The Chindit Society

How did I miss both your very sad announcements, most remiss of me!

My belated condolences to the family and friends of Charles and Robbie. The world is a poorer place for their loss

 

Thanks Martin.

 

Hi all, new here! I'm currently scanning in my late Grandpa's photographs from the war, there aren't many but to me they are fascinating. The photos have largely been in storage for the past 80 years, so it's amazing to be able to go through and digitise them. We believe he was attached to the 16th infantry brigade under Ferguson in Burma, though we are currently not clear on rank, unit etc (we believe he was RAMC). I think, based on the monocle, that this might be Ferguson in one of his photos sat in the middle, I was wondering if anyone here might recognise either of the other two men?

 

*Fergusson, excuse the faux pas!!

 

Hi timter51,

Thanks for posting the photograph today, which is definitely Bernard Fergusson pictured centre as you say. One possibility for the soldier to the right as we look is Major Jacob Walter Robinson, Royal Engineers who served with Fergusson on Operation Thursday. Hopefully, others might have a view on this. Look forward to seeing more of your photos.

 

Wow yes, now I zoom in I think you could be right! The furrowed brow, 'stache and beard all look spot on. Tagging High Wood , I found your thread on Robinson, thought you might be interested in this one.

 

Hi timter51,

Yes, I thought the similarities with High Wood's previous photo were quite strong. Obviously, we would be interested to learn more about your grandfather and his war service.

 

We have his service record (RAMC medical orderly), so at the moment I'm just trying to put the various photographs to dates/locations, then I'll be happy to post them all up (about 30). There are some great group photos, so there's a chance some more names may be able to be put to faces! Would you like me to post them all in this thread, or should I create a new thread? I don't want to clog up this thread with a load of photos if you'd rather keep it Chindit Society specific.

 

Hi timter51 if you post his name and number, he may pop up on one of the flight manifests....your call though.

Best regards.
John.

 

Tim,

I suggest a new thread for your grandfather in: Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy Add in a tag for Chindits, RAMC etc

Plus scan his Service Record into the new thread. Some tips next.

 

I think David's advice is sound....that way your thread will be specific to your grandfather.

 

Good Evening,

I've just stumbled across this forum whilst I've been doing some research on my late uncle. I've got some old memorabilia of his from my late parents (he was my Mother's brother), and he has a wartime diary that mentions his regiment, and is titled 'A Year in the Life of a Chindit. It's starts on January 1st 1944 with the final entry on December 16th 1944.

His name was Donald John Watson, 51/69 Regiment Royal Artillery India (address written in the front of the diary).

I must confess to knowing nothing about the Chindits, but I am now hooked, and will be doing some serious reading and research.

The diary is in fairly good condition for it's age, and is mostly all legible. Is this going to be of interest to the group, and what would be the best way to share some (or all?) of the entries?

I will give you one example, which I found ties up with the timeline I've come across on this website for the unit:

51 (Westmorland & Cumberland) Field Regiment RA (TA) - The Royal Artillery 1939-45

Line by Line Entry on Friday 17th March 1944 reads:

Battle Lonkin
1 Sgt - 1Cpl killed
2 Recce injured

22 Japs obliterated

6 apt documents (not sure if this is correct as difficult to be certain)
but main body
of enemy to
North

Chinese captured
Sumprabam 53m N (again, this may not be 100% correct).

There are a lot of entries, but not on every day, and some are more mundane such as "arrived Dacca ferry 4pm"

What would be the best way forward to share this information, if it is indeed of any use, and how can I find out more about what my late Uncle did in the war?

For info, he survived the war, but went missing in 1975 and was never found.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Clive

 

Hi Clive and welcome to the forum.

Do you know your uncle's service number?

Regards.
John

 

Thanks John, nice to be here, albeit this is all very new to me (not forums, I mean military/army archive stuff)

At the moment I don't have his service number I'm afraid, but I do have more stuff to go through, so it may be that I uncover it. I'll let you know if I do.

 

Hi Clive,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forum. There is a thread for the 51st Field Regiment on the forum already, which highlights my first suggestion for your research, the book Fifty First Field, which covers the regiments time in India and Burma and even before that.
Here is a link: 51st Field Regiment/ 51& 69 Chindit Columns book

Not much else has been written about this unit or the Chindit columns it comprised. Another avenue for you, might be the Facebook, Chindits Not Forgotten Group. I say this because one of moderators on there is Jean Moore whose father also served with the 51st in Burma. Jean is very knowledgeable and would certainly be interested in uncle's diary I'm sure. You would need to join the Facebook group first in order to enjoy the discussion.
Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/36345759507

In my role as Chindit Society archivist, I have not been able to find anything from our files about Donald. This is not really surprising when you consider that there were well over 15,000 men that served as Chindits across the two campaigns in Burma and we do not hold information about each soldier.

Of course, we on WW2Talk would also be very interested to hear more from Donald's diary, perhaps posted onto the 51st Field Regiment thread as linked above or here on the Society thread. It would be great to see a photograph of Donald too...if you have one and are willing to post it up on the forum.

I hope something from the above will be of use going forward. Cheers now.....Steve.

 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for all of this, gives me further avenues to explore. I had no idea it was such a large operation with so many men that served as Chindits. Amazing how little we know about our family members, especially during the wartime periods.

I do have photos and will gladly upload them tomorrow. Looks like I have a busy weekend ahead of me reading, and finding out more information.

Thanks again.

 

No worries. Look forward to learning more about your uncle.

 

As promised pictures of my Uncle. One of him in uniform, one with a group of I assume fellow soldiers, and one of him around the same period I believe. Some searching today for his service number has drawn a blank, but I have applied to the National Archives for a copy of his war record. Hopefully that will come through.

 

Thanks for posting these Clive. Can I ask permission to include one of the photographs in the next Chindit Society newsletter? I run a piece on there about recently discovered Chindits and would like to include Donald.

 

Yes of course Steve, no problem at all, use all 3 of them if it helps. Sadly though I think that's all I have, but will keep searching through the stuff I have.