JOHN McAleer MM 2 Recce

HI owen,sol,tom and paul thanks so much for your help I am amazed that you have turned up this information I have tried a few times and got nowhere i am glad i came across WW2 Talk. I will keep trying to get more info on the St valery part of my dads war effort I have considered visiting Kew aand maybe I will soon I have uploaded a copy of the citation for my dads medal that I got from the MOD . Best Regards willie

 

HI owen,sol,tom and paul thanks so much for your help I am amazed that you have turned up this information I have tried a few times and got nowhere i am glad i came across WW2 Talk. I will keep trying to get more info on the St valery part of my dads war effort I have considered visiting Kew aand maybe I will soon I have uploaded a copy of the citation for my dads medal that I got from the MOD . Best Regards willie


wmca,

We are glad that you found us.

Thanks for sharing the paperwork for the MM award and the very special personal letter from General Slim.

Regards
Tom

 

Willie, Thanks for sharing the paperwork for the MM award and the personal letter from General Slim.

Cheers
Paul

 

Hi Owen,Thanks for the link there is some good reading in that.It's good to read some first hand accounts of what happened day to day in that situation also good that the guys took the time to write thier story . Cheers willie

 

Welcome aboard, Willie.
I did miss your original post, but glad you were pointed to one of mine and that you found it of interest. Thanks for posting your stuff, good to see

very best

 

some more 2Recce detail from Ken Hook's obit in the Telegraph, oh and 2Recce guarded Ghandi when he was placed under house arrest^_^


"In March 1944 Hook, commanding C Squadron 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (2RR), was ordered to move his force from its base in Poona and rejoin the regiment which was already in action at Kohima.

They set off in convoy on a journey of 2,000 miles. It was like driving in a permanent dust storm, Hook said afterwards. The Japanese had surrounded Kohima, the whole area was crawling with enemy troops and, before the beleaguered garrison could be relieved, the stranglehold had to be broken. The days were hot and sticky with, it seemed, every type of insect seeking its quota of human blood. The nights were cold. Giant frogs croaked, hyenas howled and the Japanese patrols tried to unnerve the sentries with their cackle of "Johnny Ha, Ha, Ha" which echoed through the valleys.
Hook reorganised his unit from an armoured car establishment to a recce force on foot. There was no front line. The Japanese were on all sides of him. It was like sitting on a hornets' nest.
His squadron was in continual contact and the fighting was ferocious. A young doctor who was replacing a colleague who had been killed was ferried to a clearing in the jungle and told: "Your regiment is just up there. Run like hell. Zig-zag all the way. Stop and you're a dead man."
When the monsoon broke, dried-up river beds became torrents. Hook's recce troops slipped and slithered on the rain-sodden slopes and their boots turned green with mildew.
At night leeches dropped from the trees while the exhausted men slept. In the morning, they awoke covered in blood. "It was like a knacker's yard," Hook said. "For a moment, I thought the Japs had crept in and slit everybody's throats."
C Squadron was ordered to protect 2nd Infantry Division's right flank by reconnoitring and securing Pulebadze, a jungle-covered ridge 7,500 ft above sea level. A section of mules and 18 Naga tribesmen helped carry the equipment. Each plateau on the climb was pitted with foxholes and the Japanese were expert at crouching down in the bottom and popping up behind Hook's men as soon as they had passed.
The squadron rejoined 2RR after 19 days occupying the area. A hot bath in a cut-off 50-gallon oil drum seemed like luxury after weeks of being rationed to half a pint of water a day. After the relief of Kohima, C Squadron was involved in several fierce engagements in the break-out and advance to relieve Imphal."

 

At home dad.thanks for the reply some good reading there. cheers willie