1st Bn The King's Regiment, (Liverpool), Chindits.

Discussion in 'Burma & India' started by High Wood, Mar 28, 2016.

  1. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    The route you are taking with this it would be logical for you to set up a "Chindit Chasing 2" site to mirror Me Ol' China's page, HW; not that I'd want to give you even more work... :D
     
  2. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    In a way, you are right, but I am just putting all the information that I have collated into one thread in the hope that relatives and other interested people will find it and make contributions.

    It is growing organically and some of it could well be the foundation of an independent website, it would certainly need to be presented in a more logical fashion.

    For the moment I just want it to be available to everyone, as who knows what is around the corner in these interesting times, I could develop a cough and be dead and buried within a fortnight.

    I am not sure that my other half could make head or tail of my research notes and could, or would, continue the thread.

    Between you and me, I have had the feeling for quite some time that she might be a little bit bored with hearing about Burma in general and the 1st battalion, The King's Regiment, in particular.
     
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  3. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    Oooh I so know that one... lol
    That slippery slope that's just like the the one leading into the event horizon of a black hole... no escape from that one... :D
     
  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    My whole family just glaze over when I mention the C-word. They are very patient with me, I have to say.
     
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  5. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Westerham Girl Weds Chindit. Miss Baker married.


    The wedding took place at St Mary’s Church, Westerham on Wednesday of Miss Mary Baker, only daughter of Mr and Mrs F.L. Baker, of London Road, Westerham and Mr Leonard Irving Wasley, twin son of Mr and Mrs Wasley of Kirkonchan, Isle of Man.

    The groom was formerly a Sergeant in the King’s Liverpool Regiment, and the young couple met when his unit was stationed in Westerham during the war. He served with his regiment throughout Burma and as a Chindit, and marched in the recent Victory Parade in London.

    The ceremony was conducted by the Vicar (the Rev. J.A. Castle) and Mr. J. Brown was at the organ. The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a dress of French lace, cut with a train, and trimmed with pearls, over white satin. She wore a tulle veil with a mother of pearl headdress lent by a friend and carried a bouquet of red roses.

    There were more than one hundred guests at the reception which followed at St Mary’s hall, and Mr and Mrs Wasley later left for the honeymoon, which is being spent in Chester and the Isle of Man.

    Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser 2nd August 1946.

    3778014 L/Cpl Leonard Irving Wasley. A Coy, 1/King's Regiment, (Liverpool). Defence Medal Roll and A Coy Dehra Dun 1945 photograph. Born 1922, died 1997.
     
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  6. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    "Scottie".

    More King's 007.JPG

    137453 Lt.-Col Walter Purcell Scott. D.S.O. 1/King's Regiment (Liverpool). Commanded 81 Column. Awarded D.S.O. 15th March 1944 for his part in the glider landings at Broadway 5th & 6th March 1944.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2021
  7. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    The other "Scotty".

    Youson 015.JPG
    Pte Andrew Campbell.

    Waist deep in Slush. “Scotty” of Burton was with “Chindits” in Burma.

    “The Japanese are not supermen. You can make them run. We had them running several times, and once our lads get the supplies for the job, they will go straight through them. From what I have seen the British can best the Japanese at everything.”

    This was the conviction expressed to the “Observer” by Private Andrew Campbell, son of Mr and Mrs A. Campbell, of 59 Napier Street, who has just returned from Burma, where he was one of the famous, almost legendary, Chindit force, under Colonel Wingate.

    Known to his friends as “Scotty”, Private Campbell was a well-known local sportsman before he joined the Army in October 1939. He was at Uxbridge Street School and was in their swimming team that won the Schools Shield two years in succession, and was schoolboy swimming champion in 1932. Then he became a prolific scorer for the Burton water polo team which championed the North Midlands League for two seasons, and just before he went into the Army, he appeared in the Staffordshire team.

    He was employed at the Burton Iron Foundry.

    Volunteered for Chindits.

    As a soldier, Private Campbell went abroad in January, 1940, to the India Command, for training for the Middle East, but the Japanese intervention in the war altered plans and his company were despatched to Rangoon. Just before they arrived that port fell to the Japanese, and the ship turned back after practically sighting the place and actually hearing the gunfire.

    Then he went to Ceylon for 12 months to undergo a special course of training for jungle fighting.

    He had a spell in hospital with malaria, one of half a dozen attacks of that kind he had while out there, and after a short spell in India, he volunteered for Wingate’s force, the Chindits.

    One of two Burton men in the same company to go through that campaign, (the other was Bill Youson, (1) of Stapen Hill, a noted footballer), he landed by glider in “sticky country”. The glider crashed, but Pte Campbell escaped with a bruised thigh. They were then 100 miles behind the front lines.

    “We worked in independent columns” runs Private Campbell’s story of the campaign. “If you got malaria, well it was just too bad, you had to keep going. We had to depend on supplies dropped by parachute. Sometimes the ‘chutes dropped in the wrong place. “The Japanese dropped supplies to their troops, and one big lot dropped among us, but it turned out to be all ammunition, which we couldn’t use.

    Ambushed.

    “We were there some days before the Japanese found out exactly where we were, and then 500 of the enemy launched an attack on us. We fought them for three days and they withdrew. (2)

    “One night, attempting to cross a road, we were ambushed, and lost about 60 men. (3) We had to split up. At that period we went for 10 days on one day’s food ration.

    “There wasn’t much rice in the country. The Japanese had ‘pinched’ it all, and we had orders not to take too much from the villagers, (we paid for it of course) lest they should starve. We just took enough to keep us alive”.

    They fought all the way to Mogaung, and Private Campbell had malaria five times in this period.

    After reaching that centre, they had 50 miles of “the worst marching in the world.” Often they had mud and water up to their waists. Men of short stature were up to their necks, and Private Campbell said, “There was a smell of death all the way.”

    Sporting successes.

    Eventually reaching an advanced base they were flown out to India, where he had a month in hospital before joining the boat for home.

    In Ceylon he won the high jump for his company in Army sports, and then represented the Army in that island against the Navy and Air Force. He got a second in the high jump, the winner being a Malayan champion who “did” 5ft. 6in.

    In India he won the Allahabad swimming championship, 150 yards, in 1941, and represented the Imperial Services in the high jump, the Army, Navy and Air Force team against the rest of the island.

    He was also runner-up in a heavy weight boxing competition.

    Burton Observer and Chronicle. 23rd November 1944.

    Andrew Campbell does not appear to have enlisted into the King's Regiment but almost certainly transferred to them after volunteering for Operation Thursday. The glider landing, his description of the ambush at Namsun and his presence at Mogaung do seem to confirm his service with the 1/King's Regiment. Sadly, he has left no trace in any official records that are currently in the public domain and did not join the Burma Star Association. He may of course have joined the Chindits Old Comrades Association

    (1) 5119470 Pte. William George Youson. Born 1916, Burton, Died 2003. Originally enlisted into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment before transferring to the King's Regiment.

    Youson.png

    Pte. Youson gave evidence regarding Namsun casualty, Pte C. Choules.

    Youson.JPG


    (2) Broadway.

    (3) Namsun 19th & 20th May 1944.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2021
  8. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Missing in Burma.

    Private Robert Iddon, 1st King’s Regiment, India Command, younger son of Mr and Mrs J. Iddon, of 49, Drinkhouse Road, Croston, has been missing in Burma since May 1944. Private Iddon was employed by the Co-operative Society at Eccleston before being called up at the outbreak of war.

    He served in this country for about two years before going out to India, where he was one of the late Brigadier Wingate’s Chindits.

    In his last letter home, he said he was serving with a “lot of Lancashire lads,” and his mother and father would be grateful if any of them could give any information about their missing son.

    The Lancashire Daily Post. 21st February 1946.

    Byong 005.JPG


    5119066 Pte. Robert Iddon, 1/King’s Regiment (Liverpool), Killed in Action 25th May 1944 during the evacuation of the Blackpool Block. No known grave. Commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial.
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2021
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  9. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    So many of them disappeared that day... :unsure:
     
  10. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Far too many, and these are those that served with the 1/King's Regiment.

    Killed in Action or Died of Wounds.
    25/05/1944 4206835 Royal Welch Fusiliers Pte Allen William Frederick KiA
    25/05/1944 5630836 Devonshire Regt Pte Bebbington Cyril KiA Possibly murdered as PoW, allegedly seen being marched off by the Japanese. Account by Pte T Fletcher
    25/05/1944 14370782 General Service Corps Pte Bellamy Eric Stanley KiA
    25/05/1944 3606684 Border Regt Pte Charnock George Robert KiA. Seen by Pte W Crates lying on a stretcher at Blackpool badly wounded with grenade shrapnel to his eyes, chest and legs
    25/05/1944 3775384 The King's Regt Cpl Clarke Stephen KiA. Account given by Sgt A T Huddart
    25/05/1944 4546246 West Yorkshire Regt Pte Cogley Matthew KiA
    25/05/1944 3783431 The King's Regt Pte De Hann Gerrard KiA
    25/05/1944 3772943 The King's Regt L/Cpl Fazackerley Hector KiA
    25/05/1944 3774557 The King's Regt L/Cpl George Douglas David KiA
    25/05/1944 6030176 Essex Regt Pte Giff John James KiA
    25/05/1944 3771316 The King's Regt Cpl Hughes Herbert Charles KiA. Pte W Crates saw Cpl Hughes unable to walk through wounds in the groin and back
    25/05/1944 5119066 R Warwickshire Regt Pte Iddon Robert KiA
    25/05/1944 5119338 R Warwickshire Regt Pte McCann James KiA
    25/05/1944 14317954 General Service Corps Pte Marshall Bertram Archibald Ernest KiA
    25/05/1944 3773780 The King's Regt L/Cpl Minards George Price KiA. Account given by Sgt Armstrong
    25/05/1944 5885340 Northamptonshire R Pte Payne George KiA
    25/05/1944 5623779 Devonshire Regt Pte Pearson Thomas Edward KiA. Possibly murdered as PoW, allegedly seen being marched off by the Japanese. Account by Pte T Fletcher
    25/05/1944 3719168 The King's Regt Pte Pierce Robert KiA account by Pte J Cronin
    25/05/1944 3436480 Lancashire Fusiliers Pte Reddington Thomas KiA
    25/05/1944 14392046 General Service Corps Pte Reynolds Charles Victor KiA
    25/05/1944 3777090 The King's Regt Pte Roe Douglas KiA Account given by Pte J Eastham, "badly hit in the back".
    25/05/1944 4537407 West Yorkshire Regt Pte Silver Raymond Claude KiA near Namsun. Account given by Pte E Gledhill
    25/05/1944 3776295 The King's Regt Cpl Smith Edmund KiA. Seen by Pte W Crates lying in the paddy severely wounded in the back and leg
    25/05/1944 4747364 York & Lancs Regt Pte Stockburn Fred KiA
    25/05/1944 3663224 South Lancashire Regt Pte Thornton John KiA. Message 11263 07/07/1944 from 47 BGH.
    25/05/1944 3770227 The King's Regt Sgt Wareing Harold William KiA. Seen by Pte C Ray being hit by M.G. fire whilst evacuating Blackpool as part of Captain Cross's party.
    25/05/1944 3772702 The King's Regt Pte Williams George KiA, shot in the thumb then hit by a mortar along with Jones, Troak and Sweeney 23/05/1944.

    Wounded.
    25/05/1944 3604518 Border Regt Pte Benson Jack Wounded 25/05/1944. BSA. New Ferry, Birkenhead
    25/05/1944 3774272 The King's Regt Pte Freedman Harry Wounded 25/05/1944. Message 8317 01/06/1944: Shrapnel leg. Evacuated by light plane
    25/05/1944 2577806 Royal Corps of Signals L/Sgt Cramp J Wounded 25/05/1944
    25/05/1944 3776273 The King's Regt L/Cpl Hayward A Wounded 25/05/1944. Message 8317 01/06/1944: Severe facial. Evacuated by light plane
    25/05/1944 3607171 Border Regt Pte Mutch R A Wounded 25/05/1944
    25/05/1944 3656558 South Lancashire Regt Pte Savage R Wounded 25/05/1944
    25/05/1944 5837806 Suffolk Regt Pte Smy George Henry (W)? Wounded 25/05/1944. BSA. Ipswich, Suffolk
    25/05/1944 14634526 Northamptonshire R Pte Lee James Robert Reported Missing 25/05/1944. BSA. Wickford, Essex. Obit Dekho! 112 1992
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2021
  11. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    This isn't the final post in this thread but it probably should be.

    return 002.JPG


    Home after 21 Years. 1st King’s Party in "Georgic". Big Welcome.


    A big welcome awaited the last party of the 1st Battalion, The King’s Regiment, (Liverpool), when they arrived home in the troopship, Georgic today, after 21 years overseas service.

    The regimental band played as the vessel drew in, and a crowd of relatives lined the landing-stage.

    Commanded by Lieut.-Colonel K.S. Binney, the remnants of the battalion, consisting of eight officers and 39 other ranks, were addressed by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool (Alderman W.G. Gregson), In wishing them future happiness, he said, “I am confident that in whatever sphere of life to which you will go, you will always have proud memories of the part you played in the glorious history of your regiment”.

    Accompanying the Lord Mayor was Major-General Dudley Ward, Director of Military Operations at the War Office, and Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment.

    With the Chindits.

    The King’s, during their 21 years abroad have been at Malta, Sudan, Egypt, Cyprus, and India. Later they were with General Wingate’s Chindits in Burma.

    One of the battalion’s warrant officers, R.S.M. S.J. McCreery,* of Willow Grove, Formby, has served the 21 years almost continuously, except for one or two short intervals at the Merseyside Regimental Depot as an instructor. He first went overseas with the battalion in November 1926.

    Also on board the Georgic, which carried in all, 4,000 troops from Bombay, was a cadre party of the 2nd Battalion Yorks & Lancs Regiment, home after 23 years overseas.

    During this time they served all over the world, including, Mesopotamia, India, Greece, Crete, Tobruk. In 1944 they were with the 17th Indian Division, in Burma.

    The cadre party consisted of six officers and 40 men commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel N.S. Sykes, among them was R.S.M. Lewis Townley, of Selby, Yorkshire, who but for a short break in England, has served continuously overseas with the battalion for 21 years. The men were welcomed home on behalf of their regiment by Major G.W.H. Mew, Officer Commanding the regimental depot at Pontefract.

    The Liverpool Echo, 6th June 1947.

    *
    Possibly Sgt McGreary who gave assistance to the badly wounded battalion M.O. Captain Robert Alistair Boys Kinloch, M.C., along with 4124198 Cpl. W Robert, near Namsun, 21st May 1944..

    Captain Kinloch, who was awarded the Military Cross for his work with the wounded of the Glider Landings at Broadway on the 5th March 1944, subsequently died of his wounds on the 21st May 1944. He is buried in the Taukkyan Cemetery, Rangoon.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2021
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  12. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Fought with the Chindits.

    One of the men who came home with the Burma leave contingent nearly a fortnight ago, was Pte. Harry Freedman (26), King’s Regiment, 122 Lance Lane, Wavertree, Liverpool, formerly of 66, Heathfield Road, Wavertree.

    Pte. Freedman, called up in October, 1939, was posted to India, and for five years he has been in that theatre of war fighting in Burma with the Chindits, and being wounded on both legs and one arm last May.

    Two days after Pte. Freedman landed in this country his parents received news that he was home. He was taken straight to a military hospital. He is now on 28 days’ leave.

    Before joining the Army, Pte. Freedman, who is an old boy of Birkenhead Institute, was articled to the firm of William Thomson and Moulton, Surveyors and valuers, Liverpool.

    Liverpool Evening Express, 17th January 1945.

    Freedman 002.JPG


    3774272. Pte. Harold Freedman. 1/King’s Regiment. Wounded 25th May 1944, at the Blackpool Stronghold. He was carried out of the stronghold and in message No 8317, dated 1st June 1944, found in the 77th Brigade signal traffic file, he was reported to have shrapnel in his leg and being evacuated by light plane.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2021
  13. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Having exhausted every available source of names for my ongoing 1/King's project and, having been reduced to trawling through online newspaper archives in the hope of finding the odd snippet, I was having a conversation with a near neighbour who casually mentioned that her, "Uncle Peter was a Chindit".

    Naturally, as someone with a modicum of interest in the subject, I asked if she knew which regiment he served with. I was given his name and was told that he came from Manchester, flew in a glider, worked with mules, and was in the R.A.M.C. My first thought was, it's a shame that he wasn't in the 1/King's. My second thought was, this is brilliant, he was a Chindit on Operation Thursday!.

    I asked if there was anything else that she could tell me, and was told that her cousin knew a lot more about him and has some of his photographs, and that she would ask him about her uncle.

    I checked my spread sheet and to my surprise, there he was: 7060106 Cpl Peter Patrick Traynor. R.A.M.C., attached 1/King's Regiment and a member of the Burma Star Association.

    traynor bsa.png

    So, with thanks to Rosie Ramsay and her cousin, and with their permission, here are some of his photographs.

    Traynor (1).jpeg

    7060106 Cpl. Peter Patrick Traynor. R.A.M.C.

    Peter Patrick Traynor.jpg

    Peter Traynor sitting on the medical chest normally carried by a mule, somewhere in the Burmese jungle with an unknown comrade.

    Traynor (1).jpg

    A rather relaxed looking Chindit group from either 81 or 82 Column, somewhere in the jungle.

    Traynor (2).jpg

    Peter Traynor on a horizontal tree trunk, possibly during training in India.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2021
  14. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Amazing coincidence for you there HW. The third photograph features in the book, War in the Wilderness on page 147.
     
  15. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Possible:

    England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
    Name: Peter Patrick Traynor
    Death Age: 74
    Birth Date: 9 Aug 1918
    Registration Date: Aug 1992
    Registration District: Trafford
    Inferred County: Greater Manchester
    Volume: 39
    Page: 1751

    TD
     
  16. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    I have just checked and the W.I.T.W. photograph is a cut down version of the same photograph described as, "the 'Commander's tree', a briefing for officers". The complete photograph looks far more informal than an officers' briefing session and is possibly a post bathing/clothes washing/meal break in the jungle, with an informal conversation taking place.

    What, to me, is more interesting is that the photograph was supplied by Jim Unsworth of the 2/King's Own Royal Regiment, of the 111th Indian Infantry Brigade, who could only have come into contact with Peter Traynor, (77th Indian Infantry Brigade) at Blackpool or after. Without provenance we may never know where the photograph was taken or who is in it.

    I will try and find out if the photograph that the family have is an original or a copy of a photograph. If original, there may be something on the back.
     
  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Another nice lead to follow up, could well be a clue into Peter's pathway.
     
  18. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    It is so freaky when these co-incidences occur...
     
  19. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Ex North End Player Dies Serving.

    Ex Preston North End outside left, Private Michael Toman, 30-year-old husband of Mrs P. Toman, of 93 Manor House Lane, Holme Slack, Preston, who was serving in the Indian theatre of war, is reported to have died on active service from typhus. He leaves two boys, aged five and three.

    A native of Cleator Moor, he attracted North End’s attention while playing for Kells in Cumbrian football. After two seasons at Deepdale he was transferred to Bristol City in 1938. He was employed at a North-West R.O.F. on the outbreak, and made appearances with Chorley F.C.
    He joined the Army in 1942, and went overseas five months later. Mrs Toman received a letter written in March, from him, yesterday-the first letter she had had for seven months. He told her he has been on airborne operations behind the enemy lines and had “a beard nearly down to his chest”.
    He has three brothers serving, one in the Royal Navy and two in the Army. Mrs Toman was Miss P. Cookson before her marriage.

    Lancashire Evening Post. 17th August 1944.

    77th Brigade radio message 11622. 15th July 1944. “Pte M. Toman died 12th July. 43 Portable Hospital Tumbonghka. Scrub Typhus


    14274879. Pte. Michael Toman, 1/King’s Regiment. Died 13th July 1944*. No known grave, commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial. Son of Bernard and Catherine Toman; husband of Peggy Toman, of Holme Slack, Preston, Lancashire.

    * Date given by the CWGC.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
  20. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Face 6 of the Rangoon Memorial showing Michael's inscription:

    FACE 6 RM.jpg
     
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