A lady from my village has asked about a relation of her's who was killed 18/06/44 serving with 1 Lancs Fus. Any help please? Lionboxer
Lionboxer, I think this must be your man: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2262115/ With his date of death in mind, I would suggest that he might have been with Mike Calvert during the advance on Mogaung. If so he had been through a long and arduous campaign over an 8 week period. There was very little left of Calvert's Brigade by June that year. There is a war diary available for this Brigade at the National Archives and of course you have Calvert's own book about the campaign, 'Prisoner's of Hope.' Other members on the forum may know more. Best wishes Steve
THis is the bit I have been researching so will look back at the diaries I have to see what I can find. Yes Mogaung was where they were. Please pm me if you want as I am interested in all the stories about this period. Dad was a junior officer and I have done quite a lot of work discovering what went on.... Trying to write it up now. If the family look at the second part of my blog it describes training and the first few days in Burma with the LFs and 77 Bgde...unfortunately he stopped writing at the end of March 44. If they would like to contact me direct, no problem. Pm me for email.
Ps there are some recordings at the IWM which give gruelling accounts of White City and Mogaung from an LF perspective.
I've been looking through the 77th Indian Infantry HQ War Diary, but there is no mention of CSM Palmer that I can see. With him having an actual grave at Taukkyan War Cemetery it would seem unlikely that he would feature in any missing in action files held in the WO361 series at Kew.
Steve, have we found someone to take up the other half of the '44 ... ? Not mentioning anyone that might have a user name beginning with a Z ...
So what is needed guys? I need a bit of direction. At the moment I think I am just about managing to grasp the LFs role at Mogaung, but as there was also a group at Tawpaw crossing, it is hard to know who was where. All the LFs ( well the few that we're left) were out and back in Dehra Dun by the end of July. After the recuperation period their role was changed to being a training unit. My dad joined SOE instead. I have got the LFs diary...lots of names so I can check specifics if needed .Will do on this guy to see if there are any more details than what is already known. But casualties and deaths not aways recorded accurately at the time.
Hi zahonado, i thought we might have a chance, with Samuel being a Warrant Officer, of a mention in the LF diary or in the 77 IIB HQ diary, but he is not in the latter. The information on the dates leading up to and after the 18th do not give much in the way of any clues. But as you rightly say, the confused nature of the actions and Brigade formation by that stage of the campaign, make it very hard to accurately place his position. I thought I'd ask Tony B. for a photograph of Samuel's grave plaque from Taukkyan War Cemetery, at least this is something tangible for the thread.
Many thanks for the input with this lads. I will contact my lady with this news and she will no doubt be very pleased, especially with the grave photo. It seems she has a relationship of some sort with "Tanky" but I note that he has never come back to the forum after his posting. I'm not sure of her relationship with CSM Palmer neither. Incidentally she has asked me about another relative killed at Imphal with the Suffolk's and I have been able to tell her all the details of this. I shall be going to the site of his fatal wounding not far from Nungshigum next month after Raj (Imphalcampaign) and his team have completed a recce. I shall of course be planting a poppy cross at his grave in Imphal Cemetery. Lionboxer
Hi Lionboxer, I never noticed the initials, I see what you mean. If you would like the full resolution image of the grave plaque, then just pm me and we can sort out getting it over to you. Steve
Had a look at the LF diary for that year but so far could find no record.Generally the returns don't seem to be accurate in some cases...for example David Monteith was killed earlier than the return would indicate. The figures dont seem to reflect the actual numbers of those killed. At some point in 77 diaries there was reference made to not receiving supply drops if returns weren't filled in......
Thanks zahonado, Last chance would be the WO361 series at the National Archives, but with Samuel having an actual grave, this is an unlikely scenario. Thank you again for the time spent searching the diaries. Steve
