Mishal Husain’s grandfather: Syed Shahid Hamid, 3rd Indian Cavalry Regt, attached RIASC, Burma

Discussion in 'British Indian Army' started by dbf, Sep 3, 2020.

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    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Mishal Husain: My grandfather’s war
    [Video in link]

    This week marks the 75th anniversary of World War Two formally coming to an end.

    A crucial part of Britain’s war effort came from the soldiers of its empire – particularly the Indian Army, which by the end of the war had provided more than two million men.

    BBC presenter and journalist Mishal Husain’s grandfather was one of them.


    [Features archives from Royal military academy Sandhurst, where Syed Shahid Hamid was a Cadet in 1932.]

    Syed Shahid Hamid.png
    Shahid was ordered to Burma. His ship arrived in Rangoon in the middle of an airstrike.

    Michal’s uncle, Major General Ali Hamid, has pieced together his father Shahid’s story:

    Screenshot 2020-09-03 at 15.16.55.png

    ’Since we had no air cover, they selected their targets at ease and the big ammunition dump was blown up. I had been sent to Mandalay that every morning to ascertain the conditions prevailing in the town. Soon after my arrival the bombing started. As there was no warning system we were caught unaware. It was terrible when the wooden houses caught fire and the ammunition dumps started exploding. I was blown into a trench and thought that I’d been hit and could not open my eyes. After some time I realised that I could not see properly and ... [with?] great difficulty returned to Mamoyo and went to the .... who told me to rest, but that was out of the question.’

    Screenshot 2020-09-03 at 15.30.58.png


     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2020
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