could have met or lived as a married couple elsewhere. Have not seen anywhere in this thread the date of the marriage.

The RASC would have contained most ranks that existed in the British Army, and were stationed all over the world & in every theatre of war., so in many places in India. They were one of the corps that supported & supplied other units of the British Army, including those fighting in Burma. They carried out too many roles in the India/Burma theatre of war to list, but were responsible for land, lake & some coastal transport & supplied the army with whatever it needed from food to paper clips. Many RASC men would have had specialist or technical roles such as baker, driver, & many others
Royal Army Service Corps - Wikipedia

Most men who arrived to fight in the Burma campaign from 1942 onwards would have disembarked in India, and spent some time training or acclimatising to the climate there. Others would have stayed in India in support & training roles. Arthur could easily have served in Burma after meeting Joan.

This is all just a very general summary & I have no knoweledge of individual RASC units in the Calcutta area.

 

Calcutta was the nearest major Indian city to Burma and was therefore used by both officer's and men on leave from Burma.