Description
Object description
A ts memoir (20pp, written 2012) entitled 'From Bayswater to Burma', about his early life in Bayswater, London, education, work as an office boy at the Church Army Headquarters, and then as a salesman in the William Whiteley Department Store, call-up to Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Depot at Brancepeth Castle, Co Durham (October 1939), training in Spennymoor (October 1939 – February 1940), his luck at missing out on the draft to go to France with the BEF in March, promotion to Lance Corporal, joining a draft for France (April 1940), arriving in Rouen, marching to Bernay and then via Bourg-le-Roi to Chebourg (May – June 1940), returning to England, moving to Huddersfield and joining 5 Platoon 'B' Company, 2nd Battalion DLI (2nd Division), attending Junior NCO and snipers courses, a three week drill course at Caterham Barracks (August 1940), the battalion moving to Wintringham, North Yorkshire, getting married (November 1941), an assault course in Devon (January 1942), moving to Cheltenham, promotion to Lance Sergeant, embarking in EMPRESS OF CANADA sailing via Freetown and Capetown to Bombay (April – June 1942), moving to Ahmednagar, India, with details of the location, weather, leisure time, illness, moving to Chittagong (December 1942), preparing for seaborne landings, moving to Donbaik and an attack on a Japanese held position (March 1942), coming down with malaria and evacuation to Dhaka (March – April 1942), promotion to Sergeant and taking over as Platoon Sergeant of 5 Platoon (February 1944), jungle training, appointed to the Intelligence Section at Battalion HQ, DLI moving to Dimapur, relieving the garrison at Kohima (April 1944), occupying the Kohima ridge, with descriptions of Garrison Hill, fighting off Japanese counter attacks, and hard close quarters combat during the Battle of Kohima (April – May 1944), returning to Dimapur for rest and reorganisation following losses, advances into Burma, with details of casualties on both sides and taking prisoners, a War Office Selection Board in Calcutta (September 1944), staying with his brother, a Captain in the RASC in Bombay, leaving the battalion in October 1944 and moving to the Officer Training School in Mhow (November 1944), treatment for amoebic dysentery (November – December 1944), joining G1 Company , OTS, Mhow (January – June 1945), appointment as senior cadet, turning down a commission as he did not want to serve another year, return to the UK in HMS RANCHI (November 1945), and his discharge (May 1946).
Content description
A ts memoir (20pp, written 2012) entitled 'From Bayswater to Burma', about his early life in Bayswater, London, education, work as an office boy at the Church Army Headquarters, and then as a salesman in the William Whiteley Department Store, call-up to Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Depot at Brancepeth Castle, Co Durham (October 1939), training in Spennymoor (October 1939 – February 1940), his luck at missing out on the draft to go to France with the BEF in March, promotion to Lance Corporal, joining a draft for France (April 1940), arriving in Rouen, marching to Bernay and then via Bourg-le-Roi to Chebourg (May – June 1940), returning to England, moving to Huddersfield and joining 5 Platoon 'B' Company, 2nd Battalion DLI (2nd Division), attending Junior NCO and snipers courses, a three week drill course at Caterham Barracks (August 1940), the battalion moving to Wintringham, North Yorkshire, getting married (November 1941), an assault course in Devon (January 1942), moving to Cheltenham, promotion to Lance Sergeant, embarking in EMPRESS OF CANADA sailing via Freetown and Capetown to Bombay (April – June 1942), moving to Ahmednagar, India, with details of the location, weather, leisure time, illness, moving to Chittagong (December 1942), preparing for seaborne landings, moving to Donbaik and an attack on a Japanese held position (March 1942), coming down with malaria and evacuation to Dhaka (March – April 1942), promotion to Sergeant and taking over as Platoon Sergeant of 5 Platoon (February 1944), jungle training, appointed to the Intelligence Section at Battalion HQ, DLI moving to Dimapur, relieving the garrison at Kohima (April 1944), occupying the Kohima ridge, with descriptions of Garrison Hill, fighting off Japanese counter attacks, and hard close quarters combat during the Battle of Kohima (April – May 1944), returning to Dimapur for rest and reorganisation following losses, advances into Burma, with details of casualties on both sides and taking prisoners, a War Office Selection Board in Calcutta (September 1944), staying with his brother, a Captain in the RASC in Bombay, leaving the battalion in October 1944 and moving to the Officer Training School in Mhow (November 1944), treatment for amoebic dysentery (November – December 1944), joining G1 Company , OTS, Mhow (January – June 1945), appointment as senior cadet, turning down a commission as he did not want to serve another year, return to the UK in HMS RANCHI (November 1945), and his discharge (May 1946).
History note
Cataloguer SJO