UKC

Now on BBC 2

In reply to Trangia:

And from yesterday's Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/07/joe-simpson-father-chin...

T.

In reply to Trangia:

And strictly speaking, it's Joe Simpson's dad and the chindits.

T.

In reply to Trangia:

Thanks for the heads up

In reply to mountainbagger:

I've always had huge admiration for the Chindits. An incredibly brutal form of warfare where they shot their own wounded rather than leave them to be captured and tortured by the Japanese.

In reply to Trangia:

I've been fortunate to meet a couple of them. One said while relaying some of these stories with great sadness "we were worse than the Japanese". You could tell that these experiences had tormented him throughout of his life.

D

In reply to Trangia:
I am lucky enough to occasionally work for an old chap in his 90s who served in Burma under General Slim.

He was a driver ,and luckily for him he never saw combat.His personal weapon was a Thompson.

He has great stories about how his war unfolded; from Rothesay to Burma.I could listen to him all day.

In reply to andymac:

Why not listen all day?Then you could write the stories down.

In reply to Trangia:

A good and moving program. My late father in law served in Burma (not a Chindit) but would not talk about it. But he was an artist and cartoonist and we still have books of his sketches and army cartoons from Burma. Some of them give a clue to what he saw and the horrors of the campaign.

In reply to Moley:

My father's uncle vanished at Kohima.

A few years ago, my sister spoke to some of his surviving comrades. A common theme was "whatever your hear about the things the Japanese did, we were just as bad".

In reply to captain paranoia:


One of the most horrific battles of WW2.

Terrible casualties on both sides and the centre of battlefield, where the hardest fighting occurred, was a tennis court.

"When you go home, tell them, that for your tomorrow, we gave our today"

In reply to captain paranoia:

To the dislikers: what are you disliking?

That my great uncle was killed; if so, thank you.

Or that survivors acknowledge that both sides fought a no quarter, equally ferocious battle? If you don't believe me, go and speak to the Chelsea pensioners, assuming the old boys are still with us, and willing to talk to you. Having a comrade's surname and family tree opens doors that might otherwise be shut to you.

In reply to captain paranoia:


Failing that, the IWM's worth a check for those interested in 1st-hand accounts:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=kohima%20&f[0]=mediaType...

A random pick: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80019204

In reply to Removed UserBwox:
Bloody hell that's a very good random pick.

In reply to Removed UserBwox:
At an all boy's school in the '80s we were all very excited and honoured to be told a Chindit was coming to talk to us. It was looked forward to for weeks, people got very into reading about them and we were all guessing what he would be like.

Eventually the day came, we were all sat down very excitedly waiting the important person. Then the school handyman and cleaner walks in and goes to the front of the class to get something he'd left there by mistake we assumed.

He then started his talk...

A humbling and not easily forgotten lesson in not making assumptions about people too swiftly was learnt by many of us that day I expect..

In reply to JayPee630:

True. There are few more embarrassing experiences than to fall into this trap through laziness or just being too busy...

In reply to Trangia:

One of my uncles was a trainee vet at the time and had the job of looking after the mules for one of the Chindit units. He reckoned these animals were better looked after than the men, although I was never sure whether he was joking when he said this.

In reply to Guy Hurst:


I'm sure they were, although they had their vocal chords cut to prevent them from braying and giving away the presence of the column to the Japs.

In reply to Removed UserBwox:

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, they all hang pretty quickly on our corporate network, and won't work on my Android tablet (as they're Flash). I'll try at home.

Just did a search for the name. And found a potted biography. Hobbies included making wooden toys. For my Dad, who loved him like an elder brother (only ten years between them). I don't think my Dad ever got over it.

And a diary entry: "Beeden missing after attack".