211844 Rfmn. Bertie Parkin British Army 1st Battalion Cameronians from:Darlington, Durham (d.19th April 1942) Bertie Parkin of the 1st Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
died on 19 April 1942, aged 26 years. His name is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial. None of my family is sure what actually happened to Bertie, only he never came home. He was presumed killed or missing. A search on Google turns up a note about his campaign medals which somehow were sold in auction in 2008 and that his name is listed on the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar.
I have a number of his letters home from 1941/42 when he was serving in Meadows Barracks, Secunderabad, Deccan, India. These go into a lot of detail: Onions with every meal and eggs costing 1d each. 10 Players cigarettes for 3d. Cakes and tea from the Charwalla which they get 'on the book' and pay for at the weekend. How the natives do everything for them and he even gets a shave in bed and then has his bed made and boots cleaned by a native.
Going to the pictures to see "Green Light" and Laurel and Hardy in "A Close Shave".
He goes about with a couple of friends from Hexham and Copley but doesn't mention their names.
There's lots more letters and info if anyone is interested I can pass this on.
If anyone has any information or can tell me how to access the war diaries from the date he was listed as killed that would be hugely appreciated.
Additional Information: | The 1942 Campaign - Burma
The Japanese Invasion of Burma
The first Japanese ground action against Burma was in December 1941, when a battalion of 143rd Regiment of 55th Division crossed the Burma-Siam border and seized Victoria Point on 16 December, the most southerly extremity of Tenasserim. The first air raids on Rangoon occurred on 23 and 25 December, opposed by only two fighter squadrons - 16 P40s of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) and 16 Buffaloes of the RAF. On the ground, this was followed by a lull as the Japanese organised themselves for the invasion proper from across the border with Siam. On 23 December 1941, General Wavell flew to Chungking to discuss the war situation and to ask for specific help from the Chinese Government. Keen to defend their supply line, the Burma Road, the Chinese offered their V and VI Armies for the defence of Burma. These Chinese forces were to be under the command of GOC Burma Army but with their own line of communications. In early January 1942, General Hutton, GOC Burma Army Command since 27 December, prepared an assessment of the situation in Burma, in which he recognised the vulnerability of the strategic port of Rangoon. He ordered the stocking of a series of depots in upper Burma in the area Mandalay-Meiktila as a backstop. The defence of northern Tenasserim would centre around Moulmein and was the responsibility of 17th Indian Infantry Division, which eventually had four infantry brigades under command. The Shan States and Karenni, to the north, would be defended by 1st Burma Division and the Chinese 227th Regiment. Meanwhile, the Japanese 15th Army had completed its preparations for invasion. 55th Division finished its concentration at Raheng, Siam, at the beginning of January. It was joined by 33rd Division by 10 January and work began to improve communications to the frontier. IIIrd Battalion, 112th Regiment crossed the frontier on 15 January and captured the town of Tavoy with its airfield on the 19th, forcing the evacuation of the Mergui garrison to Rangoon the next day. The Japanese now had the three airfields, at Victoria Point, Tavoy and Mergui, from which to fly fighter escorts for the bombers attacking Rangoon. On 21 January, a larger scale attack by 55th Division forced the withdrawal of 16th Indian Infantry Brigade from the Kawkareik position. The subsequent defence of Moulmein was stubborn if short and a further withdrawal on 31 January, across the Salween estuary by river steamer to Martaban, was brilliantly handled (click here for the Order of Battle Burma Army on 1st February 1942) It was then hoped that the Japanese could be held on the Salween but a Japanese crossing established a roadblock north of Martaban and forced the withdrawal of the garrison on 9 February. At Kuzeik, the 7/10th Baluch were all but destroyed on 11 February. Further Japanese pressure produced another withdrawal to the Bilin River, where again it was hoped to make a stand. In the first major action oJohn Cyril Tomalin
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| Following more research and contact from other sources with information about Bertie Parkin:
He was born on 21st March 1916, Bertie Parkin was the son of Theodore, a coal miner and Catherine Parkin of 1 Wood Row, Butterknowle. Bertie worked on the buses before joining the 1st Battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) as a rifleman - Private B. Parkin - Service number: 3252568
In 1941 Bertie was posted to Meadows Barracks, Trimulgherry, India.
According to survivor accounts, he was taken prisoner following a vicious firefight with Japanese forces along the Mandalay Road during the gruelling British retreat through Burma in 1942. Information is a little mixed at this stage but it seems this took place in late April or early May 1942. Initially his family were informed he was missing in action.
In 1946 they received a letter from a former POW named R. H. Sharpe, from Houghton-Le-Spring, also in County Durham. Mr Sharpe was held in the same Japanese camp in Burma. He recalled Bertie being brought in very badly wounded. With no access to medical treatment, Bertie died of his wounds 3 or 4 days later aged 26.
As well as his name being engraved on the Rangoon Memorial in Burma (Myanmar), his name is also remembered on the WW1/WW2 memorial in Butterknowle, County Durham (as B Parkin) and on a plaque in St. John’s Church, Lynesack, County Durham. Andrew
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