Dad's story of the end of World War 2
MY VERSION OF THE END OF THE BURMA CAMPAIGN
By JS. Hamilton who took the salute at the War Memorial for VJ +50
My Regiment , the 4th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, a Regiment of 25 pounder field guns, was part of the famous 5th Indian Division, who fought the Japanese from Imphal/ Kohima to the outskirts of Rangoon, collecting 4 VCs on the way,
The Japanese at this point were virtually beaten and the Division was put on stand-by for the retaking of Malaya and Singapore, but for some reason we were never told , the Regiment was taken out of the project and sent back north and east to the Shan States to support a Brigade of the 19th Division who were still meeting some resistance.
Whilst operating near to Taungyii, the capital of the Shan States news came through that an atom bomb had been dropped on Japan, and we were told that this could bring about the end of the war. Whether it was right to use this terrible weapon never crossed our minds, there was great elation everywhere, we had survived, a short time later on 15th August it was finally over and we could go home.
A signal was sent from Brigade HQ to fire a Victory Salute at 10.00 hrs the following morning. Several high ranking officers appeared from nowhere, they wanted the used brass cartridge cases for souvenirs.
The guns that fired the Victory Salute in that far-off place near the Indo-China border was accepted to be the last the last rounds fired in the Burma Campaign
No comments:
Post a Comment