The Chindit Society

Discussion in 'Burma & India' started by bamboo43, Mar 21, 2016.

  1. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Sadly, since being involved in the media coverage for VJ Day 75, Chindits Alby Gibson and Jim Clark have heartbreakingly passed away aged 99 and 98 respectively.
     
  2. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

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  3. FABVOICE

    FABVOICE Junior Member

    Still here! :)
     
  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Good to know. :)
     
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  5. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Ian,

    I've just finished the latest edition of the Society newsletter this evening. Sad to say we will have a very restricted presence at the Cenotaph march-past this year. The RBL have cut the numbers by around 50% and with the latest announcements re: Covid-19, even this could yet be reduced or even worse, cancelled. Last year seems like a life-time ago now!

    Steve
     
  6. Gordon Kirby

    Gordon Kirby Member

    Hello all,

    My father was one of the Members of Chindits, and participated in Both Operations. He and recently celebrated his 95th birthday. I'm wondering if you have any affiliation or members in Australia.

    Gordon
     
  7. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hello Gordon,

    I was pleased to read your post about your father. I have asked the secretary of the Society if we have any members in Australia and will let you know presently. In the meantime it would be wonderful to hear more about your Dad and his experiences in Burma.

    Best wishes

    Steve
     
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  8. Gordon Kirby

    Gordon Kirby Member

    Dad didn't talk much about things that happened back then. Some of the snippets he shared include:

    When an Elephant went crazy and chased some of the men across an Landing strip that was being constructed. It was stopped by a 2" mortar round.

    Another being
    When on night picket a Japanese soldier attempted to catch him unaware and was stopped. The Soldiers bayonet fell into dad's foot giving him a nasty wound. I recall times when he was snoozing or and woke with a start grasping his toe. There were a couple of similar flashbacks from that situation one of my sisters was hiding behind a settee jumped up behind him and hugged him around the neck, his reaction was surprising she wasn't hurt, just went for a little flight through the air.

    Or
    When he was enjoying a meal at one of the high end restaurant in Rangoon, was chastised by an Uppity Lieutenant for wearing inappropriate attire. Dad still in his Raincoat and field dress took issue with this, removed the Raincoat thereby revealing his Captaincy, and cautioning the Lieutenant, in a military way.
     
  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Those are great stories Gordon, can you tell me who your father served with, his regiment etc.
     
  10. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Gordon,

    There are three family memberships in Australia. One in Western Australia and two in Victoria.

    Steve
     
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  11. Gordon Kirby

    Gordon Kirby Member

    Not sure about that, he was one of the RAF Signals detachment, and mentioned something about the 44th independent Infantry Brigade.
     
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  12. Gordon Kirby

    Gordon Kirby Member

    The closest Members to Dad are the two in you have in Victoria.
     
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  13. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    RAF detachments are notoriously difficult to trace in Chindit war diaries etc. This is simply due to these officers and men being attached to a regimental unit (battalion in this case) and not being part of the previously existing structure.
     
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  14. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    It might be the case that the Chindit veteran is no longer with us in these particular cases. At the last count, there were roughly 50 Chindit veterans still alive that the Society was aware of. Your father would be one of the younger ones at 95 years old.
     
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  15. Gordon Kirby

    Gordon Kirby Member

    True, time has a way of seeing to that. The day I worked out he was underage when he enlisted was sad, so many youth who grew up in such a difficult time.
     
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  16. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    You should be very proud of your father's efforts during the war. The role of RAF Liaison with the Chindits was a crucial one and something that Wingate himself was keen to prove would work. Two RAF Flight Lieutenants alongside six other RAF personnel (usually Flight Sergeants) would be attached to every Chindit column and act as Air Liaison with both rear base in India and the other columns in Burma. Their main role was to locate suitable areas in Burma to take supply drops from the RAF and USAAF Dakota aircraft.

    Once the location was chosen, they would instruct the Chindits to build an L-shaped area (sometimes T-shaped) on the ground with fire stacks placed to indicate the perimeter. This was known as the DZ or drop zone. They would then call in the aircraft and light the fires to highlight the DZ for dropping. Supply drops could last for several hours as Dakotas came in low and dropped their cargo, mostly by parachute, but often simply pushing the gear out without a chute, or free dropping as it was called.

    The RAF role was crucial to all Chindits, as obviously if the officers on the ground could not guide in the planes above accurately enough, the men would go hungry and run out of ammunition and supplies. In 1944, the role was further increased with the introduction of rescue planes to take casualties out of Burma and guiding USAAF bombers and fighter planes in to attack newly discovered Japanese positions.

    Air supply and RAF liaison was probably the biggest and most important success of the Chindit story, so you should be extremely proud of your father and all he achieved. I have written quite a lot about the men from the first Chindit expedition and to some extent the men from the RAF who took part. To read more about these, please follow this link to my website:

    Squadrons 31 and 194 Manna From Heaven

    If you would like to learn more about the Chindit Society then here is a link to our website, which includes membership details:

    About the Chindits - The Chindit Society
     
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  17. Gordon Kirby

    Gordon Kirby Member

    I am very proud of Dad and the what he achieved. Thank you for those references they are extremely interesting.
     
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  18. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

  19. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Exciting times for my research right now. I have been given 6 box files of papers, letters and photographs of Chindit related material. These are proving to be invaluable for my Longcloth based research including letters written by Chindits long-since passed and a few new photographs I've never come across, of men who served with the 13th King's. Some new names to add to my nominal roll.

    There is also a wealth of material in relation to Operation Thursday similar to the above. I am collating it all over the coming weeks and will report back.
     
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  20. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    I wondered why we hadn't heard too much from you lately. Does your second paragraph indicate the possibility of some 1/King's material?
     
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