Description
Object description
Ts memoir (212pp), based on contemporary diaries and records, recording his experiences as the RAF Liaison Officer with 49 Column, 4/9th Battalion Gurkha Rifles during their training in India with 111th Brigade, June 1943 - February 1944, and their service in Morris Force during the second Chindit expedition into northern Burma, March - June 1944. The narrative describes the initial confusion following their landings at Chowringee, the hardships which they experienced during their operations against Japanese transport on the Bhamo-Myitkyina road between the river Irrawaddy and the Chinese border, and their part in the fighting in the vicinity of Myitkyina, while there are also interesting assessments of Major General Wingate and Brigadier J R Morris, who commanded Morris Force. An edited version of the memoir was subsequently published under the title 'Out of the Blue' (London, 1984). (1 file)
The collection also includes: a file containing original documents and correspondence relating to his wartime service, including letters, official communications, copies of photographs (c.1945), 6 maps, one of which is Japanese (note accompanying the maps stating that they were passed to O'Brien by Duncan Guthrie), a cloth Chindit badge, and a printed copy of 'Chinese Chindits' which mentions O'Brien on p.9. In addition, there are research notes, newspaper cuttings relating to Force 136, and extensive, correspondence (some of which was numbered by O'Brien: 1 – 178) mainly in connection with the publication of his books 'Out of the Blue: Pilot with the Chindits' (1984), 'The Moonlight War' (1987) and 'Chasing After Danger' (1990); along with a bound ts account entitled 'The Jedburghs: A Short History' (31pp) by Arthur Brown along with a postscript to the same compiled by Glyn Loosmore (n.d. 94pp); a bound ts copy of 'The French JED after their Mission in France'( by ?) (62pp ); and a signed copy of 'A Chindit's Chronicle' by Bill Towill.
Content description
Ts memoir (212pp), based on contemporary diaries and records, recording his experiences as the RAF Liaison Officer with 49 Column, 4/9th Battalion Gurkha Rifles during their training in India with 111th Brigade, June 1943 - February 1944, and their service in Morris Force during the second Chindit expedition into northern Burma, March - June 1944. The narrative describes the initial confusion following their landings at Chowringee, the hardships which they experienced during their operations against Japanese transport on the Bhamo-Myitkyina road between the river Irrawaddy and the Chinese border, and their part in the fighting in the vicinity of Myitkyina, while there are also interesting assessments of Major General Wingate and Brigadier J R Morris, who commanded Morris Force. An edited version of the memoir was subsequently published under the title 'Out of the Blue' (London, 1984). (1 file)
The collection also includes: a file containing original documents and correspondence relating to his wartime service, including letters, official communications, copies of photographs (c.1945), 6 maps, one of which is Japanese (note accompanying the maps stating that they were passed to O'Brien by Duncan Guthrie), a cloth Chindit badge, and a printed copy of 'Chinese Chindits' which mentions O'Brien on p.9. In addition, there are research notes, newspaper cuttings relating to Force 136, and extensive, correspondence (some of which was numbered by O'Brien: 1 – 178) mainly in connection with the publication of his books 'Out of the Blue: Pilot with the Chindits' (1984), 'The Moonlight War' (1987) and 'Chasing After Danger' (1990); along with a bound ts account entitled 'The Jedburghs: A Short History' (31pp) by Arthur Brown along with a postscript to the same compiled by Glyn Loosmore (n.d. 94pp); a bound ts copy of 'The French JED after their Mission in France'( by ?) (62pp ); and a signed copy of 'A Chindit's Chronicle' by Bill Towill.
History note
Cataloguer Backlog
History note
Catalogue date 1983-10-24