Chapter One

Having written these memoirs over a period of time, memories flooded back and I can now continue with a second part which may contain some repetition.

When we were in Calcutta Barracks, the black hole, we spent some time at Ronaldshay hut where there was entertainment for the troops. One of the chaps, nicknamed Tiddles, met a Eurasian girl and continued to see her thereafter. Generally he stayed overnight with her, returning to the barracks before reveille.

They used to go to the railway station and the train would draw out into the sidings until it was time to depart. They jumped on the train and stayed there until departure time. One night he overstayed and didn't return until after reveille. Consequently he was charged and given twenty-eight days' detention.

Following this we were all sent to Ranchi on training. When training was finished Tiddles wasn't returned with the rest of us because he was unfit due to his nocturnal activities! On our return to Calcutta we were marching along when Tiddles' girl approached me to ask where he was. As you can imagine she was frantic with anxiety.

I was recommended for promotion to Lance Corporal and had to attend a training cadre at Ranchi. Each of us of a group of four was put in charge each day. When my turn came I was given a destination to head for, a map, a compass and three men.

We set off on the road and along came a civilian bus. I said to get on it which we did and set off. A little way along the road one of the chaps said "Here is the officers' jeep — get down", so we got down with the sheep and goats. The jeep got ahead and we settled down to a reasonably comfortable ride until we got to the point on the road opposite our destination.

It was a mile across country. We settled down there for a rest for quite some time and eventually made our way to the spot. We were met by a sergeant-in-charge and informed that a truck had got stuck in a river ford and we were to go on to free it. The people who had done the normal march had been better off than we had as they just settled down at the camp. I don't think my squad were very pleased with me as it had all gone wrong.

We sailed on a troop ship from India to Rangoon, landing at Rangoon docks in the middle of an air-raid. It was a good introduction to the war in Burma. There were no casualties and eventually we set off to Pegu. We marched from Rangoon to Pegu where there was no action on the ground but we were regaled by action in the air from the AVG's (American Volunteer Group) against the Jap Zeros.

The AVG's enjoyed great success bringing down several Jap planes with no casualties on their side. The AVG's were mercenaries and at the time had no backing at all from the British Air Force. The conflict was worth watching because of the success of the AVG's and we really enjoyed the spectacle.

As we marched into Pegu we came into heavy fog. Our platoon was positioned behind a low earth wall whereas the rest of the battalion were behind a taller bund to the rear of us. From the fog came the noise of metal being knocked into the ground, obviously a machine-gun, from only about fifteen to twenty yards in front of us only just visible.

I turned round to the corporal in charge that was senior to me, and suggested we would be better moving back. He agreed and gave the order to retire from the left, with each man alerting the next man as he passed him to move out. This was going alright until a chap came up to Tiddles, tried to alert him but reported him dead from a bullet in the back of his head. It must have been friendly fire from the bund.

During this action the other corporal said what a cheeky bugger this Jap was that had appeared five or six yards away from behind the haystack. I came down with my rifle and fired and didn't stay to see if I had hit him. After this we went behind the bund with the rest and from there commenced to retire to Rangoon which we had been told would be held at all costs.

We marched towards Rangoon on the railway meeting several hazards on the way, our troops having tried to deter the Japs from using the railway. On one occasion we came upon a bridge that had been set alight and partially destroyed. This we had to cross despite many sleepers being missing because of the fire. One of the chaps fell off the bridge onto his head causing considerable damage. He was bandaged up and continued to march with us. He was yet another hazard for us.

At this time we found out what it was to be like to be hungry and thirsty. As regards the thirst we stopped at a bullock wallow, shifted the bullocks and plunged our hats into the wallow. What came out of the eyelets in the hat we drank despite it being filthy, probably a contributory cause of later dysentery. A little later we called at a village and were offered food which was mainly rice on a banana leaf plus some minnows with eyes and tails attached. We refused, so maybe we hadn't found out what hunger was yet. Later on we were pleased to accept such an offer.

A little further on we realised we had to try to go north towards India. Having gone a certain distance we came upon a river. Many of us could not swim so we turned back and sheltered in a large hut. From here we could see a lot of Japanese, obviously camped up at a rubber plantation where we had camped previously some time ago. By this time most of our weapons were unusable because of rust etc.

The Japs sent out patrols and there was little we could do when they encountered us. Although we were uncertain that the Japs would take us prisoner, we were captured and taken along to the rubber plantation.