Albert Lawson Titley

My father, Albert Lawson Titley, served in the South Staffordshire Regiment which formed part of the 19th Indian Division. He recounted one incident when they were fighting the Japanese on opposite sides of a paddy field.

The Japanese began to advance, so the order was given for my father's regiment to retreat. My father was a Bren Gunner (a gun mounted on a tripod). His role was to give the soldiers in his regiment cover whilst they retreated to safer ground. Needless to say, when my father was left alone giving cover, he must have been terrified, he was only 19 years old. Every time he tried to retreat himself, the Japanese could see the reeds in the paddy field move, so they knew his exact position.

His Sergeant realised what was happening and went back to help my father. The Sergeant crawled to him and told him to hold onto the Bren Gun while he dragged my dad to safety. My dad was lucky that the Sergeant realised the situation or the outcome could have been very different for my dad. The Sergeant's name was Lewis.

Most of the time the battles took place in the jungle which meant camps were set up in the jungle. It was monsoon season so they rarely had dry clothes to wear and certainly no facilities. There was an incident when my dad needed to answer a 'call of nature'. He went a few yards away from camp for privacy, when he heard the voice of a Japanese soldier saying he could see him and calling him 'Johnny'. I don't know whether this was the name they used for all Allied soldiers but it was enough to scare my dad to death and he quickly made his way back to camp.

My dad was involved in the Battle of Kohima. It was said to be the most bloodiest battle of the Second World War.