Calling Blighty films: messages to families from military personnel

Hi,

This is a bit of a long shot, but I am looking for information about some newsreels which were made by I think the government, for the families of serving troops in Burma.

My wifes grandfather served in the east, and before he went off to fight, he and his unit were filmed. The familes of these men were then invited to a special screening in a cinema in Curzon St.

The film consisted of the troops saying hello to their families into the camera. I am not sure just how many of these films were made, or even who made them. It could be that they were destroyed after screening.

The year was probably 1942, after Pearl Harbour of course but while the troops were still in Burma.

Idealy I would like to obtain a copy of the film, but I would be grateful for any information.

Regards

 

Hi Torq2,

Welcome to the forum. That is a very interesting first post! I have not heard of these films before, but sincerely hope they do still exist.

What regiment was your wife's Grandfather with, we may be able to give some information about his time in India/Burma?

My Grandfather was with the 13th Kings Liverpool's, he went on to become an original Chindit in October 1942, having been sent out to perform local garrison duties in India beforehand. I have been able to trace his journey while out in the Far East, all the way from landing in Bombay to his death in Rangoon Jail in June 1943.

Good luck with your quest.

Bamboo.

 

It may be worth searching 'pathe newsreels' or similar on Google - I've seen a few links here from time to time.

Let me know if you have any success, would be interested as well.

Pete

 

Thanks Bamboo,

I will try to find out his regiment. He was a London taxi driver, and did drive Mountbatten for a brief while, fortunately he was not the famous cabby who was killed doing this. I believe that Mountbatten always used London taxi drivers to drive him.

Regards

 

Thanks Pete,

I did look at Pathe News, but couldn't find anything. If I do track these films done, I will of course post the link.

Regards

 

Have a try contacting the Imperial War Museum. Most of the Government's official photography and movies end up at the IWM.

Lee

 

Hi Torq2
My Uncle was with 292 Squadron ASR in Burma, and there are documents that state they flew the Air Ministry camera crews around - perhaps you could try there?
Cheers
Wendy

 

Thanks Wendy,

I never thought of trying to find the camera crew. I'll give it a try.


Regards Bob

 

Hello Bamboo,

I have now found out a bit more about these films. They are a series called, "Calling Blighty", and were made in response to the claim that the troops in Burma were the forgotten army. There appears to have been hundreds made, and were screened all over the UK. The Imperial War Museum hold some, and there are a few scattered over the internet, see below. Depending where you are from seems to affect your chances of finding your relation.

http://www.macearchive.org/Media.html?Title=621#

I have asked my mother-in-law which regiment her father was in, and she said the Royal Artilliary 14th army, however, after searching the internet, I am a bit confused. It appears that the 14th army was a general term for a collection of regiments, I may be wrong. When I look on artilliary sites, they don't seem to mention the 14th army. I have concluded from this, that he must have been in a unit which was part of the 14th army. Can you shed any light on this?

Regards Bob

 

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the info on the newsreels, that is very interesting. I doubt my Grandfather would have been in filmed in such a way, because of the nature of his units intended mission. But they would be wonderful to look at anyway.

Now, Royal Artillery is not my strong point, but you are right in thinking that he must have formed part of the 14th Army as a whole. There would have been many different section units of Artillery with the 14th Army, so we do need a little more information.

Do you hold his service records? If not, it is fairly straight forward to attempt to get them. The only problem is I think you would need to know his Army service number.

Let me know if you want to try this route and I'll dig out the address details.

Bamboo.

 

Hi Bamboo,

I was thinking of trying to get his service record, however, I didn't realise I needed his number, this will be impossible to get I think. I did find a site which had an application form, but there was a section for his national assurance number, again I don't have this.

It seemed that like so many others, he didn't talk about his time in the army, and there wasn't any kind of paperwork when he passed away.


Regards Bob

 

Bob,

I have asked on the forum and it may be possible to proceed with a request using a date of birth as first detail?

Here is the address and details of the Army Service Records office:

service records army

Army Personnel Centre,
Historical Disclosures,
Mail Point 555,
Kentigern House,
65 Brown Street,
Glasgow,
G2 8EX

Hope it will be of some use eventually?

Bamboo.

 

I've recently heard about films called "Calling Blighty" that were produced of the troops talking to their family from India and Burma. Does anyone know if all the regiments were covered, or where I might go to find a complete list? The regiment I'm interested in is the 3rd Carabiniers. They were a welsh regiment, and my great grandfather was living in Cheshire when he signed up, so if they films were organised by town that's where it would be.

Thank you

 

Dont know if you saw this Burma Newsreel made for UK families

 

Yes I have seen it but unfortuntely couldn't get any more info from it. I have since found out that a video was made of men from Gately (where he lived) but that it was taken in christmas 1945, just after he was sent home.

Thanks anyway!


I agree with the welsh thing!!

 

Hi Torq2, Bob is correct about the 14th army being a collective of regiments. My father was in Burma with 2nd Dorset Regt. 14th army. Hope this helps.
Regards Raynor.

 

There was an extract from one of the films of British soldiers in Burma sending messages to their families at home in Michael Woods's recent BBC series, The History of England. The series told the history of England through the story of one village, Kibworth in Leicestershire, so the men featured were from the Leicesters.

 

The Imperial War Museum holds many WWII Service made films, and it also worth looking at the collection of the British Film Institute and the Army Kinema Corporation (the latter may go by another name - I can recall searching a catalogue of theirs for films when I was still in the Army in the 1970s

 

British Pathe

BFI | Film & TV Database | Search Results

Imperial War Museum Collections Online Database

Some appropriate search engines

Steven

 

Some more on this here. CALLING BLIGHTY NO 205 (WORCESTER AND KIDDERMINSTER) | colonialfilm And a fuller list here. Search | colonialfilm