2nd Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment - War Diaries for 1942 to 1944 attached

Here are links to copies of the war diaries of the above unit.

May to December 1942

1942 WAR DAIRIES pictures by rahonour3947 - Photobucket

January to December 1943

1943 WAR DIARIES pictures by rahonour3947 - Photobucket

January to December 1944

1944 WAR DIARIES pictures by rahonour3947 - Photobucket

 

Thanks for posting these Ramcal. I love reading the diaries of Chindit units, especially the year before they eventually go in. Always fascinating stuff.

 

Great stuff, thank you for sharing!

 

Thanks for posting these Ramcal. I love reading the diaries of Chindit units, especially the year before they eventually go in. Always fascinating stuff.

There was a nasty incident at Chapra in August 1942, when an officer, 4 other ranks and a civilian were ambushed by a mob and speared to death.

There seemed to be a lot of hatred towards the British at that time.

 

I noticed that incident. This was not unusual at all for the time. This is what I meant really, how these little stories emerge. I have picked up one or two similar situations with the 13th Kings and their training for the original operation in 1943.

Things like training accidents, friendly fire and trouble with the local population.

Fascinating stuff.

 

You wouldn't happen to have the WDs for 11/41 and 12/41?

All the best

Andreas

 

Hi ThankYou for putting these war diaries on my dad was with these brave men from 18yrs old 1942 until 1945 when he got blown into a tree but at least he was lucky he came home he was then with BOAR until 1947 medically discharged from the army on 30/03/51 I have enjoyed reading them . For years I have tried to follow in his footsteps it is so hard to trace his steps and I thought (silly me ) it would be easy having his service records Elsie frost daughter of William freeman

 

Wow thank you for sharing these I have loved reading them so sad yet so fascinating my dad was part of this and I am desperate to trace his steps because I wish to go out to Burma don't ask me why as all I can say its like a burning inside of me and I just to know this is something I have to do . Once again Thank you and do you know where I can obtain a copy for myself Elsie

 

Hi Elsie,

Please send me a private message with your e-mail address, so I can e-mail them to you.

Regards - Rob

 

Hi There

Having just received my grandfathers service records only yesterday!, and coming across these today (where he is also mentioned, which put a huge lump in my throat!!).
All I can say is that I'm very grateful to you for the efforts.
I cant thank you enough..

Some very BRAVE and courageous men whom should not ever be forgotten.

Kind Regards

Danny Lawrence

 

Danster, it is such a sad journey we embark on when researching war at a personal level. I was so heartbroken on learning what they all went through . Kind regards Elsie

 

Rightly said Elsie, it is a sad journey but one that needs to be taken to preserve for the generations of my family to come.......

It all started for me about 2 yrs ago, where i was searching for all info for my great uncle who unfortunately went down with a merchant ship (SS Warlaby)he was on in Feb 1941 (18yrs!).
Then my next journey started with my grandfather as i know he never spoke a thing about the war and didn't even want the medals.
As for many during this war Cigarettes were in free abundance and he along with his comrades got slowly addicted to smoking, averaging 60 a day when i knew him 1975+.
After losing both his legs and umpteen strokes along with arthritis, the poor bugger finally took his last breath Mar 1990 (60yrs).

1 thing my father did was to gain his medals in 1989 and this as you can probably tell was very emotional indeed and has stuck in my mind ever since.
So this is as far as my father got as he's a bit old school when it comes to PC's, so i reignited the search for him without him knowing.
The last time i had to falsify his signature was for my homework book!, so the thought of signing on his behalf for the the service records was a little daunting, let alone borrowing the death cert to copy but i thought a slap on the wrist at best etc...

I have to say that the war office dept were fantastic and I had the complete service records copied and sent to me within 2wks off my applying (is this a record?!!)
and as said in my previous post I'm totally in debt to the gent who took time out of his life to scan all of the young & lovelies diaries, and putting them online to share etc.

What I have done so far this week is now have placed all the medals a map of Burma and some other paraphernalia into a box frame, and the images form the diaries i have now had made into a paperback book for my father to read at his leisure, as he still has no idea, all he knows is Burma and Wingate/Slim etc.

Lets just say he in not going to expect all of this on Xmas day, prob will give me a kick as he didn't get the usual whisky this year!!

A few tears but a drink to them all from my family over the xmas period.. just think without him I wouldn't be typing today full stop...!!

Danny

 

Oh Danny what a love story and what a fantastic son you must be. Wish I could be a fly on the wall when you present this to your dad. I hope you take a photo or two and share them on here. My dad like all the rest never mentioned the war and he too was barely a man when he went off to war .. Dad died at 59 31 years ago . What I find really find hard to grasp is you do the research and find things out and you just cannot believe what they went through. In my research I found dad was wounded twice.and he never said a word . A photo I found after he died dad looks like a skeleton in his uniform and I just assumed it was taken while he was recovering from being wounded when research and the chaps on here showed it was the norm after being in Burma. To learn the conditions they lived and fought in took the wind out of me they had no easy ride in Burma ,they had the japs as their enemy and the jungle too. They walked /marched for hundreds of miles and then went into battle you can just not imagine how they managed it. All we can do is Thank them every Poppy Day and try to keep their memory alive by passing on the personal stories to our next generation . I too am having his medals ,map of Burma a photo and a few personal pieces mounted . Dads story is in print just like you have done and hopefully our own personal accounts of the war for generations to come will keep the spirit of all the brave men of the wars shining and their memory never fading. The only thing now is I am hooked on learning more and if you have the time read the posts on here of personal accounts they will all touch you in their own way Take care Elsie