Part 4: 1944 - August 1945

1944

“We finally got to a place called the Admin Box, where the 7th had been almost completely wiped out. There were dead bodies all over the place, the smell was indescribable and we nicknamed it Death Valley. Any thought of food was out of the question. It was worse at night as we were still surrounded by Japs, and we realised we could also soon be dead.

We were now part of the 26th Division, with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment (who we supported as infantry when we couldn’t use the big guns), Black Watch, 5th Ghurkhas, Green Howards, Punjab and Sikh Indian Regiments, 25th Dragoon Tanks, 7th Medium Regiment R.A., 8th Irish 3.7 R.A., 25th Mountains Battery and 45th 5.5 Heavy R.A. This totalled at most 5000 men against approximately 10,000 Japs who were mostly from the Imperial Guard.

It was like hide and seek. We never knew where the Japs were, and because we couldn’t make a sound we communicated with sign language. Night time was the worst, on guard duty — 2 hours on, 4 hours off — trying to stay awake and thinking that any second you’d get a bayonet in the back.

A lot of blokes were going down with dysentery and malaria, and we were getting short of fit men. We had a trench in the jungle about 20 yards away for a toilet, and you had to ask a mate to go with you and look out for snipers in the trees.

The infantry rounded up the Japs on a hill to get them all in one spot. We had a plan to use our troop, 6 guns and 4 mountain battery Howitzers, to drop into action about 200 yards away in an open spot. Next morning at about 8am we opened fire. We fired 100 rounds each and nearly blew the top off the hill. Then the infantry went in with fixed bayonets, and the Japs that were left started to return fire.

Our officer, Major Nicholson, was standing next to me, and there was a map case between us. Suddenly a bullet went right through it. He said afterwards the bullet was meant for either him or me; it only missed us by about two inches. He was later given a medal for this particular action.

C Troop were in another Box near a place called Buthidaung, about two miles away, and were short of a gun crew. The Major asked for six volunteers to go through the Jap lines and take over this gun, one from each detachment. We cut cards: I lost. At dawn next day we got in a 15cwt lorry and set off. The infantry cleared a way through the Jap lines, just long enough for us to get through. We were now completely cut off from our own troop, and I thought that’s the last I’ll see of them, or home.

We got to the gun and took over. We were in the middle of a medium and heavy artillery battery; they were blazing away day and night and we couldn’t put our heads outside the gun pit. We were holed up like that for a full week, till finally we got the better of them and took Buthidaung. Some men managed to get back to C Troop so we were able to return to our own troop.

My gun was down to six men, the other three were in hospital with malaria or dysentery. All the lads were glad to see me when I got back. The Chindits had a nickname, ‘Chindwin Charlie’, after the River Chindwin, so I got the nickname ‘Arakan Charlie’.

The monsoon season was only a couple of weeks away. There was only one way out, back over the Ngakyedauk Pass. It was always washed away during the rains, so we knew if we didn’t get the guns out soon we’d be trapped there till the end of the monsoon — about three months. We were the last gun out from the 36th and by this time there was only four of us left on the gun, and we were getting no sleep. Finally we packed up, riding on the gun behind the tractor. It took about eight hours to get over the pass, and we just collapsed with exhaustion as soon as we got to the camp.

The next day we were told we were going back to India to re-equip and reinforce the regiment. Out of our troop of 95 men there were only 17 left. It took four days on the train, and almost at once I went down with malaria. I was shivering or sweating for the whole journey. We finally got back to Ranchi, where I collapsed and was taken to hospital.

I was there for two weeks, and for the first three days I was semi-conscious and had no idea where I was. When I finally got back to camp we were all given a month’s leave. This was the first leave we’d had since leaving England, 17 months earlier.”

July 1944

“I went to Calcutta on leave with two of my mates. The first day I went back into hospital with malaria. Two weeks later I developed dengue fever, then after a few more days I was doubled up with stomach pains which turned out to be amoebic dysentery. I spent a further three weeks in hospital and my weight dropped to just over 8 stones — very low for my height of 5ft 9in.

I was sent up to Darjeeling in the Himalayas to convalesce for another three weeks. When I was ready to be discharged I was asked if I knew where my regiment was. I didn’t, but said yes anyway, and was given a rail pass so I could find my own way back.

I got a train back to Calcutta, which took about three days. At a transit camp I discovered that the 36th had been sent back to the Arakan. After two more days I got to Chittagong, and was in another transit camp wondering how I could get on a ship across the Bay of Bengal. Then a 15cwt truck pulled up, which had our regiment number on the back. I asked the officer if he knew where my Battery was, I was trying to get back to them. He said I could have a lift, and after another day’s journey I was back with my own gun crew, at the Goppi Pass. They were made up to see me again.

After about a month we moved back to Madras for combined opps training with the Navy. We were being trained as commandos to take Ramree Island, just north of Rangoon. While I was in training I was hit with dysentery again, then with jungle ulcers on my legs, and spent another 10 days in hospital.

We set off for Calcutta just before Christmas 1944, and on New Year’s Day we sailed back across the Bay of Bengal , only this time in tank landing craft. Ramree Island was just like a South Sea island, but we wanted to capture it and build an airfield to supply the troops on the mainland. There was no landing place for ships so we had to come in on the beaches. The Navy said they didn’t know how we would get off the island, so it was a case of get rid of the Japs or be taken prisoner.

We had some very hard fighting, but after a few weeks we managed to push the Japs to the swamp on the other side of the island, which was full of crocodiles. They decided to take their chances in the swamp rather than surrender. Only a handful came out alive.”

May 1945

“The Cameron Highlanders had lost a lot of men, and to try to rebuild their regiment they asked if anyone was Scottish or had a Scottish name, would they transfer to the Camerons. Because of my name I asked the Sergeant to put me down. He said I was a bloody fool and could be committing suicide. He thought we would now be going back to India and the war in Europe was just about over. In fact we had word the next day that the war against Germany had ended.

We went back to India, to a place called Coimbatore. It was then rumoured that we were being sent to the Andaman Islands — which were populated by head hunters and cannibals! — and also that the atom bomb was going to be used in front of our troops in Burma to finish off the Japs. Luckily none of that turned out to be true. One of our blokes became mentally ill and tried to cut his throat; he was secured to a bed in the hospital and put under armed guard. I was on guard one day when someone said they’d heard a news flash that the war was over. I told this bloke but he was so far gone he had no idea what I was talking about.”

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