1/ King's Regiment (Liverpool) Chindits.
 

I am attempting to compile a database of those members of the 1/ King's Regiment (Liverpool) who served as Chindits on Operation Thursday and who flew into Broadway on the 5th March 1944.

I have amassed a large list of names from the CWGC, the 1/King's War diary, the 77th Bde War Diary and Defence Medal roll. However, not everyone who took part has their names mentioned in these sources and I am asking anyone who has medal groups, photographs or ephemera that includes names of 1/King's-Operation Thursday personnel to contact me with details of the person concerned.

I am not asking for items just the name of known I/King's Chindits and their service numbers. In many case I have names without services numbers so any information received may be useful to complete the database. I will be happy to share any information that I have already gathered with those of you who have questions about any specific 1/King's Chindit.

Thank you.

Simon.

Simon,

I am sorry I am unable to help, there are a few mentions of the Chindits and 1st and 13th Battalions in the Regimental Magazines in the 1950`s ( examples attached ) but no mentions of, or lists of, individuals from that period.

Cant remember if I asked before but have you contacted Karen O`Rourke the Kings Regiment Collection Curator to see if she can help ?

Peter

Hi Simon,
There is a list of gallantry awards to all Chindits on this site
www.chindits.info it includes the 1943 and 1944 campaigns, if may fill some gaps for you. (If you click on the title VC's Medals and Citations then on next page click on Medals and Citations the lists will come up)
This other site is very good for1943 Operation Longcloth participants particulary 13th Kings, it contains a role of honour to them. It does not have much info on the 1st Kings Liverpool but may be of interest
www.chinditslongcloth1943.com
Paul

Peter,

thank you very much for taking the time to respond. The articles that you photographed are the sort of thing that I am looking for but they also illustrate the sort of problems that I am having.

I have Lt-Col W. P. Scott, Major F. Freeman and Captains F.P. Wilson and Patey on my list but Captains Blackbourne and Binnie are new to me and can be followed up.

Ex Sgt McGreary, L/Cpl Harris, Moneypenny, Murray and Cowan are new names but with no initials listed they will be difficult to positively identify. There is a Taylor listed on a draft of men from the 13th King's who joined the 1st battalion in 1945 post Operation Thursday.

The whole exercise is a little like doing a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle without a picture and knowing that other pieces were added to the box after the picture was taken.

Simon.

Paul,

many thanks for the information. I have used both sites in my research and Steve Fogden (Chindit Chasing) and others on the WW2 Talk site such as Ken have been extremely helpful with their time and knowledge. The problem is that I have now exhausted the majority of lists, war diaries and Chindit websites and I am now looking to catch the odd name and details from other sources. I now have around 650 names of which about 550 have service numbers. There should be about 900 names in total including officers.

Simon.

Thanks all for the references. I only found out fairly recently about a relative (my father's cousin) who served with 13 King's (Column 7) and died as a POW on 29 January 1944. He is buried in the Rangoon War Cemetery (6.C.2) and included in the Roll of Honour in the Operation Longcloth site.

Tim

7016685 Pte Francis Withey of Tufnell Park, London. His service number suggests that he originally enlisted into the Royal Ulster Rifles.

Yes a Londoner 'born and bred'. The family, originally from the Euston Road area, remained in London from the 1850s to date with the exception of my Grandfather's side. Born in 1888 he joined the South Wales Borderers in 1907 and settled in the Liverpool area at the end of WW1 where he was stationed with 3SWB. As far as I know there were no Irish or Welsh antecedents so not sure why the SWB and RUR were chosen. Other members were RAMC in WW1 and RA and RAF in WW2.

Tim

Private Francis Withey
 

My great uncle was a Chindit in Burma. He was Private Francis Withey 13th Bn King's Regiment (Liverpool) number 7016685. Sadly he died 29th Jan 1944 age 23 as a POW. He was my father's uncle. I would love to know if anyone has any further information about him, possibly knew him or someone who might have known or has any information to share about the 13th Bn?

Many Thanks
Elizabeth Withey

I have sent you a Private Message.

Tim

You should find this website very useful.

https://www.chinditslongcloth1943.com/