Found this reference to the Royal Scots memorial at Kohima on their website: The Kohima Campaign, 1944 | The Royal Scots Dedication of 1st Battalion Memorial, Aradura Spur, Imphal, 25 November 1944. The padre is the Reverend Chricton Robertson Postscript. While the 2nd Division set about erecting a Divisional Memorial to those who had fallen in the epic struggle to relieve Kohima and open the road to Imphal, the 1st Battalion were equally determined to additionally commemorate their own. This Memorial was designed and constructed by The Royal Scots themselves under the supervision of a small committee. It was made of local stone and wood and was erected by the Pioneer Platoon. The Monument is sited at Kennedy Hill, on the Aradura Spur, and was unveiled by Lieutenant Colonel Masterton Smith, who had fought throughout the Battle and was now the Commanding Officer, on 25 November 1944. The Monument, overseen by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is now surrounded by local housing but (in 2017) was reported as being in good order and carefully looked after by the family living around it.
Given the above photo of the Royal Scots and its padre came across these when trawling through some newspapers on FindMyPast last night.
In response to Skoyen89's post #17 from last October, I snooped around trying to find the location of the West Yorks memorial, compared to the posted sketchmap. The map's depiction is inaccurate in places -- I don't mean the scale, which is known to be imprecise -- but my guess is that the memorial would have been very close to the bridge, as noted on the sketchmap. I feel confident that I've identified the correct bridge, with the temple nearby. This temple is noted on maps.google.com. Here are various graphics.
Just to put a little more meat on the bones and to confirm that Matt Poole isn’t past it yet when it comes to map reading!! I researched this quite some time ago but in a recent follow up spurred on by Skoyens post I found in my archive a letter to me from Ralph Bird who remembered seeing this memorial a few weeks later when the Siege was lifted and he returned to his old position on the Imphal Dimapur road. It was a wooden plaque with the names burnt on of those who were killed. He thought there were about thirty names but we now know it was about twenty who were killed. He was reminiscing of sixty years earlier but it stood out in his mind because it was his old Regiment (West Yorks) before he transferred to the RIASC. The map is a copy from an original belonging to an Engineer and the aerial reconnaissance photo is courtesy of an old friend who must have forgotten he has it in his archive or he would have posted it with his other images!!! Lionboxer
Chris!! (Lionboxer!!) Before I posted my stuff, I quickly went through the air photos I'd digitally photographed at the US National Archives, for your Lionbox project, primarily -- AND I MISSED THE AREA WHERE THE WEST YORKS MEMORIAL WAS/IS! When I saw your post, and that air photo, I went back and found that I had sent it to you. For all, I thought I should add the date of the imagery - 16 April 1944. Here is the entire image, Frame 5017 of sortie BN/300 flown by RAF 684 Squadron (operating the de Havilland Mosquito at the time, I believe). The imagery is not great, and my digital camera's capabilities didn't help! Thanks for the further details on the memorial. Hmm...a wooden plaque...it would likely be long gone by now, unless a local brought it out of the weather. Sounds like a job for Raj to investigate if he's in the area (yeah...as if he has no other investigations to delve into)!
One slight discrepancy I just noticed. That sketchmap did say "memorial stone", not wood, as Chris had heard. Might the original wooden plaque have been replaced by a memorial stone?
A new memorial has come to light after a friend of mine traveled to Sagar (India) earlier this year. With a tip off from me he discovered a small plaque memorial to the 13th King's soldiers who died during Chindit training in 1942. The plaque is located at the old Garrison Church in the town, which was the church used by the Brigade during the training period. Details about some of these men can be found on my website, here: Men Who Died During Training
Not too many stonemasons on hand there to carve it I wouldn't have thought! Probably the wooden one that Ralph Bird remembers was affixed to an appropriate stone. Maybe it was replaced by a carved stone memorial later but the reference to it was written very shortly after the event and the W. Yorks had moved on out of the area. Who knows?! At least we do know now that there was a memorial to these brave men. Lionboxer
Amen to that! Thanks for your latest, Steve and Chris...I mean bamboo43 and Lionboxer. (I have to come up with some alternate name. Got it: "Mapp Toole".)
Good to hear from you Matt. Hope all is well in the crazy times. Some nice work as always with the above maps etc.
I know it's a formation, not a unit, but this one looks substantial enough to have survived, if it's not gone in the river:
684 Sqn Ops diary. Based at Dum Dum. Wonder why other photo reconnaissance squadrons at Imphal weren’t used?
