Newbie need help! - Royal Welsh Fusiliers

My late grandfather Horace Harborne was in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during WW2. He left me his uniform which is in excellent condition along with photos of him in Burma and India. He never spoke much about the war but i remember him talking about the Irrawaddy and a place called Bhamo or something like that alongside a river. I know he was in a motar platoon. His uniform bears the cross keys emblem. Does anyone know anything about his unit and what they got up to?
Hope someone can help.
Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum.

Cross keys emblem was sign of 2nd Infantry Division and 1st Royal Welch Fusiliers was part of this division.

 

To get you started: 2nd Infantry Division. During the second World War the Regiment was properly known as The Royal Welch Fusiliers, not Welsh.

Here are a couple of our threads on army service records which is the way to go to get chapter and verse on your grandfather's wartime career.

I think I'm right in saying that there was no divisional history written for 2 Div after the war, though there is a regimental history for the RWF caled Red Dragon. There are plenty of books on the Burma Campaign, hopefully some of the experts might be able to suggest some with good coverage of 2 Div. Kohima has been written about a lot but be careful as there were two battles: 2 Div were involved in the relief, not the siege.

 

Thanks. So im on the right path now. How do I go further??

 

great, thanks ill start working on it. I will scan and post some of his pictures tommorow.

 

I woukld start by getting a copy of his service records if you want to do some serious research:

Army Personnel Centre - British Army Website

 

Welcome to Talk, be intrested to see your pics.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.

If you use the search facility on this forum for the Royal Welch Fusiliers you will see a good book that I posted details of.

Regards
Tom

 

welcome to the forum
please post any photos you have

 

how do i insert pictures???Ive taken some pics but there is alot of stuff. Inside his service issue bible dated 28.11.1943 ive found marked paper cuttings with reference to Tokishima????As soon as I can work out how to post the pics up I will do it. Hopefully they will shed some light.

 

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He was not a religious man but carried what appear to be issued bibles, both have his service number in. In the top pic my grandfather is on the left and hes central on the other pic. The paper cutting was very important to him but he never said why. Ill do some more pics asap

 

Excellent stuff. I'll type up some of the stuff from Red Dragon later this week and post it on this thread for you to read.

 

At the end of the war his uniform was sealed up. Its in incredible condition, ill take some pictures of it because its got some ribbons and insignia on which might help.

 

Some links of intrest. Welsh BBC - Mid Wales World War Two - The Battle of Kohima

 

I've joined a few dots, but be aware that the picture may be wrong...

The newspaper clipping may relate to the Nankai Earthquake (and tsunami) of 21 Dec 1946 and here, towards the end.

Your grandfather could have been in Japan with the Commonwealth element of the occupation army: Brindiv (British-Indian Division). 1st Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers was disbanded in Burma at the end of the campaign. A lot went home, but a draft was sent to join 2 Bn RWF in Delhi (they had also served in Burma) before they went over to Japan.

The other possibility that he came home (explaining how he kept his 2 Div flash) but had a mate over in Japan. Your first photo has a pre-war look about it that would suggest he could have been amongst the first to come home.

Even if it's not quite right, I've learned something tonight as I wasn't aware that we'd had an occupation force in Japan!

 

I've joined a few dots, but be aware that the picture may be wrong...

The newspaper clipping may relate to the Nankai Earthquake (and tsunami) of 21 Dec 1946 and here, towards the end.

Your grandfather could have been in Japan with the Commonwealth element of the occupation army: Brindiv (British-Indian Division). 1st Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers was disbanded in Burma at the end of the campaign. A lot went home, but a draft was sent to join 2 Bn RWF in Delhi (they had also served in Burma) before they went over to Japan.

The other possibility that he came home (explaining how he kept his 2 Div flash) but had a mate over in Japan. Your first photo has a pre-war look about it that would suggest he could have been amongst the first to come home.

Even if it's not quite right, I've learned something tonight as I wasn't aware that we'd had an occupation force in Japan!


They are all in Andreas posts:

WO 172/7167 British and Indian Troops in Japan: H.Q.

WO 172/7168 British and Indian Troops in Japan: R.E.

WO 172/7169 British and Indian Troops in Japan: Signals

WO 172/7170 British and Indian Troops in Japan: C.I.E.M.E.

We had troops in China too after the war.

Is amazing what those spreadsheets contain

 

Hi again, I have taken quite a few more pictures of his WW2 uniform. Hope this is of use to someone. Does anyone know what the ribbons mean??I will keep posting, ive got lots more pics and his service history has been applied for so Ill post more asap.

 

Left to right:

1939-45 Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal.

Insignia is for the 2nd Division, which initially fought with the BEF in France in 1940. The insignia is the Crossed Keys of St. Peter. The Union Flag was added after the war, usually.

Hope this helps.

 

This is a sword he returned to the UK with. We think the details are correct but again, any help would be great
View attachment Sword.doc