Am posting both front and reverse of a photo. It has been sent to me by a relative whose father served with the 9th Royal Sussex. He appears in the photo too but is not named. As you can see the photographic studio has put their stamp on the back, and the date has been carefully inscribed below. We know that at that time the 9th were based at Fort Butterworth near Penang dealing with the aftermath of the return of Malaya to British control. Some troops were detaches away from their main base, dealing with other issues- prisoners, peace keeping etc.I am trying to identify the name of the place where the photo was taken and am assuming it might be the town referred to in the bottom line of the stamp. Can anyone read it. I have looked at maps of the area but cannot find anything starting with KAMPOY????? Grateful for any help.
Kampar is a town SE of Penang, but it looks more like KAMPONG (Village) something RD. As your average kampong was unlikely to have a photographers, it is probably an address in Butterworth or, possibly, Penang. The something could be Jaya, Paya or similar, but the scan's quite low res.
I have solved the mystery location for my photo posted above. Whilst looking through the War Diaries for the 9th Royal Sussex, covering December 1945, the name KAMPONG PAYA ROAD leapt out at me from an Order placing a list of locations "Out of Bounds". The writer had not said which town these banned places were in, and a handwritten note in the margin queried "Penang?" So I googled the name of the road and back it came- it was in Butterworth, so all is now clear.Thanks for your interest.
