ARRIVE IN CHITTAGONG

I had teamed up with three other chaps from 35 PTC and we got rations for four, instead of single rations.  This allowed us to have more.  We had biscuits, bully beef, cheese, pickles, sugar and tea.  We had nothing to make tea in and instead bought some tea on the ferry for four Annas a mug.  

In the late afternoon our ferry arrived at a place called Chandpur.  Here we had to wait about 20 minutes in midstream before docking.  After docking we once again required coolies to take our luggage to yet nother train, where we boarded coaches right at the very end of the train. 

Our train then waited until about 7 p.m. until another ferry arrived.  They sure believed in packing the trains to the hilt.  Once again our impatience and hostile mood was tempered with more beggar boys providing entertainment.  One little group sang to us, believe it or not, "Hold tight, Hold tight, Want some sea food Momma.", which was one of the American hit tunes of the day. Finally about 8:15 pm we were on the move.  So crowded were we in our coach, that once again our bed rolls stayed rolled.  There was no lighting in the coach, and the issue of candles to us when we left HQ now made sense.  We of course lit them so that we could see what was what.   I made myself a drink of milk by pouring my condensed milk in my mug and adding water from my flask. Ugh!! I would say now, but then it was nectar.   This liquid was needed to wash down dried bread, pickles and cheese. 

  The rain continued.   At 4:15 a.m. we arrived in Chittagong.   It was pitch black and pouring with rain - STILL!  The stationmaster told us a lorry would be along to take seven of us to 224 Group HQ.  The lorry arrived.  We boarded and after a hell of a ride over bumpy soggy, muddy "roads?" we arrived 20 minutes later at Group.   The guardroom SP [police], told us that at about 6:30 a.m. there should be showers turned on.  Showers! Hell, all we needed to do was strip in the rain and soap ourselves down as we did at Risalpur.  Ah! but we were pleasantly surprised.  When he had said showers, he meant hot water.  Yes Hot Water!  It was a real treat, and we were also able to shave.  Ah luxury!   I received another pleasant surprise at Group.  The first one was that I had missed my posting to Akyab farther south.  WHY?  It had been captured by the Japanese.  Well that was a near miss!  Next little lot of pleasantries were as follows:  Group was very organized.  They had maps showing the war's progress.  The cookhouse food was good.  There was porridge, although it contained weevils, but heck they were dead and added a bit of colour and a bit of protein didn't hurt anyone.  After I had checked in I was told that I would not be staying there but was being moved farther inland.     

At Chittagong I was informed I was to join 5836 Mobile Signals Unit at Chiringa in Burma.  At 4 a.m. the next day I was roused to eat a hurried breakfast with a jeep driver and his dog.  He took me and my luggage to the ferry.  It was a miserable dark morning and still raining. 

At the ferry there were a dozen or more lorries waiting to unload West African troops.  A coolie grabbed my kit.  I said goodbye to my jeep driver, and slogged through mud to board the ferry.

We pulled out at 7 a.m. and by 3 p.m. we were anchored off of Cox's Bazar.  In relays we were loaded, baggage and all on to several invasion barges which took us about a mile up a narrow canal to a sort of jetty where the bow of the barge dropped and we walked off.    There were no coolies here so we were forced to carry our own kit.  It was no easy chore hefting a large tin box to your shoulder while a Sten gun hung around your neck. Maybe this is why we had the Commando training, to toughen us.  When I think back on that time,  I am often amazed that I was able to do it.  At Cox's I was told that the rains had been very heavy and the "road" to my next posting had been washed out.  I was taken to a transit billet to be "on hold" until I could proceed.  The "roads" to the billet were covered in a wire mesh to hold the soil together.

At the billet, water was obtained from a pump in the centre of a clearing.  Who should I run into here, but Horace Baldwin and John Simmons who had preceded me by a couple of weeks.  They were both operating a D/F tender on the out skirts of the camp.  Horace took me to see John who was on duty.  He was surprised to see me.  I switched my billet as Horace arranged for a cot in their billet.  Much better. 

My stay at Cox's turned into a few days.  While there I was told by the boys that there were two British nurses who rode horses early in the morning on the beach, AND IN THE NUDE, because they then went in for a swim.  I didn't believe it. Sounded like a likely story from guys who had been in Burma too long.  Anyhow, along with Horace and another chap I can't recall now, we did spend an early morning at the beach lying in the water [lovely and warm], like preying crocodiles, waiting for the

horse riding nurses.  We waited some time and then we were rewarded with the sight of them on their horses, in the distance.  TO BE CONTINUED