My Father served in India, Malaya and then india again in the Border Regiment from December 1944, I have his Soldiers Pay Book and it mentions he is entitled to wear War Ribbons and Medal, which Medal would that be? I also have an interesting photo showing Japanese Officers surrendering their swords and laying them on a carpet in front of a table below a union jack flag and with British Officers looking on, on the back has "Jap surrender Malaya Dec 1945" could this be Singapore? another photo I have shows a march past by the Cameron Highlanders at the same surrender event, any help would be appreciated
Hi Geordieboy Why not post the photos, then someone may be able to identify them? As for the medals, read this- Ministry of Defence | Defence For... | Veterans | Medals | World War II Medal Summary He would have been entitled for more than just one. It could be a reference to the 1939-45 War Medal and he should have also had Pacific Star, 39-45 Star, and maybe Defence? regards Robert
I have zipped the two photos and they are below the 5.0MB limit but when I try to upload one of them I get an upload failure, any suggestions?
Hi Geordieboy Why not post the photos, then someone may be able to identify them? As for the medals, read this- Ministry of Defence | Defence For... | Veterans | Medals | World War II Medal Summary He would have been entitled for more than just one. It could be a reference to the 1939-45 War Medal and he should have also had Pacific Star, 39-45 Star, and maybe Defence? regards Robert I think more info is needed. To the best of my knowledge, there were no elements of the Border Regiment that would have qualified for the Pacific Star in the 1st instance as no elements formed part of either Fortress Singapore or Fortress Malaya. The Pacific star was not awarded for service in Malaya/Singapore after its surrender. As stated he did not arrive in India until 1944. Given the Reference to India, there was only 2 Battalion that served there during the war being 2nd & 9th Bn's. Both went on to serve in Burma. It may well be that the photo's mentioned are a rememberance in that the soldier concerned was part of a formation sent to witness the surrender but more info is needed. It is most likely that he would have the Burma Star as 1 Bn was at kohima whilst the other was on the Imphal plain, both later saw service in Burma after the initial threat to India had ceased. Depending on how long he was in service for, it is more likely that his group would consist of the following: 1939-45 Star Burma Star Defence Medal 1939-45 War medal. As the medals for WW2 weren't completed in terms of the awards & regulations until 1947, it is more likely that the reference to only 2 medals indicates that he was already demobbed before that time, & reference to his full entittlement could not have been made then. As an aside, "Jap surrender Malaya Dec 1945" thats pretty late for japanese to be surrendering in a formal ceremony!!!!! Looking forward to more info ATB Simon
Marching troops and band in kilts at a ceremony where the Cameron Highlanders receive colors in Hiro Japan after World War II.
Just looking at my Fathers Soldiers Service and Pay Book and he enlisted at Carlisle on 14th September 1944 in Border Regiment 2nd Battalion Army Number 14846181 I think as '8' is undistinguishable, the Book also shows 'Territorial Army'. It also shows him as being in the UK 14th Sept 1944 - 17th July 1945, India 17th July - Dec 1945, Malaya Dec 1945 - July 1946, then India July 1946 and there are no other entries, I do know he did not come back to the UK until 1948 and that he was in India when it was fighting for it's independence under Ghandi, I have photos of my Father in Kalyan India in 1946/47 and also of the Indian Hill Village of Chiabuttah in Northern India (think it was an old British Hill Fort). In his book it says he was entitled to wear the war ribbon and medal 02E/543/14/ 22/3/45 not sure what these numbers mean. I also know that when he came back from India his papers has him in the East Lancs Regiment and he was demobbed at Preston. Sorry still can not get Zipped photos uploaded, keep getting an upload failure.
Forgot to mention in previous post, the exact description on the back of the photo showing Japanese officers surrendering swords is ' Malaya 1945 Japs surrender swords to 2nd Division'
Had to split Photo over a number of zip archives to upload and also change file extension to .zip rather than .z01,02 etc so they may need renaming back, here goes hope it works, will have to carry out in two posts because of size.
Here are remaining parts of the zip Archive, Jap Surrender2 is last part of the Archive. Can someone let me know if they managed to get the files unzipped and they were useable.
Photos attached showing Jap's surrendering swords, Cameron Highlanders march past and some of my Father's Pals in Malaya with Jap swords (zip file). Any comments on photos appreciated.
