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Handwritten Notes
by
Pte. Alfred Raymond Mason 466698
Called
up at 18 years old
Served 7 years
1st Class – Soldier 7 Shillings a day
Burma Somerset Light Infantry
6 Months in the Arakan
Then up to the North West India Peshawar
21st Birthday there Dimapur
Wounded in the head with ‘D’ Company (Shrapnel wound) The Royal Berkshire Regt. on the bank of Irrawaddy River 1945. 19th Indian Division (Signaller) (The Dagger Division.)
I boxed in I believe it was the Reading Town Hall or is it called Guildhall in either late 1946 or 1947 and I fought Cpl. Williams and we were both Physical Training Instructors at Brock Barracks.
While with the S.O.M.L.I. I went down to Bombay with other lads in the Battn. to make a film which was sent to England so the family could see me and it was set on a film set made to look like N.A.A.F.I. (An café run in every camp for forces personnel, Navy, Army, and Air Force) there were Indian bearers (Waiters) getting us soft drinks and food and I was sitting at a table reading a newspaper then they turned the camera on me and I put the newspaper down and said my piece to my family in England “Hello mom, dad sister Joyce, brother Eric and girl friend Doris” (Who I was engaged to) I spent a few days in Bombay (Where we landed on arrival from England) it was very interesting and I sat on the sea wall facing the Taj Mahal Hotel listing to the music in the evening. Then going round Bombay in the day and visiting the Bazaars and shops and other sights which was very interesting.
Just prior to The Admin Box was sent back
to India to get new top false teeth because teeth were smashed when cutting
bamboo in jungle. I cut a length of bamboo that was trapped between other bamboo
branches and that length sprang free and smashed into my teeth.
I could not stop with my unit or I would really have starved with hard biscuit’s
and corned beef to eat when we got it, (Like giving a baby a Bicky-peg) it
would harden my gums and that’s about all.
I was in a Forward Dressing Station on my way down to India just behind the front line and a couple of days afterwards the Japs overran it and killed all the sick and wounded (No Mercy)
Joined 2nd Btn Royal Berkshire Reg Oct 44 into war with Japs from Kohima through to Toungoo 96 miles north of Rangoon.
Day I was wounded in early morning 11-00 a.m. 29 January 1944. Been attacking the enemy since very early morning. Started at first light.
Then the journey back to Peswar on the Northwest Fontier through a lot of interesting country through Amasister, new and old Delhi and many other not so well known railway stations. Some of the country railway station (Some just had a hut as ticket office and anything else to do with the railway. At some of the more country type railway station you could see monkey’s sitting on the fence around the railway stn. and some used to come up to the train begging for food.
Pte. Alfred Raymond Mason