Edward Barrett 13 Kings

You beat me. Apparently he was killed 9th November.

 

I have been informed that the irregularity of the dress is due to the fact these men were American OSS (Office of Strategic Services) operatives and were not known for their dress regulations!
Lionboxer

 

Thanks for all the updates. I noticed the American grave in the Facebook gallery on line. Several Chindits were buried in villages across the Kachin and Yunnan territories in 1943. Three men who died in the Chinese town of Paoshan were finally laid to rest at Sai Wan War Cemetery, which is a fair few miles distant!!

It does seem strange that a presumably well documented and known grave, such as Barrett's was not re-located to Taukkyan or Rangoon War Cemeteries.

 

I am not at all surprised that these graves were not found after the war. I went through the files at Kew for the Graves Service and it seems they were slow to get going and didn't get the right equipment such as jeeps quickly. Then the weather and terrain worked against them as graves became overgrown or were washed away. Finally there was political unrest in the area of the border with Burma and India such that activity was curtailed in 1947. As a result lots of graves were unfound.

 

Thanks for this update Skoyen89. I'm doing some work right now on another two 13th King's who were buried locally to where they fell. It must have been a huge undertaking for the IWGC in Burma to try and locate these graves, with very little to go on other than the anecdotal statements of surviving soldiers, up to two years after the event and as you say with the speed at which the jungle/terrain could reclaim the area.

 

Hi All,

I have just finished a short article about Edward Barrett for my website. This was very much inspired by the input on this thread, so thank you all for your contributions.

Steve

http://www.chinditslongcloth1943.com/pte-edward-barrett.html

 

Nice one Steve. It's good to see Barrett being recorded properly after a chance finding on Facebook.
Lionboxer.

 

Thank you for alerting me to this story in the first instance.

 

This might muddy the waters but using the search term Pte. E. Barrett at the britishnewspaper archive there is a birthday message in the 13th August 1943 edition of the Manchester Evening News but text is scrambled as I'm not subscribed but I could make out:-

BARRETT - Birthday greetings to Pte. E. Barrett (Teddy) M.E.fv Happy Birthday return home so.... text is too scrambled after that, but it could be his sister Alice or Alison??

If printed on his birthday, date conflicts with TDs discovery above as its not the same birth registration quarter.

 

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your post, that is a nice find. It is frustrating the there are no next of kin details on Edward's CWGC page, but I am not too concerned about the date of birth, if it turns out to be incorrect, I will just remove it.

I've been very fortunate with the amount of families who make contact via my website Home page, over 300 now. So with a bit of luck, this story will eventually bring the extended Barrett family to me and things will sort themselves out.

Best wishes

Steve