Royal West Kent Regiment

Discussion in 'Burma & India' started by Suzanne, Sep 11, 2005.

  1. Suzanne

    Suzanne Junior Member

    For many years I was told that the man who brought me up (not my father) had been a prisoner of war of the Japanese. He never spoke of it, but had terrible nightmares and periods of depression and died in 1983. Recently I've found his soldier's release book and now know that he was in the Royal West Kent regiment.

    Trying to find information on the internet it seems that the 4th battalion were in Burma and involved in terrible fighting. So is it likely he was never a prisoner but traumatised by what had gone on, or were there any other battalions of the regiment in Burma?

    thankyou
    Suzanne
     
  2. EddieSlovik

    EddieSlovik Member

    Originally posted by Suzanne@Sep 11 2005, 09:21 AM
    For many years I was told that the man who brought me up (not my father) had been a prisoner of war of the Japanese. He never spoke of it, but had terrible nightmares and periods of depression and died in 1983. Recently I've found his soldier's release book and now know that he was in the Royal West Kent regiment.

    Trying to find information on the internet it seems that the 4th battalion were in Burma and involved in terrible fighting. So is it likely he was never a prisoner but traumatised by what had gone on, or were there any other battalions of the regiment in Burma?

    thankyou
    Suzanne
    [post=38871]Quoted post[/post]


    Suzanne

    Can't help re other West Kent battalions in Burma, but if the man who brought you up was in 4th Royal West Kent's in Burma he was probably in the fighting at Kohima.

    Here is a link to a page about someones father who was in the same battalion.

    http://rwkgdadsoldpics.rootschat.net/page1.html
     
  3. Suzanne

    Suzanne Junior Member

    Thanks for the link, from knowing nothing about where he was, I can now find quite a lot of information, and some which makes difficult reading. It's funny that I assumed he was a prisoner, when he probably wasn't. He had terrible periods when he used to cry for his friends, particularly one called Jimmy, and he used to repeat over and over 'I'm so sorry Jimmy, I tried to save you, I'm so sorry...'

    As children we used to giggle and run away - the biggest regret of my life is that even as an adult I didn't understand what he had gone through when he was alive, and now when I do understand, at least in part, it's too late to help. I'd like to turn the clock back for all sorts of reasons, but for this more than anything.

    Suzanne
     
  4. halsaps21

    halsaps21 Junior Member

    My grandfather George was also in the 4th Royal west kents D company can you tell me his surname I am in contact with another member who was at Kohima. It is also my website that you have been given so if you recognise him in any of the pictures please Email me.
    regards Lee
    http://rwkgdadsoldpics.rootschat.net
     
  5. Suzanne

    Suzanne Junior Member

    Hallo Lee

    Thank you for the photos - it really gives such a good idea of the men and their life, and so many smiling faces at the beginning. His full name was Edmund Josiah Wooden, but always known as Eddie, and he was born in Kingston, Surrey in 1912. I've scoured the photos with a magnifying glass, and as much as I'd like him to be there, I'm fairly sure that he's not. The details from the Soldier's Release Book give him as:

    Pte. 6149683
    enlisted 24th July 1940

    and at the time of his discharge he was with 13 Holding Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment. I've found out since my previous posting that his service number was not a RWK number, but an East Surrey number, but I think he had been in the Territorials previously - the book definitely says Royal West Kents. He left No.5 Military Dispersal Unit, Guildford on 5 January 1946, although in the 'Testimonial' section, it's signed at Gravesend on 1st Jan 1946 - would it have been Gravesend that they arrived back? Or was that just another depot for the Regiment?

    Although I knew a bit about Kohima, I never really connected him with it - in fact I just never gave it enough thought at all.

    Thankyou once more

    Suzanne
     
  6. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    Suzanne, welcome to the boards, and thank you for your family's service to Crown and Country.

    Kohima, by Arthur Swinson, and Burma, by Louis Allen, should fill in a lot of blanks on that battle, as well as Defeat Into Victory, by Field Marshal Viscount Slim.

    He may have been captured in the attack on Kohima, and hauled off to the Burma-Siam Railway, like the POWs caught in Malaya and Indonesia.
     
  7. Suzanne

    Suzanne Junior Member

    Thanks for the book titles, it will help to do some reading. I wonder if any of the Royal West Kents were taken prisoner? I've got the references for the war diaires at the national archives, so will go through them some time when I get a chance to visit.

    Suzanne
     
  8. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    Originally posted by Suzanne@Sep 20 2005, 01:36 PM
    Thanks for the book titles, it will help to do some reading. I wonder if any of the Royal West Kents were taken prisoner? I've got the references for the war diaires at the national archives, so will go through them some time when I get a chance to visit.

    Suzanne
    [post=39269]Quoted post[/post]

    Most of the Western POWs in Japanese hands were caught at the start of the war in the 100-day offensive...Philippines, Guam, Wake, Malaya, Indonesia. They caught a few more as the war droned on, mostly shot-down airmen or sailors from sunken ships or submarines. They may have caught a few West Kent guys in the vicious fighting in Burma.

    Try the New Zealand Official History volume, "Prisoners of War," which is on the web, or the Australian volume, "The Japanese Thrust," the latter half of which is about POWs.
     
  9. Suzanne

    Suzanne Junior Member

    Thankyou everybody. I've now got a photo of Eddie, and have posted it here together with a close up of his sleeve. Can anybody tell me the meaning of the insignia? I hope that it fits with the RWK regiment!

    Suzanne
     
  10. Suzanne

    Suzanne Junior Member

    And the sleeve
     
  11. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Junior Member

    My Grandfather served in the Royal West Kents before the war and went to France as part of the BEF. He was invalided out of service after action in France and Dunkirk. He didnt have a good time of it. Out of four school friends who joined up together (his family always served in the Royal West Kents) he was the only one to come back alive in 1940. Unfortunately the events of Dunkirk, mainly the death of one of his friends as he tried to rescue him, caused him to spend the next few years in a military hospital with 'shellshock' or combat exhaustion and PTSD.
     
  12. Kenjones

    Kenjones Junior Member

    Not a lot of help I am afraid but my father fought in the North African Campaign with the RWK regiment. My family did mention that one of my uncles who was in a different battalion did go to the far east but any more than that I do not know
     

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