• Latest
  • Trending
[Daily Mail]Captain TOM MOORE recalls the warning he received before riding off in the Burmese jungle 

[Daily Mail]Captain TOM MOORE recalls the warning he received before riding off in the Burmese jungle 

2 years ago
[Indian Express]Inside Track: Shah’s Strategy

[Indian Express]Inside Track: Shah’s Strategy

3 hours ago
[Daily Excelsior]India logs 17,092 new Covid cases, 29 deaths – Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K

[Daily Excelsior]India logs 17,092 new Covid cases, 29 deaths – Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K

3 hours ago
[The Hindu]Three spies working for Pakistan held in Rajasthan’s border districts

[The Hindu]Three spies working for Pakistan held in Rajasthan’s border districts

4 hours ago
[Kashmir Reader]Violence will yield nothing: LG Sinha – Kashmir Reader

[Kashmir Reader]Violence will yield nothing: LG Sinha – Kashmir Reader

5 hours ago
[Kashmir Reader]Allow smooth passage of fruit laden trucks on Sgr-Jmu highway: NC to admin – Kashmir Reader

[Kashmir Reader]Allow smooth passage of fruit laden trucks on Sgr-Jmu highway: NC to admin – Kashmir Reader

5 hours ago
[Times of India] To counter PM Modi, Opposition going after govt’s development schemes: Nadda | India News – Times of India

[Times of India] To counter PM Modi, Opposition going after govt’s development schemes: Nadda | India News – Times of India

6 hours ago
[The Northlines]J&K schools, colleges, hospitals to be named after those who laid lives for country’s integrity: LG Sinha – Northlines

[The Northlines]J&K schools, colleges, hospitals to be named after those who laid lives for country’s integrity: LG Sinha – Northlines

6 hours ago
[Daily Excelsior]inner voice – Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K

[Daily Excelsior]inner voice – Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K

6 hours ago
[Deccan Chronicle]BJP lauds Modi for steering country in difficult times

[Deccan Chronicle]BJP lauds Modi for steering country in difficult times

7 hours ago
[Hindustan Times]Grief, shock afflict families of soldiers who died in Manipur landslide

[Hindustan Times]Grief, shock afflict families of soldiers who died in Manipur landslide

7 hours ago
[Business Standard]Public WiFi zones activated at 3 locations for Amarnath pilgrims in Jammu

[Business Standard]Public WiFi zones activated at 3 locations for Amarnath pilgrims in Jammu

7 hours ago
[Voice of America]Afghan Clerics’ Assembly Urges Recognition of Taliban Govt

[Voice of America]Afghan Clerics’ Assembly Urges Recognition of Taliban Govt

8 hours ago
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
Sunday, July 3, 2022
  • Login
Pakistan News Updates
  • Home
  • USA News
    • Bloomberg
    • Chicago Tribune News
    • CNN News
    • Fox News
    • Huffington Post News
    • Los Angeles Times News
    • ESPN
    • NBC News
    • New York Time News
    • Newsweek News
    • Reddit News
    • Reuters News
    • Time News
    • USA TODAY News
    • Washington Post News
    • Wall Street Journal
  • UK News
    • BBC News
    • Cambridge News UK News
    • Daily Express UK News
    • Daily Mail Online News
    • The Guardian News
    • The Huffington Post UK News
    • The Independent News
    • The Irish Times UK News
    • The Telegraph News
  • Chinese News
    • Beijing Bulletin News
    • China Digital Times News
    • China Military News
    • Chinadaily.com.cn News
    • Ecns News
    • People’s Daily Online News
    • Shanghai Daily News
    • South China Morning Post News
    • SupChina News
    • The China Post News
    • Xinhuanet News
    • Xinwengao News
  • Indian News
    • Business Standard News
    • Daily Excelsior News
    • Deccan Chronicle News
    • Free Press Journal News
    • Hindustantimes News
    • India Today News
    • Kashmir Reader News
    • NDTV News
    • News18 News
    • Northlines News
    • Oneindia News
    • Patrika News
    • Rising Kashmir News
    • Scroll.in News
    • State Times News
    • Telangana Today News
    • The Asian Age News
    • The Financial Express News
    • The Hindu News
    • The Indian Express News
    • The Quint News
    • Times of India News
    • ZeeNews 24 News
  • Arab News
    • Saudigazette
    • Albawaba News
    • Aljazera News
    • Arab News
    • UAE News Media
      • Al Arabiya News
      • Al bayan News
      • Al Ittihad Newspaper News
      • UAE today News
      • The National.ae News
      • Khaleej Times News
      • Emirates 24/7 News
  • Other Media
    • European News Media
      • French News Media
        • France 24 News
        • France Diplomatie News
        • Le Monde diplomatique News
        • RFI News
        • The Local News
        • The Paris News
      • German News Media
        • DEUTSCHLAND.de News
        • SPIEGEL ONLINE News
        • ZEIT News
    • Russian News Media
      • RT News
      • Russia Insider News
      • Sputnik News
      • TASS News
      • The Moscow Times News
    • Canadian News Media
      • CBC News
      • CityNews Toronto News
      • CTV News
      • Financial Post News
      • Global News
      • Reuters News
      • The Globe and Mail News
      • Toronto Star News
      • Toronto Sun
      • National Post
    • Israel Media News
      • Haaretz News
      • The Jerusalem Post
      • The Times of Israel
    • Turkish News Media
      • Anadolu
      • Daily Sabah
      • Hurriyet
      • TRT World
      • Yenisafak
      • NationalTurk
No Result
View All Result
Pakistan News Updates
No Result
View All Result
Home UK News Media Daily Mail Online

[Daily Mail]Captain TOM MOORE recalls the warning he received before riding off in the Burmese jungle 

August 31, 2020
in Daily Mail Online
11 min read
250 3
0
[Daily Mail]Captain TOM MOORE recalls the warning he received before riding off in the Burmese jungle 
491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
[Daily Mail]Captain TOM MOORE recalls the warning he received before riding off in the Burmese jungle 


He found fame during lockdown as the 99-year-old who raised more than £32 million for NHS charities and was knighted by the Queen last month. 

Now, in the second part of our exclusive serialisation of centenarian Captain Tom Moore’s memoirs, he describes how he rose through the Army ranks with his trusty motorcycle to play a vital role in the brutal war against the Japanese in India and Burma.

But however dangerous his mission, he never lost his eye for the ladies…

When I went off to war in 1940, my 81-year-old grandmother told my mother, 'Don't worry about our Tom. I'll be looking after him from heaven,' writes Captain Tom Moore

When I went off to war in 1940, my 81-year-old grandmother told my mother, ‘Don’t worry about our Tom. I’ll be looking after him from heaven,’ writes Captain Tom Moore

When I went off to war in 1940, my 81-year-old grandmother told my mother, ‘Don’t worry about our Tom. I’ll be looking after him from heaven.’

True to her word, ‘Granny Fanny’ as I called her (her name was Frances or Fanny Burton) was dead within a year. I like to believe she’s been looking after me ever since.

The last time I saw her, I was 20 years old and I’d just had my conscription papers ordering me to report to the Infantry Training Centre at Weston Park near Otley, 11 miles from our home at Keighley in Yorkshire. 

It was a glorious summer’s day and I remember my Granny Fanny knitting socks for the armed forces in the front room as I prepared to go.

I bent to kiss her on the cheek and said, ‘Goodbye, Granny,’ but she gripped my hand, looked up into my eyes and replied firmly, ‘No, Tom. It’s goodnight.’

I squeezed her hand even tighter and gave her another quick peck, unable to speak.

Then I strapped my suitcase to the back of my motorbike. It had carried me on many thrilling rides across the moors with my tweed cap pulled down over my ears. Now it was taking me off to war.

I waved to my parents and sister, and rode to the camp at Weston Park — little more than an open field dotted with about 500 bell tents.

Captain Tom Moore is pictured middle. He served as an officer with the 145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps from 1940

Captain Tom Moore is pictured middle. He served as an officer with the 145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps from 1940

Very quickly I came to an important decision. I looked at my fellow soldiers in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and I looked at the officers, and I knew where my ambition lay. From that moment on, it was my intention to get a commission. After all, fortune favours the brave.

As an officer I could see that I’d have a much better life with a better uniform, and I wanted more responsibility.

I quickly learned that the regimental sergeant major was someone who could assist my ambition, so when he asked if he could borrow my motorbike to visit his ladylove, I immediately agreed.

After that, I never had to do another route march again because — if ever there was one — he made me second dispatch rider, instead.

Taking my bike to camp had served me well and that simple act followed me, for good or ill, for the next five years.

As we learned to shoot rifles and dismantle a Bren gun, I earned my first stripe and then my second, becoming a full corporal.

In March 1941, I was recommended for the OCTU or Officer Cadet Training Unit and, within six months, I had achieved my goal.

I was an officer, albeit a second lieutenant — and I was headed for active service in India on the ‘WS Convoy’… the Winston’s Special!

The temperatures in India were something that neither I nor any of my comrades in the Ninth Battalion had ever experienced.

Having survived the hustle and bustle of the Bombay quayside, we were taken to the rail-way station — teeming with people, sights, sounds and smells we could hardly credit.

Given some Indian currency, we were put on a train to Poona, a distance of 100 miles in packed carriages that crawled along painfully slowly. It did get a bit hot.

Pictured: Captain Tom serving with his battalion during the war

Pictured: Captain Tom serving with his battalion during the war

In the posher areas of Poona, we discovered there were a few eligible daughters of the Raj and, of course, some chaps did their best to woo them. To their surprise, the girls were old-fashioned and rather snobbish, just like their parents.

If approached in a flirtatious way, these young ladies would look the men up and down and say, ‘I can’t possibly talk to you until you have given your card to Daddy’.

RelatedPosts

[Daily Mail]NHS plan to contain polio by contacting parents of unvaccinated children as source search continues

[Daily Mail]Channel migrants who arrived in the UK last week have already been handed letters warning them

[Daily Mail]Revellers don their finery in Union flag accessories as they step out at Epsom Racecourse

There was no insecticide and the flies were everywhere. India also had an alarming array of poisonous snakes and spiders. 

One night, I woke up screaming because I thought a snake was crawling across me — only to find it was nothing more than a river of sweat pouring off my chest.

We were there to train for fighting the Japanese in Burma. The plan at first was to use tanks: no one had realised yet that the jungle was ‘untankable’. 

Because it was known that I understood how to operate most vehicles, I was put in charge of training men in tank warfare, even though I’d hardly ever been in one.

But it wasn’t long before the top brass worked out that tanks were next to useless in this war. What the unit urgently needed was dispatch riders to pass messages to and from the front lines. The brigadier summoned me: ‘I am appointing you Brigade Motorcycle Trainer, as of NOW!’ he said.

Most of my trainees learned fairly quickly, though some were better than others and several were downright useless. I was having the time of my life: rough terrain riding took me straight back to the Yorkshire Dales and the motorbike trials I had enjoyed in my youth.

Dispatch riders were the unsung heroes of World War II, receiving little recognition though they played a vital role in maintaining communications between headquarters and the troops, often in extreme danger.

In places such as India and Burma there were few, if any, overground telephone lines and, even if there were, these were frequently cut or damaged. 

Wireless sets offered radio operators only a limited range and their messages could be intercepted, so the humble dispatch rider was often the only way to get top-secret orders and other messages through.

I warned the trainees that our maps would be often unreliable and virtually useless once the monsoons washed away tracks or turned passable roads into uncrossable bogs. 

Each rider therefore had to learn the skills to navigate solo, using his wits and sense of direction, while riding ‘off road’, often under enemy fire.

At the end of each course, the trainees had to complete a test before being sent back to their battalions. 

The test involved a long road trip across country, so I devised the brilliant idea of taking them the 120 miles to Bombay and back, driving there in the daylight, staying overnight and returning the following day. If they made it there and back, they passed.

I must confess to having an ulterior motive for my repeated trips to Bombay. Her name was Sylvia. She was half-Indian, half-French and the pretty younger sister of the girlfriend of a pal of mine. After I met Sylvia, I knew I had to get back to her arms as often as I could.

She was delightful, so lovely that I started rushing the men through their training just so I could get to her every weekend. Sylvia and I would go to a bar for a drink and then out for a meal before returning to the house where she lived.

It couldn’t last, of course. Bombay, or Mumbai as it is now, was on the west coast, and Burma was far to the east.

Pictured: Captain Tom, who raised millions for NHS charities, with his beloved motorcycle

Pictured: Captain Tom, who raised millions for NHS charities, with his beloved motorcycle

My battalion was sent to Calcutta, where I went down with a bad fever. I don’t remember too much about it, but I know I spent several days in a hotel bed with a blazing temperature, a nasty headache and nobody to tend to me. 

Aching all over and unable to eat, I was too ill even to take myself to a doctor but, eventually, the fever broke and I was able to rejoin my unit.

I lost so much weight that one Lieutenant Colonel, who was walking behind me, said: ‘Moore, you haven’t got a bottom. You’ve only got tops of legs.’

The unit doctor informed me that I’d had dengue fever, a viral infection spread by mosquitoes. 

He said I was lucky that it hadn’t become life-threatening but I told him that having grown up in a family where you either got better or you didn’t, there was no choice to be a softie about it — or anything else.

There wasn’t much chance of that in the Army either. With a small contingent of troops, I was sent ahead of my battalion to Burma. 

Shortly before we set off, we heard the distressing news that the Japanese had overrun a British main dressing station (or medical tent) in the region where we were heading. 

They’d killed not only the handful of West Yorkshires guarding it, but bayoneted the doctors, orderlies and patients in a senseless act of barbarity.

Our reaction was one of rage and a renewed determination to crush the enemy. Perhaps in light of what had happened, we were each given a tablet of cyanide, a lethal dose to swallow if we were captured. 

Death by poisoning must have been considered a preferable option to what the Japanese might do to us.

We were constantly on the move through jungle and across open country towards destinations I’d never heard of and likely couldn’t have pronounced if I had. Our skirmishes were many and varied in all sorts of conditions, from scrubland and paddy fields to bamboo forests and dense jungle of the Arakan.

The commander of our group was Lieutenant Colonel Richard Agnew, a Northamptonshire cavalryman from the 15th/19th King’s Royal Hussars. 

One day, he summoned me and a couple of captains to inform us that the Japanese had reportedly severed the road behind us, as was their way. Agnew ordered us to go back and find out where and how badly we’d been cut off.

I remember his words as clearly as if he said them yesterday — before sending us on what seemed like a suicide mission, he a dded casually, ‘And I say, you chaps, if you get yourselves killed, I shall be very displeased with you.’

I survived and, in July 1944, I was promoted to Captain. Having done my bit in the Arakan, I was owed some leave, so I decided to take a 2,000-mile train and road trip to Gulmarg in northern India. 

On my first night, sitting in the hotel bar, I met a pretty Anglo-Indian lady who reminded me of the lovely Sylvia.

Her husband, she told me, was a prisoner of the Japanese and she’d gone to Kashmir to wait for news of him. We started chatting and became friendly. I hadn’t expected to find romance in the mountains, but there it was.

In no time, I was on the front line again, with a new title: Infantry Liaison Officer. In effect, a dispatch rider who carried no dispatches or papers. I myself was the message.

There were no roads as such — just winding tracks through a bamboo forest. The belief was that if I successfully made it through several miles of bamboo and scrubland from one command post to the next, then each unit would know the path was clear.

The only way to cross that kind of terrain was on a motorbike and the skills that I had learned as a teenager, riding motorbikes on the hillsides, were the best chance I had of staying alive.

This was about to be the most dangerous period of my war. On every trip I gassed the engine and roared through the jungle as fast as I could, trying not to think about the noise my machine was making.

In this, perhaps the most dangerous time trial of all, I deployed all those tactics and used my instincts to get through.

I don’t recall ever being shot at or chased, but I was well aware that the enemy was always just out of sight through the trees, so I didn’t hang around anywhere long enough to find out. Granny Fanny must have been watching over me still.

All I had on me was my loaded Smith & Wesson revolver and a heavy radio strapped to the back of the bike with which to wireless if the road was clear — or not.

By early 1945, the Army had thought of a very different use for me. I was going back to training recruits… this time at the Royal Armoured Corps AFV School at Bovington Camp in Dorset.

A rather uninspiring colonel stuck in a hot office told me: ‘You are to train for the role of Technical Adjutant at Southern Command, Captain Moore. Once qualified, you are to train up your men with the new Churchill tanks.’

I left the East with mixed feelings, glad to be returning safely to Britain, but disappointed that I couldn’t finish the job.

By the time I was settled into my new role, the war in Europe was over. To me, that was only half the story. 

My comrades were still fighting in the jungles. It wasn’t until VJ Day, marking Victory In Japan — celebrated over two days of national holiday on August 15 and 16, 1945 — that I felt real relief.

I was out of step with much of Britain. The Burma Campaign, fought in a country far, far away when so much of the focus was on Europe and Africa, never got the same attention or sympathy.

It will forever be known as the ‘Forgotten War’. But not by me. Not ever.

Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day by Captain Tom Moore, is published by Michael Joseph on September 17, £20. © Captain Tom Moore 2020. 

To order a copy for £16 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Free delivery on orders over £15. Promotional prices valid until September 11, 2020.



Source link

Tags: BurmesedailydailymailIndiajungleMailCaptainMOORENewsNHSrecallsreceivedridingTomwarning
Share196Tweet123Send

Related Posts

[Daily Mail]NHS plan to contain polio by contacting parents of unvaccinated children as source search continues
Daily Mail Online

[Daily Mail]NHS plan to contain polio by contacting parents of unvaccinated children as source search continues

by Latest Headlines
June 23, 2022
[Daily Mail]Channel migrants who arrived in the UK last week have already been handed letters warning them
Daily Mail Online

[Daily Mail]Channel migrants who arrived in the UK last week have already been handed letters warning them

by Latest Headlines
June 19, 2022
[Daily Mail]Revellers don their finery in Union flag accessories as they step out at Epsom Racecourse
Daily Mail Online

[Daily Mail]Revellers don their finery in Union flag accessories as they step out at Epsom Racecourse

by Latest Headlines
June 3, 2022
[Daily Mail]Cricket club accused of racism for ‘chocolates’ tweet after beating team with Asian players
Daily Mail Online

[Daily Mail]Cricket club accused of racism for ‘chocolates’ tweet after beating team with Asian players

by Latest Headlines
May 19, 2022
[Daily Mail]Jemima Goldsmith slams mob who rallied outside her elderly mother’s home to protest Imran Khan
Daily Mail Online

[Daily Mail]Jemima Goldsmith slams mob who rallied outside her elderly mother’s home to protest Imran Khan

by Latest Headlines
April 19, 2022
Pakistan News Updates

Our Robo collect all news published about Pakistan and Kashmir in International Media. We are covering more than 80 newspapers & news websites.  

Disclaimer | All logos, Trademark, Newspaper Name, News Agency Name, Brand Name, Websites Name/address, News content/articles, Pictures/photos/images, and videos are copyright, trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders, used in this website is for Information, research and/or reference purpose only. The Source link is provided with every post. The use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.  

  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • USA News
    • Bloomberg
    • Chicago Tribune News
    • CNN News
    • Fox News
    • Huffington Post News
    • Los Angeles Times News
    • ESPN
    • NBC News
    • New York Time News
    • Newsweek News
    • Reddit News
    • Reuters News
    • Time News
    • USA TODAY News
    • Washington Post News
    • Wall Street Journal
  • UK News
    • BBC News
    • Cambridge News UK News
    • Daily Express UK News
    • Daily Mail Online News
    • The Guardian News
    • The Huffington Post UK News
    • The Independent News
    • The Irish Times UK News
    • The Telegraph News
  • Chinese News
    • Beijing Bulletin News
    • China Digital Times News
    • China Military News
    • Chinadaily.com.cn News
    • Ecns News
    • People’s Daily Online News
    • Shanghai Daily News
    • South China Morning Post News
    • SupChina News
    • The China Post News
    • Xinhuanet News
    • Xinwengao News
  • Indian News
    • Business Standard News
    • Daily Excelsior News
    • Deccan Chronicle News
    • Free Press Journal News
    • Hindustantimes News
    • India Today News
    • Kashmir Reader News
    • NDTV News
    • News18 News
    • Northlines News
    • Oneindia News
    • Patrika News
    • Rising Kashmir News
    • Scroll.in News
    • State Times News
    • Telangana Today News
    • The Asian Age News
    • The Financial Express News
    • The Hindu News
    • The Indian Express News
    • The Quint News
    • Times of India News
    • ZeeNews 24 News
  • Arab News
    • Saudigazette
    • Albawaba News
    • Aljazera News
    • Arab News
    • UAE News Media
      • Al Arabiya News
      • Al bayan News
      • Al Ittihad Newspaper News
      • UAE today News
      • The National.ae News
      • Khaleej Times News
      • Emirates 24/7 News
  • Other Media
    • European News Media
      • French News Media
      • German News Media
    • Russian News Media
      • RT News
      • Russia Insider News
      • Sputnik News
      • TASS News
      • The Moscow Times News
    • Canadian News Media
      • CBC News
      • CityNews Toronto News
      • CTV News
      • Financial Post News
      • Global News
      • Reuters News
      • The Globe and Mail News
      • Toronto Star News
      • Toronto Sun
      • National Post
    • Israel Media News
      • Haaretz News
      • The Jerusalem Post
      • The Times of Israel
    • Turkish News Media
      • Anadolu
      • Daily Sabah
      • Hurriyet
      • TRT World
      • Yenisafak
      • NationalTurk

Our Robo collect all news published about Pakistan and Kashmir in International Media. We are covering more than 80 newspapers & news websites.  

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.