My father

        I suppose most of us are fascinated by our fathers.  Mine was a quiet, gentle man, with a big self-conscious smile, slim build, slight arch to his back, and distinctive waddle to his walk.  He died when he was 58, just after my brother and I left home and went to college.  He lived to see me get married, but not my brother Malcolm who is two years younger than me.  He died before he could become a grandfather, but his grandchildren know him well.  My son David won a writing award for recounting his Grandfather's experiences in the war, he called it "Grandfather Story", and a few years later he wrote a play that was performed at a "Summer Stage".  What fascinates me most about my father are his wartime experiences and his relationship with Mum during that period.  I think that this determined a lot about him, and his later life.  It was hard to get Dad to talk about the war.  We dragged information out of him.  Mum was a little more forthcoming, but even she did not know much about his experiences.

        According to the British government, Dad's military service was as follows.

    But Dad kept his own records.  He saved his four medals, and gave them to his sons just before he died.  He also kept several souvenirs, a silk table cloth he brought Mum from the Taj Mahal, a football program, "Some notes for the guidance of troops arriving in Ceylon", post cards, and some photographs.  And for his final year abroad, he also kept a diary.

1940, wedding and leaving for the war.
1941, North Africa.
1942, Ceylon.
1944, the diary, India, and Burma.
1945, home.

1940, wedding and leaving for the war.

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    Mum was allowed to break her parents' rule that prohibited marriage before she was 21.  In fact, she married a month before she was 21 so that  Dad "could go to the war" as a married man.  She and her sister Winn were married at the same time, and their sisters were bridesmaids.  In fact, Winn's husband died during the war, of dissentry while on the great march.

    Mum came from a strict family.  She was always aware that her mother had a German maiden name (Grause).  She had three sisters and four brothers, spread over so many years that her youngest brother (Ken) was younger than one of his nephews (David, son of Mum's oldest brother, Ern).

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     I remember Dad telling me that the friend with him in the picture on the left was a man and Mum called Riley, but on the back of the photgraph it says simply "Dear Old Pals".  Dad carried the hand-tinted photograph of Mum with him during the war and used it to have a composite picture made that he sent back to her.  It was mounted on card and I damaged it slightly trying to remove it from the card, but I discovered some writing on the back in Mum's handwriting.  It said, "To my dear husband, from your ever loving wife, X X X, 15/6/41".

1941, North Africa.

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    Dad's first overseas assignment was in north Africa where he saw combat against Italians and Germans.   The photograph on the left is of dated 1/1/42.  On the back of the picture it says, R. Riley R.E., J. Quill, D.L.J., R. Farling, R.E., S. Sudburry, R.E., J. R. Smith, D.L.I., R. Thomas, Com, (L.G. Young, RAF Photo), J. Talbot R.A., Guess Who!, and "taken when raining".

Dad was in the Queen's Own Regiment whose badge was a ram with a lance.  They called them the "mutton lancers".  I have always wanted to read the Day Dairies that the lieutenants were required to keep, but have never done so.  I assume that they are in London, at the National War Museum.

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 During Christmas 1940 they attended a Christmas party that included a stripper.  Dad always claimed that this was a man in drag, but I am not sure despite my efforts with photoshop.   On the back of the photograph it says "A grand time was had by all.  Not for show, Dear".

   During 1941 Dad visited Palestine (below).  He took photographs of "The Manger" and "A Roman Catholic Church" and he bought a postcard of the Mugrabi Opera, in Tel Aviv (it says on the back "Visited in Palestine June 16th 1941").

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    There is nothing written on the back of the print below, but my memory is that Dad told me it was taken in Cairo.

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1942, Ceylon.
After sixteen months in north Africa, Dad's regiment was transferred to Ceylon to become part of Lord Montgomery's 14th Army fighting the Japanese.    The postcard on the left below is of a Bullock Cart, Ceylon, and is labeled on the back "25th December 1942".   The postcard on the right is of the Rock Fortress, Sigirya, Ceylon, and it says on the back "This is the one I climbed, dear, straight up and no kid".

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     During the war Mum live in various flats (one I remember was on London Road) and worked at Tillings Stevens factory in Maidstone, a multistory building next to the railway track as it enters Maidstone East Station from London.  The factory made munitions and was a frequent target for German bombers returning from London with unused bombs.  At the beginning of the war, air raid sirens would sound and the workers would go to shelters.  But they were being paid piece meal so after a while they would work through the raids.  Mum frequently told me that she typically earned six shillings a week.

1944, the diary, India, and Burma.
    Dad's diary for 1944 was the cheap sort you could still buy in Woolworths when I was a child.  It is missing its cover.  It detailed when letters and parcels were sent or received from home, mainly to and from his wife, place names of Dad's locations, and a series of movie titles, presumably movies he watched.  He mentions a visit from Lord Mountbatten, he mentions slipping and breaking his ankle and he mentions a concert by Vera Lynn.  He once told me about a pound note that he had autographed by her, but he says he ran out of money and spent it.  When Mum died in 1987, we found the diary and some other souvenirs she had kept. The complete diary is available here. Click here for a pdf version of the diary.

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Entries in Dad's diary for 1944

January	4	1 LC from Doris, 1 Xmas card, Mum and Dad by Air on stunt.	July (cont)	14	Dancing Teatchers.  The Uninvited.
	7	Parcel received.  Airgraph posted 16 Dec at Lollipur		15	Sent Parcel Home.  Round the World.
	12	1 LC from wide, 28 Dec.		16	Return to Camp Bidadi.
	13	Visit by Lord Mountbattan.  R letter sent to wife.		17	Started work at Sgts. Mess.
	14	2 airgraphs from wife 19th 21st Dec.		26	Telegram from wife.  Money received.
	15	3 airgraphs from wife 29 2 30 Dec (one posted on 29th, two on 30th?)		27	Started at stores.
	22	Left Sauger.		28	0 Brigrade VR ecce 3.  (Football score?).
February	10	March into Burma via Naga Falls.		31	The Eagle Squadron.
	12	Nelly married.	August	4	Merrily we (go?)
	15	Slipped and broke ankle.		6	Ginger Dodd left for home.
	17	Arrived American CCS.  Kalatga.  Received mail.		9	1 LC from wife.  1 LC from Mum.
	29	Left Kalatga on litter carried by Nagas.		14	For whom the bell tolls.  Thousands Cheer.
March	3	Chimboian.		20	Too Hot to Handle.
	7	Marguerita.		21	Airgraph from Mrs Jones.
	9	Arrived Digboi.		24	1 LC from Mum.  2 airgraphs from wife.
April	20	Met Stainless Stephen and Smile Awhile Ensa.		24	1 LC Mrs Watkins.
	22	Left Digboi for 81co Shillong.		26	1 LC from wife.  RAF Bangalore 5, RAF Bombay 3.
	25	Eileen's new address?		27	1 Letter from Larry.
	26	Arrived Shillong.		31	1 airgraph from Sis.
May	22	Heard Vera Lynn	September	1	1 LC from wife.  1 LC from Mrs. Jones
	26	Heard Elsie and Doris Waters.  Gert and Daisy.		2	Sgt.
	29	Left Shillong		4	Left for Lahore.
	30	Arrived Sylhet.		8	Arrived at Lahore.
	31	Left Sylhet.		25	Left Lahore.
June	3	Madras		27	Reached Delhi.
	4	Guadacana Dairy	October	9	Blonde Trouble, Mickey Rooney.
	6	Received mail.		10	Too Many Girls.
	11	Lone Wolf meets a Lady		15	Left Bangalore (mistake for Dehli?).
	12	Texas Rangers		16	Tummur.
	13	War against Mrs. Hadley		17	Harahar.
	16	House on the Rock		22	Dhulia. (Bombay)
	17	Whats Yours (Aces)		23	Bombers Moon.
	18	Visit to Museum.  Human Comedy.		24	Mhow, Cowboy from Manhatten.
	19	Romance on the Rio Grande.  Sent cable to wife.		25	Biaro
	20	Casablanca.		26	Agra
	21	Received 1 LC from Eileen.  1 graph Elsie.		28	Taj Ma
	23	Date with Fats.	November	1	When Women Met
	24	Wuthering Heights		13	Keeper of the Flame
	25	Sun Valley Serenade		15	Corveltes K225
	26	When Were Dancing.		16	All By Myself
	28	Street Singer.  Regraded B.2. for 2 months.		17	Desparate Journey
	30	The Hard Way.		18	Talk of the Town
July	1	Sent Eileen cash.		19	Eyes in the Night
	2	Adventure of Bertie.  Leave Bangalore.		20	Ship Ahoy.
	3	Two Girls on Broadway.		26	X
	4	Ali Baba		30	X
	6	Gypsie Ride.  Rings on her Finger.	December	4	Toc H.
	7	The Youngest Profession.		9	L.B.
	11	Visit to Rajah Palace Mysore.		20	P. Suez
	12	San Dometrio London		23	S.C. (Suez canal?)
	13	Sent parcel home.		24	P. Said
				31	Leave for Liverpool.

    The official records say that Dad was in India throughout 1944.  He was actually in the Burma/India border region from February 2 until June 3 and at the end of this period the seminal battle of Kohima-Imphal was underway and the tide turning for the allies and against the Japanese.  At the beginning of the year he was in northern India, his diary says Lollipur, where he was visited by Lord Mountbatten.  Like many of the place names in the January - May part of the diary, Lollipur does not appear in "The Times Atlas".  Dad marched into Burma via the Naga Hills on February 2nd, slipped and broke his ankle on February 15th after which he was carried on a litter to the American CCS at Kalatga (also not on the atlas).  He then spent about two weeks at Digboi during which he saw Smile Awhile and a month at Shillong where he saw Vera Lynn and Elsie and Doris Waters.  He then appears to have traveled to the Bay of Bengal by way of Sylhet and then by boat to Madras.

See detailed image for places and dates

At some point in the war, Dad was badly wounded, left for dead and buried by undergrowth.  He was discovered and moved to hospital.  The wound was caused by a shell exploding in his chest and face and after surgery his chin was permanently attached to his chest. Field Marshall Slim the state he was in during an inspection on parade and removed him from active service until another operation could restore his posture.  Dad always had an affection toward Slim for this, because he could not have survived active service as he was.  The operation involved flesh from his bottom being transplanted to his face and he would often tell Mum that she was kissing his behind.  The picture above is during his convalescence, when he was part of the catering corps.  Dad is the man standing on the far left.  I keep this photograph in a frame with a pink embroidered hankerchief he was given when he was discharged.

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Left, another composite photograph that Dad sent Mum during the war, this time in informal dress.  Presumably another picture sent to Mum during the war.  In my handwriting the year 1944 has been added.

See detailed map for places and dates.

    Dad arrived in Madras on June 3.  A few days later he reached Bangalore where he stayed for a month.  During that period he sent a photograph home to his wife with her picture pasted in the corner.  Labelled on back "Taken July 9th, 1944, Bangalore, India".  Mum's photograph has been pasted onto the original.  The picture of the right is labeled on the back "Taken July 9th Bangalore, India, while on leave"  "Fondest love Dear xx Sid xx".  On July 2 he left Bangalore, reaching Mysore on July 11 where he stayed until September 4.  As I can best judge, from the diaries, fragments of memories of converstaions we have had, and my knowledge of the war in general, Dad was involved in some heavy fighting on the India-Burma border and it there that he was left for dead.  The allies were victorious and when it was clear that the Japanese were weakened and falling back several divisions that had been active in the most intense fighting were withdrawn to India.  At this point Dad's wounds had resulted in his chin being attached to his chest and it was while on parade in Bangalore that Slim ordered further surgery.  I suspect that this resulted in him being flown to Lahore, West Pakistan, (via Dehli) reaching there on September 4th.  After 17 days he returned to Bangalore via Dehli (27 September).  On the 5th October left Bangalore but made the long journey by road to Dehli reaching there 28th October, this time moving with his division. Apparently it was then that he visited the Taj Mahal and bought Mum the silk table cloth that I keep in a wooden box.  For several years, my brother Malcolm kept the table cloth, but he gave it to me when he come to the states for a short while.  Malcolm is a highly competent artist, and one of his finest paintings is of the Taj Mahal.  Dad watched a large number of movies during his last few weeks in India, and then on November 20th he boarded a ship (his diary says simply "ship ahoy") bound for Liverpool via Port Suez (December 20th) and Port Said (December 24) reaching England on January 4th 1945.

1945, home.
    Dad was in England six months before he saw Mum, and during that period he had an affair with his nurse in Greenwich.  It was about 18 months before he returned to civilian life.  Mum and Dad frequently took us by train to London, to see the sites and the museums, and when the train passed through Greenwich Mum would always tease Dad.  The sort of tease that meant "I have forgiven, but not forgotten".

Copyright Derek W. G. Sears 1999

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More information about the 14th Army can be found at the Burma Star Association web site