'The stench of death was everywhere'

DOUGLAS Wilks is revisiting the once inhospitable land of the Far East where as a Royal Artillery soldier he engaged in one of the campaign's most fierce battles. The 84-year-old is travelling to India with ex-servicemen, widows and relatives to mark the 60th anniversary of key battles that acted as a turning point in the war against the Japanese and led to Allied victory.

The party will make the poignant journey, organised by The Royal British Legion, in memory of the thousands of men who died fighting Japanese forces between December 1941 and September 1945. They will visit Dimapur, Imphal and Kohima, where the Japanese were prevented from advancing further into India, and hold memorial services to quietly remember the vast human sacrifice.

Mr Wilks, of Witton le Wear, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, decided to join the excursion after marching in the Remembrance Day parades at York last year. He says: "I was really proud to be in those parades in honour of those who died during the war but to do that where they actually lost their lives will be an especially fitting tribute.

"It will be a nostalgic and very moving experience, especially visiting the cemeteries and war memorials. Imphal to me was just another battle - gunfire, noise and din. The fighting was ferocious, the Japanese were a merciless enemy and I saw evidence of brutality.

"A lot of people lost their lives through fighting and due to illness, the stench of death was everywhere."

Piers Storie-Pugh founded Remembrance Travel, the Royal British Legion's travel section 20 years ago and has since organised hundreds of poignant excursions. He says that while the enormity of historic Second World War events, such as the D-Day landings, should always be commemorated, it is just as important to mark less well-known events, such as The Battle of Kohima, which took place between April 5 and June 22, 1944.

He says: "Everyone knows about D-Day and there will be an enormous amount of processions and band parades to commemorate the vast achievements made when Allied troops stormed onto the shores at Normandy.

"And that is quite right, it should be commemorated in true grandeur. Yet there were thousands upon thousands of other men and women contributing to the Allied efforts and the parts they played must not be forgotten.

"If we hadn't gone to Kohima there would have been no celebration of the 60th anniversary of what was an epic battle. The young men who died there, almost 18,000 British and Indian soldiers, cannot be forgotten and the survivors must also be applauded.

"Strategically, Kohima was very important for us. It sat in the hills between Imphal and Dimapur and provided the only route from India to Burma. Whoever commanded that town had control of the region.

"The Royal West Kents were rushed there and dug in on Garrison Hill and held out at Kohima until the gunners were brought in. The Royal Artillery played a vital role in the defence of Kohima and saddled themselves with glory with accurate shooting and team work to help keep the Japanese at bay.

"The fighting at Kohima was so close that the District Commissioner's garden was divided. It almost defies belief that troops could be fighting in such close quarters."

Troops fighting in the Far East were so remote from the British people that they became known as the Forgotten Army. A grandfather-of-eight, Mr Wilks is keen that the efforts and bravery of Allied troops during the Forgotten War are remembered by future generations.

He says: "It is important it isn't forgotten. My grandchildren would have liked to have come with me, as they get older they appreciate how difficult it was to be at war.

'THE hardest part was being so far away from home and my wife, Emily, as I was sent overseas just three-and-a-half months after we married. It was tough, we lived wet, especially when the monsoon broke and the travelling was hard on narrow, rough routes and through jungle.

"There was a lot of malaria and dysentery. I lost so much weight that when I finally did come home Emily barely recognised me on the platform at Darlington train station.

"I felt I would like to pay my respect to those who didn't get to come home to their families and lost their lives for today."

Mr Wilks, who spent most his time with the army as a bombardier and was discharged as a sergeant, hopes to find the graves of the five men from his unit, the Royal Artillery 1st Medium Regiment, who died in Asia.

He says: "Map references were taken of jungle graves so they could later be moved to cemeteries. I hope to find the graves of those who served in my regiment, it will be comforting to see that they have been buried properly with marked headstones. I know one, Captain Booth Jones, is at Kohima war cemetery."

Ann Hubble, trip co-ordinator with the Royal British Legion's Remembrance Travel section, says: "Veterans feel it is important to put the ghosts to bed and also to recall the great sense of comradeship from wartime.

"They, and their families, who make these trips particularly want to visit the graves of comrades or relatives they lost at war, may never have met and didn't have a funeral. It is a way of reaching out to them and showing their respect."

At the entrance to the Kohima War Cemetery stands a 15ft high stone epitaph in honour of the allied dead. Carved onto it is an inscription "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today", a stirring verse which has been compared to the words of Greek poet Simonides who wrote after the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC: "Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, that faithful to their precepts here we lie".

Mr Storie-Pugh says: "The comparison has been drawn between those brave allied troops and the Spartans, yet very little will be said or done at home about their gallant efforts. Hopefully we can help to redress the balance and allow the people who it means the most to, veterans and families, to mark the anniversary in their own way.

"This year is likely to be the last major excursion and chance to commemorate the battle's anniversary. Though there may be a trip next year for people who receive grants from the Government Lottery initiative Heroes Return, I do not expect to run it again."