0:00:06 > 0:00:10I'm afraid my generation have a fixation with WWII,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13and that's because we were brought up on
0:00:13 > 0:00:16an unremitting diet of the stuff.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19"Shiver me flippin' timbers, lads!
0:00:19 > 0:00:22"Now's our chance to give these Nippon Noodle-Noshers
0:00:22 > 0:00:24"a touch of the old commando crunch!"
0:00:24 > 0:00:27My father fought in Burma.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29And from what I know, the reality was rather different
0:00:29 > 0:00:33from the adventures in the comics I read when I was six.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37In December 1941, when Britain was fighting for its survival
0:00:37 > 0:00:39against Nazi Germany,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42a new empire in the East entered the war.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47The British colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Burma
0:00:47 > 0:00:51were all overrun by the Japanese in a brilliant campaign
0:00:51 > 0:00:56threatening the crown jewel of the British Empire, India.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Churchill raised an army of a million men to fight back.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03These men not only stopped the Japanese advance,
0:01:03 > 0:01:07eventually, they defeated them, turning the tide of the war in East.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13"By Shinto, the white pigs are too strong for us! Retreat!"
0:01:13 > 0:01:15But unlike Captain Hurricane,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19most of the men that fought in Burma were not white.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Elwyn Rhys Jones was a medical officer
0:01:21 > 0:01:24with the Gold Coast Regiment.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27And the men he served with were West Africans.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30This is the story of that forgotten army.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45If I mean to find out what happened, I haven't got much to go on.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48There are a few photographs buried deep in a pile of family snaps.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52They show men marching.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54And men on ships.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Astonishingly, I have also discovered a few watercolours
0:01:59 > 0:02:02painted by my father at the time.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06They conjure up a tropical world of huts and tents
0:02:06 > 0:02:08and lost temples in the jungle
0:02:08 > 0:02:10and wartime casualties.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12These are new.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16But I am looking for something I remember rather better.
0:02:19 > 0:02:20Ah! Now, OK.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Now, this is the photograph
0:02:22 > 0:02:27that I distinctly remember from being a boy,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31which shows my father newly qualified as a doctor, as it were,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34sitting amongst a group of West Africans.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And I know it's a bit of cliche, but he never really talked about it.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42I'd like to know a little bit more about this.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46What did you do in the war exactly, Daddy?
0:02:47 > 0:02:53And who are these West Africans with you?
0:02:53 > 0:02:54What were they doing there?
0:02:54 > 0:02:58And why do we so seldom hear about them?
0:03:02 > 0:03:06My father died in 1989, but my mother, Gwyneth, is still alive.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Though she didn't meet Elwyn until after he came back from the war,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13I'm hoping she can shed some light on what happened to him.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17You say to people, "My father went to West Africa,"
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and their eyes pop out of their head and they say, "What..?"
0:03:20 > 0:03:22What was he doing in West Africa?
0:03:22 > 0:03:27They were going to West Africa to take troops to Burma.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I've never been clear about whether...
0:03:31 > 0:03:33he was actually involved in fighting.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38He actually went with the men, so he told me, into battle.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41But, you see, I've never heard that! I never knew!
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Well, I must have asked him what did he do, and that's what he told me.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52I needed more information.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55And the War Office provided my father's record.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The identity card for the army in India.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04And there he is, in a massive coat.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07For some reason, not looking at the camera at all.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09It's an extraordinary document.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Special knowledge or experience.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18He's a casualty surgical officer at Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21And then the campaigns, er... Burma Three.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Burma Three?
0:04:26 > 0:04:28These papers give me little more
0:04:28 > 0:04:32than the bare facts of his military career.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35I learned that he was called up towards the end of 1941
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and after basic training near Leeds, was posted to West Africa,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43where he served with the Gold Coast Regiment.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46It was part of the 82nd West African Division,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50so I've arranged to meet up with some white veterans
0:04:50 > 0:04:52who went with them to Burma.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54So let me lead you in this way.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57- We're going to be in here.- And...
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Harry! I haven't seen you for a long time.
0:05:01 > 0:05:02I'm afraid I can't see you, but...
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Oh, dear! Maurice Ramsey.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Yes. I haven't seen you for 20 years or more, I suppose.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11I should think it's 30 or 40.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Is it? Good gracious!
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I hadn't a clue. I was a country boy.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18I'd never lived in a big city or anything like that.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20I'd never seen a black man.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23To the best of my recollection, I'd never seen a black man.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28That's the badge of the 82nd West African Division.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33The division that my father was a member of, or assigned to.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37In the battalion, there were about 1,200 men,
0:05:37 > 0:05:42consisting of about 26 Europeans
0:05:42 > 0:05:45and the rest, African troops.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48I developed malaria in Burma.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51And the medical officer might have been your father.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55A regimental medical officer
0:05:55 > 0:05:58was with the troops, essentially,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03an integral part of the four companies that make up a battalion.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06A very difficult job and a very traumatic job
0:06:06 > 0:06:11because he would feel the full weight of all the casualties
0:06:11 > 0:06:15with a number of trained African dressers.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Apart from one exception,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22all of the officers in the West African divisions were white.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26My father was one of three medical officers in his division.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28He looked after 3,000 men.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32And the vast majority of these were black Africans.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47How and why were these Africans and my father thrown together
0:06:47 > 0:06:50to fight the Japanese in the jungles of Asia?
0:06:51 > 0:06:56I've come to where father's regiment was raised in Ghana.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59When he came here in 1943,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03this was a British colony called the Gold Coast.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08The idea that Britain is on its own in 1940, of course, is a myth.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13It might have been on its own in Europe, but it had a vast empire.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17It was an empire which was constructed on race.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20White superiors, black inferiors.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24And I don't think many people questioned that.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25I mean, they thought of it
0:07:25 > 0:07:27as part of the wallpaper of the modern world.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31West Africa becomes more important in wartime
0:07:31 > 0:07:35because the empire would be mobilised
0:07:35 > 0:07:38to protect itself, as well as Britain.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42This was a huge military power on a global scale
0:07:42 > 0:07:45scattered around the world with garrisons,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49and, of course, manpower, to fight the war.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Well, following the service record,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13disembarked, West Africa, tenth of the fifth '43,
0:08:13 > 0:08:19and then posted to the 37th General Hospital for duty,
0:08:19 > 0:08:20which is here.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26My father had just qualified as a doctor in Cardiff.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27And despite a course in London,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31he can't have had much first-hand experience of tropical diseases.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Dr Stephen Addae runs a clinic in Accra.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39He's spent a lifetime working in tropical medicine.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42He's also made a study of the West African divisions
0:08:42 > 0:08:43and their part in WWII.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47The usual battle with malaria.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Yes. Those with resistance shake it off very easily,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55but it does kill, particularly young people.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59But for the British Army, for an army in battle,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03malaria was a problem because people became unfit to fight.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07Because they did not have any resistance to malaria whatsoever.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10But when the West African troops reached Burma,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13they went with them, they took along with them
0:09:13 > 0:09:15their resistance against malaria.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18And that's one of the reasons they were sent to Burma,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20because they could handle the terrain
0:09:20 > 0:09:23and the environment better than the British soldiers.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25I read from a surgeon, he said
0:09:25 > 0:09:28when you considered going into the jungle,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33a doctor felt 50% defeated already.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35Yes, that's right.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38The Burmese jungle was one of the worst theatres of war
0:09:38 > 0:09:40during the last war.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44In the heat and the humidity and so on,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48it is a breeding ground of bacteria of various sorts.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50So when it came to surgery,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53it wasn't just a question of operating on a war casualty.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55By developing infection,
0:09:55 > 0:10:01by developing other post-operative problems and so on, the person dies.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03My father arrived here
0:10:03 > 0:10:07and he would have a big learning curve
0:10:07 > 0:10:09to come up to speed on tropical medicine.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Actually, his station would have a clutch of people around him.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Male nurses, medical orderlies,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18stretcher-bearers.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20They were the mainstay.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Medical orderlies could be so good
0:10:24 > 0:10:27that when the medical officer came from England,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31the medical orderly trained him
0:10:31 > 0:10:34to be able to handle the local conditions.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42My father retained a great affection for his team.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44He must have come to rely on
0:10:44 > 0:10:47the training and experience of these men surrounding him.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49But I wonder if there are any still alive in Accra
0:10:49 > 0:10:52who might have memories of this war, or of him.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56The British High Commission in Ghana
0:10:56 > 0:10:59have organised a special dinner for Gold Coast veterans.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01- How old are you now, Freddie? - I'm 91 years.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05- 91 years old? - Correct! I was born in 1922.- OK.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08- He was very young at the time.- Yes.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12He was 24, I think, when he started.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16One of the veterans, Kofi Nortey,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20served as a medical orderly in my father's regiment.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22This is a photograph of my father.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Did you?
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Yeah, Dr Jones.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35He worked in the military hospital here.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59That was the medical officer for your brigade.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Yes. He looks a little bit like you,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05but he had a very broad face.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Yes. He did, yeah.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12He was the man who wouldn't tolerate rubbish.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15He didn't tolerate rubbish.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18You can't argue with him.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20No.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22He was a little bit harsh.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28- Harsh.- Harsh. Was he? OK.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Well, that's slightly how I remember him, too.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33He could be quite strict.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38It's a remarkable experience to meet these gentlemen.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43To meet these old men, most of them in their nineties, who...
0:12:45 > 0:12:49..who seem...I mean, they're just wonderful men.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54Kofi, in particular, was such a wonderful, gentle soul.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59He worked at that hospital as a medical orderly under my father.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01But, um...
0:13:01 > 0:13:05it is extraordinary to meet that tangible link with the past.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Men like Kofi, Stephen and my father
0:13:11 > 0:13:13were brought together by events taking place
0:13:13 > 0:13:1610,000 miles away in another part of the empire.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22"The enemy swept down to central Burma along the road to Mandalay."
0:13:22 > 0:13:25We just need to cast our minds back to 1942
0:13:25 > 0:13:27to realise the enormity of what had happened.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32All of a sudden, the Japanese had destroyed British control of Burma.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36By May, the Japanese had reached right up into the borders of India,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38the great jewel in the crown.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42And the feeling of threat
0:13:42 > 0:13:46that was engendered in India was intense.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56"Tropic patchwork. Races, creeds, countries by the dozen.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"But crossing over to fight in Burma, negroes get together,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03"proudly say, we're all West Africans."
0:14:03 > 0:14:05My father and the others from Britain
0:14:05 > 0:14:07were there to defend the empire.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12But why did men like Kofi join up to fight a white man's war?
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Many people who were recruited into the army in West Africa
0:14:56 > 0:14:59don't necessarily know about THE war.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Let alone the causes.
0:15:02 > 0:15:03This is employment.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07It's going to pay a wage and give you a uniform and feed you.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11So in a sense, they have no sense of allegiance to an empire.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15If they have an allegiance, it's one that they originally had
0:15:15 > 0:15:18with a chief, and then they transfer it
0:15:18 > 0:15:23in some sort of way and partially to a white British officer.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25HORN BEEPS
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Recruiting was only the first step.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32These young men needed to be made into
0:15:32 > 0:15:36soldiers good enough to face the Japanese in the jungles of Burma.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44I'm on my way to meet veteran Joshua Ennin at his home in Accra.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46Joshua - who turns 90 this year -
0:15:46 > 0:15:50joined the 81st West African Division in 1942.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53- Very nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, too.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Thank you for having me at your house, to be able to meet you...
0:15:56 > 0:15:57It's a pleasure, yes.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03My training, basic training - they give you training how to shoot,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07how to march and all sort of things. You do everything.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13Acrobatics. You have to scale on the wall with your rifle. So many things.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Was that a tough time in basic training?
0:16:15 > 0:16:18The first few months was very, very tough.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21It was to the time, to the clock.
0:16:21 > 0:16:255:30am, the bugler goes, "Bom-bom-bom, bom-bom-bom-bom-bom."
0:16:25 > 0:16:30You have your rifle, your boots, you're fully dressed,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34you have your haversack, your big pack, your ammunition pouch,
0:16:34 > 0:16:40you know, you carry your mortar and your ammunition in your pouch
0:16:40 > 0:16:45and with your rifle, you'll have to...you know, scale a rope.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52This sort of jungle warfare was very, very tough.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56And I can tell you, honestly, one of our chaps ran away,
0:16:56 > 0:17:02but I was so determined, I was so determined, I stayed on.
0:17:02 > 0:17:08I always tell people that my going in the army has made me what I am today.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Joshua told me how the West African divisions,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23including my father, were taken for intensive training.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26For Joshua, this was to take nearly six months.
0:17:27 > 0:17:28Here, in central Ghana,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32the modern equivalents are still going through it today.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33ALL: One, two, three, one!
0:17:36 > 0:17:41It was a sort of thought in Whitehall that Africans lived in jungles.
0:17:41 > 0:17:49In truth, most of the recruits were born, bred and grew up in grasslands.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52And so, the jungle was a completely new thing to them.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56SERGEANT SHOUTS
0:17:56 > 0:17:58ALL: One, two, three, one!
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Before World War II, the West African regiments
0:18:01 > 0:18:05were primarily a local militia used to help maintain order and patrol the borders.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09But High Command believed that what the West Africans lacked
0:18:09 > 0:18:12in battle experience was made up by their willingness to follow orders.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16And, perhaps, more importantly, their tradition of head carrying
0:18:16 > 0:18:19gave them a unique ability to transport supplies through
0:18:19 > 0:18:21the difficult jungle of Burma.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24ALL: Left, right, left, right...
0:18:33 > 0:18:36The fighting in wars often takes place
0:18:36 > 0:18:40in the most awful conditions - in this case, in the deepest jungle.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Jungle which had been assumed to have been too impenetrable
0:18:44 > 0:18:47for anybody to fight in, and so, what happened?
0:18:47 > 0:18:53The Japanese took advantage of that fact and it became a jungle fight.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56And that meant that suddenly the British Army were forced to
0:18:56 > 0:19:00completely rethink and work out a whole training system
0:19:00 > 0:19:06for fighting back in the deepest and most difficult of terrains - the jungle.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14We're on ambush training
0:19:14 > 0:19:19and now we're approaching a sort of clearing in the jungle, I think.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21To be honest, I'm not sure what's going on at all!
0:19:21 > 0:19:25But I imagine that was pretty much what war was like as well.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Where you're walking there, you don't talk.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37No, so maintaining a sort of silence was always...
0:19:37 > 0:19:41So we use hand signals, but see, they are talking.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45So differently as they approach, the people know they are coming.
0:19:45 > 0:19:46They are prepared for them.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50GUNFIRE
0:19:52 > 0:19:55GUNFIRE CONTINUES
0:20:00 > 0:20:02There, they are there, you can't see them.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03We can't see them.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Look ahead. Look ahead.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12We can't see them at all, we're effectively dead.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Look at one there. Look at one there.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20These are not lucky and their blood hasn't touched you.
0:20:20 > 0:20:21You stay on the ground.
0:20:23 > 0:20:24Then crawl to safety.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31Veteran Stephen Mingle remembers the brutality of his jungle training.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35The jungle training was all about warfare.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Guns are being shot at certain heights
0:20:40 > 0:20:44and you crawl under the gunfire with your big pack and everything
0:20:44 > 0:20:50behind your back. If you raise up your head, you will die.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55But we lost two soldiers who raised up their heads
0:20:55 > 0:21:00and they received gunshot wounds and died.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08NEWSREEL: Born fit, toughened by the toughest climate in the world,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12their muscles are still not strung taut enough to face jungle warfare.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Veteran Joshua Ennin completed his jungle training in the summer of 1943.
0:21:17 > 0:21:2070 years later, he is still remarkably fit
0:21:20 > 0:21:23and he's agreed to travel back to Burma with me
0:21:23 > 0:21:26to share his experiences of the campaign.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29While my father and the 82nd Division remained behind,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32still training in Africa, Joshua and the 81st
0:21:32 > 0:21:37were assembled at Lagos in Nigeria and sent off to war.
0:21:37 > 0:21:44News got around that we're moving tomorrow, for Burma, India,
0:21:44 > 0:21:50to fight the Japanese, and those who were frightened ran away.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53How did you feel as you set off?
0:21:57 > 0:21:59I felt that it was an adventure in my life.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04I didn't have any responsibility.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10I know what I wanted, I've joined the army to go to war and do my best.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13And morale was good, on the whole, do you think?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16The morale was perfect. Comradeship.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20- Comradeship was strong?- Very strong.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25Whether you were Nigerian or not, it was very, very strong.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30We went as a family. We behaved like a family.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38The journey from West Africa to Burma takes us 26 hours,
0:22:38 > 0:22:44but for Joshua and the 81st West African Division, it took six weeks.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49They sailed around Cape Hope and across the Indian Ocean.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53In September 1943, Joshua disembarked in Bombay
0:22:53 > 0:22:58and travelled across the subcontinent by train to a military camp
0:22:58 > 0:23:02in a place called Chittagong, where he was held for three months.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16The country that Joshua and my father were preparing to fight for
0:23:16 > 0:23:20had been part of the British Empire since 1886.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23It had taken the British 60 years to conquer Burma.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26They forced the last Burmese king into exile
0:23:26 > 0:23:29and made Burma into a province of Imperial India.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37The colonial regime quickly left its mark on the entire place -
0:23:37 > 0:23:40even here, at Burma's most sacred site,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.
0:23:43 > 0:23:482,600 years old - you almost can't look up at the main pagoda
0:23:48 > 0:23:54because the five tonnes of gold leaf and gold plate
0:23:54 > 0:23:57reflects so much sunlight that it literally dazzles you.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05This is the largest and most precious symbol of the whole of Burma.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08But the British are pretty good at symbols as well,
0:24:08 > 0:24:14so when they first invaded, they set up a military headquarters in this place.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17By the end the 19th century,
0:24:17 > 0:24:22the British Empire had reshaped the capital of Rangoon in its own image.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26This abandoned building, the Secretariat,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30was built as the great colonial seat of power in Burma.
0:24:30 > 0:24:31I've come here to meet Thant Myint-U
0:24:31 > 0:24:35to find out what the Burmese felt about their country becoming
0:24:35 > 0:24:38a battle ground between the Japanese and British empires.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Here, the colonial regime was very much born as military occupation.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46In the 1880s and the 1890s, there was an enormous resistance
0:24:46 > 0:24:49to British rule that was put down at the cost of thousands of lives,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53hundreds on the British side, thousands on the Burmese side.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56It was very clear that Burma was seen strategically as the country
0:24:56 > 0:25:01that was going to protect India's eastern flank, and as a possible
0:25:01 > 0:25:05back door to China as well as a place to make profits in its own right.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10So, the Japanese march into Rangoon.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14What was the attitude of the Burmese population?
0:25:14 > 0:25:17A core of Burmese nationalists who had turned to the Japanese,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20who came in with the Japanese during that invasion,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23were very excited at the prospect that the British Empire was falling
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and there was a chance for independence, so thousands of people
0:25:26 > 0:25:30rallied to this new Burma Nationalist Army that was set up by the Japanese.
0:25:40 > 0:25:47In 1940, Yangon... Rangoon was part of a huge industrial supply line.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52So, the Japanese were coming here for two main reasons.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54The first was to try and stop
0:25:54 > 0:25:59American supplies getting to their long-term enemies, the Chinese,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03with whom they'd been fighting a war since the early 1930s,
0:26:03 > 0:26:09and the second was to get hold of oil - oil and rubber.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13And these industrial products were what they came to this
0:26:13 > 0:26:18largely agricultural country to fight a huge battle over.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27As an island empire, Japan desperately needed
0:26:27 > 0:26:29more resources to wage war.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32And by June 1942, the Japanese held all of Burma
0:26:32 > 0:26:34and were sitting right on the border
0:26:34 > 0:26:38of the richest possession of the British Empire - India.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43The following December, the British tried to strengthen their position
0:26:43 > 0:26:46by counter-attacking the Japanese in Arakan -
0:26:46 > 0:26:49a mountainous jungle territory that ran along the Bay of Bengal
0:26:49 > 0:26:52from southern Burma up into India.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56But their campaign ended in humiliating defeat.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57A year later they tried again
0:26:57 > 0:27:00and this time the 81st West Africans were sent in, too.
0:27:12 > 0:27:20This is Bagan and about 150 miles due west of here
0:27:20 > 0:27:23is where Joshua first entered the jungle
0:27:23 > 0:27:27to try and regain this country for the British Empire.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36Here we are.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Come and meet some of the people.
0:27:40 > 0:27:46Hello. How do you do? Fine. My name is Joshua. Yes.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53'When Lance Corporal Ennin arrived in Burma,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57'a meeting like this would have been highly unlikely.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02'Many of the people living in the country sided with the Japanese.'
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you for your help.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11So the army never went near the villages?
0:28:11 > 0:28:16No, we always camped so many miles away from the villages.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19But occasionally you would see Burmese people?
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Well, we would see them occasionally
0:28:22 > 0:28:27when they would pass by with their bullock trucks.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30And what did they... Generally, they kept out of your way?
0:28:30 > 0:28:36Yes and we were also... They were asked to keep out of our way.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39And you were asked to keep out of their way?
0:28:39 > 0:28:40- Their way, that's right.- Why?
0:28:40 > 0:28:45Because we were afraid there might be some informants
0:28:45 > 0:28:51amongst them who might inform the Japanese about our movements.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Today, this region is called the Rakhine State
0:28:56 > 0:28:59and there's been serious fighting between Buddhists and Muslims
0:28:59 > 0:29:02and we can't film exactly where Joshua went.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06But we can get to the jungle on the other side of this mountain range,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10which is very similar terrain to where he faced the Japanese.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13We are what we call the lead attack.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Where we are going to pass to attack the Japanese.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21There were cliffs covered in jungle and rivers running through them?
0:29:21 > 0:29:27Running through, yes. And these dogs. What do you call this?
0:29:27 > 0:29:28Hyena? Are they hyena?
0:29:28 > 0:29:32They are dogs, they are all over the place, and very short, short snakes.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41Arakan was a remote, difficult to access region.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45It was jungle, it was mountain, climate, disease.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49There were very, very few routes, and troops who were thrown into it
0:29:49 > 0:29:54had to overcome not just the Japanese, but this extraordinary terrain.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Well, we would have the observation men look at the place,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59survey the area.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03They would give us instructions once they had surveyed
0:30:03 > 0:30:07and they had information about the enemies, their location.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11They would give us instructions and we would plan our movement routes.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15And that was all the platoons setting off individually with
0:30:15 > 0:30:18instructions coming from signallers saying, "You're going to have
0:30:18 > 0:30:22"to go around that, round that hill there, around the jungle there,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24"come up that cliff and prepare yourselves
0:30:24 > 0:30:26- "because the enemy are on the other side."- That's right.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28'Men who lived in up-country villages,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30'who had worked the land...'
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Many West Africans were infantry soldiers,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34but even these fighting men
0:30:34 > 0:30:38had to carry all of their equipment through dense and hilly terrain.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42For private Alfred Xshirife these gruelling marches in the humid
0:30:42 > 0:30:43jungles proved too much.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39'This is a patrol just setting out.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41'The men are often out on reconnaissance for five days
0:31:41 > 0:31:43'and nights on end.'
0:31:43 > 0:31:47In the jungles of Arakan, Joshua and the 81st, alongside two
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Indian divisions, encountered the Japanese for the first time.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The fighting was brutal and often hand-to-hand.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57At one point the Japanese overran an Allied field hospital
0:31:57 > 0:32:02and murdered 35 unarmed medical staff and their patients.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04It was a bruising initiation for the West Africans,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07but despite heavy casualties on both sides, for the first time,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11the Allied forces overcame their ferocious enemy.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16The Japanese fled, leaving 5,000 dead in the field,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18but the Japanese were not about to accept defeat.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22A month later they launched a full-scale invasion of India.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24While Joshua and his comrades held Arakan,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27the mass of Japanese troops struck further north,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31attacking from central Burma the Indian towns of Imphal and Kohima.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34'A garrison of British and Indian infantry dug in
0:32:34 > 0:32:37'and held on to a hill position overlooking the town.'
0:32:37 > 0:32:40It's important to understand Arakan, Imphal
0:32:40 > 0:32:42and Kohima as a single campaign.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46It was part of a single Japanese strategy
0:32:46 > 0:32:49to break into India and topple the Raj.
0:32:49 > 0:32:50The joint battles of Imphal
0:32:50 > 0:32:53and Kohima were the turning point of the war in the Far East.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56They've been likened to the battle of Stalingrad
0:32:56 > 0:32:58and the battle of El Alamein and Midway
0:32:58 > 0:33:01as significant turning points in the Second World War.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04'For 13 days the garrison held out against a force
0:33:04 > 0:33:05'three times its strength.'
0:33:05 > 0:33:09For the first time, the Japanese were defeated in large numbers
0:33:09 > 0:33:11and were forced out of India.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15'Patrols went out to make contact with the enemy
0:33:15 > 0:33:17'and soon the battle was joined.'
0:33:18 > 0:33:22This was the first major Japanese defeat of the war.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25General William Slim, commander of the 14th Army, decided to
0:33:25 > 0:33:28pursue the retreating Japanese and attempt to retake Burma.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32While the main force pushed down the centre of the country
0:33:32 > 0:33:35towards the plains, the West African mission was to clear
0:33:35 > 0:33:39the Japanese 28th Army out of the jungles of Arakan.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17The Japanese soldier was probably the most ferocious
0:34:17 > 0:34:20fighting animal that any British soldier
0:34:20 > 0:34:22has ever had the misfortune to fight.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27He handed his life in this world and his afterlife to the Emperor.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31He sent nail clippings and quantities of his hair back
0:34:31 > 0:34:33to his family to demonstrate that his life was now
0:34:33 > 0:34:35in the hands of the Emperor.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Ultimately, the soldier's responsibility as a Samurai
0:34:38 > 0:34:40was to die.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42They would leave snipers in trees
0:34:42 > 0:34:44and ambushes all over the place.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45They were fiercely determined
0:34:45 > 0:34:48and they would continue on until they died.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01By the time my father and the 82nd Division arrived here
0:35:01 > 0:35:06in December 1944, Joshua had been in the jungle for almost a year.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09And while his fighting was coming to an end,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11my father's was just beginning.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Walking in this countryside, my father's watercolours come alive.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22I realise that I'm seeing the same landscapes that he painted
0:35:22 > 0:35:24all those years ago.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34'The 81st West African Division had already fought the Japs in 1943
0:35:34 > 0:35:37'and the arrival of the 82nd Division in 1944 meant
0:35:37 > 0:35:40'double trouble for the enemy.'
0:35:40 > 0:35:43There's an entry in the service record which says,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45"Entered concessional area."
0:35:45 > 0:35:48I had no idea what that meant,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51but it means he enters the war,
0:35:51 > 0:35:53the battle area.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00I don't know why I found that so chilling when I first read it...
0:36:01 > 0:36:04..but it's just that there's something sort of
0:36:04 > 0:36:10euphemistically army speak about it, something bureaucratic.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29This is the Burmese hill jungle and it's oddly autumnal
0:36:29 > 0:36:33because it's the dry season, which was also the fighting season.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39GRIFF GRUNTS
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Sometimes the going was pretty difficult.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49There's a diary entry from March 3rd, from the regiment,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53which says that they had to cut every inch of the way, and another
0:36:53 > 0:37:01which says that one day they managed to move about 500 yards.
0:37:01 > 0:37:07But on average, the aim was to get
0:37:07 > 0:37:11about eight miles in one day.
0:37:15 > 0:37:21At this stage of the campaign, the whole war became totally mobile.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24There was no sense of a front line.
0:37:24 > 0:37:32All the units were moving south.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37The entire division covered over 300 miles
0:37:37 > 0:37:41over the next nine months.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46This tactic was helped by a new strategy
0:37:46 > 0:37:51developed by General Slim that exploited Allied aerial superiority.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53When his troops were attacked by the Japanese,
0:37:53 > 0:37:58they would form a large defensive box, like a Roman legion,
0:37:58 > 0:38:02stand their ground and wait to be supplied by air.
0:38:02 > 0:38:07Sometimes they would have to hold out for days, or even weeks.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21By all accounts...
0:38:23 > 0:38:27..the night wasn't a particularly restful time.
0:38:30 > 0:38:37For one thing, the Japanese had a habit
0:38:37 > 0:38:39of attacking at night...
0:38:41 > 0:38:45..and most of the regimental diaries...
0:38:46 > 0:38:50..are full of just references to "jitters".
0:38:52 > 0:38:56Just the one word jitters.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59And what it really meant was that the Japanese,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02under cover of night, would approach
0:39:02 > 0:39:06right where they thought the West Africans
0:39:06 > 0:39:10were camped out
0:39:10 > 0:39:14and try to get them to give themselves away.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23My father told me of a terrifying time
0:39:23 > 0:39:28when he was left alone in the jungle at night, looking after casualties.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31I've also found evidence in the regimental diaries
0:39:31 > 0:39:35that puts him right in the middle of a fierce battle.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40By 1945, his division had cleared their enemy out of half of Arakan.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43But the Japanese were fighting a bitter rear-guard action.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46When the 82nd moved to block their retreat at a place called
0:39:46 > 0:39:51the An Road, my father's brigade were completely surrounded.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54"The enemy brought up more artillery and they brought up
0:39:54 > 0:39:58"tanks, more mortars. They let Two Brigade have it."
0:39:58 > 0:40:01That's the Second Brigade, that's the brigade my father was in.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04"All attempts to gain the road were met by unyielding enemy resistance.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07"The Japanese responded with continuous counter attacks
0:40:07 > 0:40:11"and jitter parties. Some of the shelling caused heavy casualties in
0:40:11 > 0:40:14"the brigade headquarters staff, aggravating the situation'.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23Stephen Mingle was a radio operator in the thick of the fighting.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31We were surrounded and we couldn't go forward or backward.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39They were shelling us! They killed so many of us.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43We lost so many officers.
0:40:43 > 0:40:49My brigadier, Brigadier WD Weston, has his whole jaw shattered.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54Some of my friends were killed.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59Hamma, Akuku Falfa and some others were all killed.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05The brigade priest who buried most of the soldiers...
0:41:07 > 0:41:09..the following day, he was also killed.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16I was also wounded when a shell fell.
0:41:19 > 0:41:26I felt something in my stomach and my neck here.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32When I raised my battle dress
0:41:32 > 0:41:37I saw my intestines coming out.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43I was calling for God to save us, that's all.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Completely cut off, my father and his medical team had no
0:42:12 > 0:42:14access to the usual airlifts that took the gravely injured
0:42:14 > 0:42:18to the base hospitals that could save their lives.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22'I'm meeting with Tom Hammond, an ex Royal Marine Commando
0:42:22 > 0:42:25'and army medic in Iraq and Afghanistan, to try and find out
0:42:25 > 0:42:28'what my father would have faced in the middle of this battle.'
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Tell me essentially what his job was under those circumstances is, then?
0:42:32 > 0:42:36It would be, let's just get a semi-secure position.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39He might have had a Jeep, a little bit of tentage,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42a few boxes of supplies and the guys would be brought back
0:42:42 > 0:42:43to that position.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46In those circumstances, what sort of wounds are you
0:42:46 > 0:42:48getting from being shelled?
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Massive, high-velocity injuries. So, you know,
0:42:50 > 0:42:52arms and legs can get taken off.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54Penetrating injuries from the shrapnel
0:42:54 > 0:42:57are going to sever arteries, huge, catastrophic bleeding.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59You've then got head injuries and chest injuries
0:42:59 > 0:43:01and major organs get damaged.
0:43:01 > 0:43:02You're in a real tricky spot.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06What my mother told me was the worst thing that he felt
0:43:06 > 0:43:10he had to do during the war
0:43:10 > 0:43:16was say, "Leave him, take HIM."
0:43:16 > 0:43:19But under these circumstances, they're unable to pass on
0:43:19 > 0:43:22the really severely wounded to surgeons further back.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24They have to try and deal with them there and then.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28They're going to be overwhelmed, so at that point he's going to make
0:43:28 > 0:43:32the really difficult decision that your mum talks about to
0:43:32 > 0:43:36prioritise who he can actually give some benefit, you know, to.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40So, for example, if twelve guys come in one go,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42he can't deal with 12 guys all at one time,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45so he will look at the patients and triage them
0:43:45 > 0:43:48and say, "You are beyond my help."
0:43:48 > 0:43:50Had that guy come in on his own...
0:43:50 > 0:43:54God, OK, because what I thought, what I thought, was that
0:43:54 > 0:43:56actually this was all about,
0:43:56 > 0:44:00"Shall we take him back to the hospital or just leave him?"
0:44:00 > 0:44:03What he's talking about is an action like this,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06where, effectively, he's only got limited resources
0:44:06 > 0:44:08and he has to work out who he can help.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11He almost plays God, you know, because there'll be legs
0:44:11 > 0:44:13hanging off, he'll have to tie arteries off.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17The guy who had his jaw shot off, that's an horrific injury.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21His airway's going to be compromised. Where are you going to go with him?
0:44:21 > 0:44:25And if you put all your efforts into that one guy, everybody else suffers.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28So he's now doing surgery with shells going off,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31mortars coming in and a constant stream of casualties.
0:44:31 > 0:44:32He'd be under fire.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35I genuinely think I've had a different point of view there
0:44:35 > 0:44:40on what...on why people didn't talk.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Hmm.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56After almost three weeks of desperate fighting,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59the 82nd West African Division was relieved by Nigerian
0:44:59 > 0:45:03and Ghurkha regiments and the Japanese were pushed back.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05ARTILLERY THUNDERS
0:45:08 > 0:45:12That horrific-sounding battle for the An Road was by no means
0:45:12 > 0:45:14the end of it.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17The West Africans seem to have continued to have been engaged
0:45:17 > 0:45:23in a series of encounters with a pretty desperate Japanese force
0:45:23 > 0:45:26throughout April and into May.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29But by then, the war in the jungle
0:45:29 > 0:45:33was effectively over because they had captured the Arakan.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37The Allied victory in Burma was a massive blow to the Japanese,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40but they showed no sign of surrender.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Slim's army of a million men now faced a brutal campaign to clear
0:45:43 > 0:45:45the Japanese out of Malaya
0:45:45 > 0:45:48and Singapore before invading Japan itself.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51On the 6th of August 1945,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56the Americans dropped the Atom Bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05On the 9th, they dropped another on the city of Nagasaki.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Six days later the Japanese surrendered.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11MARTIAL MUSIC
0:46:11 > 0:46:14'So, at last, on behalf of His Majesty the King
0:46:14 > 0:46:17'and the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire,
0:46:17 > 0:46:18'the Supreme Commander
0:46:18 > 0:46:21'saluted the magnificent achievements of West Africa.'
0:46:23 > 0:46:24So the news spread out.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Everybody heard that now the Japanese had given up
0:46:27 > 0:46:31and that they've surrendered and so we've won.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34And what did you feel?
0:46:34 > 0:46:36We felt so proud and happy.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42When we became victorious and we won the war,
0:46:42 > 0:46:47I was so happy that we'd been able to conquer the Japanese.
0:46:47 > 0:46:54The enemy is no more so we shall all have our liberty and freedom.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00It's been hailed as the greatest British feat of arms of the entire
0:47:00 > 0:47:05Second World War and a triumph for General Slim and his strategies,
0:47:05 > 0:47:06which it was.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10But a lot of people are completely unaware
0:47:10 > 0:47:14that a huge amount of the fighting was done by Indian,
0:47:14 > 0:47:16Ghurkha and African troops.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25But what about Burma?
0:47:25 > 0:47:2870,000 men were killed or wounded in this war
0:47:28 > 0:47:30to win back Burma for the Empire,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33but it wasn't destined to stay in British hands for very long.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39Were the British welcomed back into to Burma?
0:47:39 > 0:47:41I think that a lot of people were very glad to see
0:47:41 > 0:47:44the back of the Japanese, but at the same time the war had
0:47:44 > 0:47:48sort of ignited this extreme nationalist feeling, and I think
0:47:48 > 0:47:52that once the Burmese had a taste, even if it was a nominal taste,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56of independence, it was going to be very hard to turn the clock back.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01For the Empire, Burma had been seen as little more than
0:48:01 > 0:48:02a province of India.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06And with end of the Raj imminent, she had lost much of her value.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10Burma in 1945 was in ruins.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15Almost every city and town in the country other than Rangoon
0:48:15 > 0:48:17was flattened by the war,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20and so I think the Labour Government in 1946 took a very
0:48:20 > 0:48:24hard look at this country, saw that it no longer had the strategic value
0:48:24 > 0:48:27it had, saw that there were nationalists agitating
0:48:27 > 0:48:28for the British to leave
0:48:28 > 0:48:32and in the end the choice was to quit Burma early.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37At the end of war the British Empire handed over power to Aung San,
0:48:37 > 0:48:39the leader of the Burmese Independence Army.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42He had fought with the Japanese during the war,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44but changed sides in the last year.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Shortly afterwards he and half his cabinet
0:48:47 > 0:48:51were assassinated by dissidents in this building.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Today his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56is hailed as the champion of democracy in Burma.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00One can say in some ways this is a place where
0:49:00 > 0:49:02World War Two never ended.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06The British armed many of the minorities of this country
0:49:06 > 0:49:09to fight against the Japanese, which they did very ably.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12The Japanese armed the Burmese nationalists who later on
0:49:12 > 0:49:15took over the government of this country.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19The civil war led to the emergence of a very strong Burmese Army,
0:49:19 > 0:49:22which then took over in 1962.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25So much of Burma's subsequent history of the last 70 years
0:49:25 > 0:49:29was shaped by the battlefields that were created
0:49:29 > 0:49:31in the early 1940s here.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Thousands of the men who died in the jungle were buried there,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00but they commemorated in a war cemetery in Yangon.
0:50:00 > 0:50:08There are recorded the names of the 27,000 soldiers
0:50:08 > 0:50:15of many races united in service to the British Crown
0:50:15 > 0:50:21who gave their lives in Burma and Assam.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33The Gold Coast Regiment.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37Sergeant Major Awuni Kanjarga.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49At the end of the war, General Slim, the commander of the Allied army
0:50:49 > 0:50:52in Burma, personally thanked the West African soldiers
0:50:52 > 0:50:54for their service.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58- The whole of the regiment was lined up.- Yes.
0:50:58 > 0:50:59General Slim came.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03He came to congratulate for all the things we've done
0:51:03 > 0:51:05and then they were not going to let us down.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07That whatever happens,
0:51:07 > 0:51:12when we get back, we are going to be fully compensated.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17Joshua and his comrades returned to the Gold Coast in August 1945.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21But what should have been a joyous occasion was touched by tragedy.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24The British authorities had failed to inform
0:51:24 > 0:51:26the waiting families of any deaths.
0:51:27 > 0:51:33We had to march with our regimental band from the harbour
0:51:33 > 0:51:36to the camp, and these women were just waving.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41When they saw me they would come and say,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43"What's happened to my brother?"
0:51:43 > 0:51:47This was the first time that their families realised that their...
0:51:47 > 0:51:49their boys were not coming back?
0:51:49 > 0:51:53Yes, so you would just pass my friend and she would say,
0:51:53 > 0:51:58"Oh, come now, Joshua, what happened to so-and-so, Napoleon?"
0:51:58 > 0:52:01And I would say, "Well, I'm sorry, Napoleon didn't make it."
0:52:01 > 0:52:05Some of us wept.
0:52:05 > 0:52:11That was the time that some of us also felt that emotion...
0:52:16 > 0:52:20After the war, Joshua Ennin went to university in Britain.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22When he graduated he came home to Ghana
0:52:22 > 0:52:24and became a senior civil servant.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40While most European soldiers were returning to civilian life,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44the 82nd West African Division was kept in Burma for nearly
0:52:44 > 0:52:48a year after the war finished, mopping up pockets of Japanese
0:52:48 > 0:52:52who refused to accept their country's surrender.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05In the summer of 1946 my father was still with them.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09He accompanied them on their journey back to the Gold Coast.
0:53:09 > 0:53:10HE KNOCKS
0:53:10 > 0:53:13- Come in!- Thank you very much.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24For stretcher-bearer Kofi Nortey coming home was bittersweet.
0:54:08 > 0:54:14For veterans like Kofi, life after the war was very difficult.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18Inflation had driven up prices and jobs were scarce.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28After playing their part in the Allied victory,
0:54:28 > 0:54:30veterans felt they deserved better.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33And they hadn't forgotten the promises made to them
0:54:33 > 0:54:34by General Slim.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36On February the 28th 1948,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Kofi and hundreds of the ex-servicemen
0:54:39 > 0:54:41gathered in the capital
0:54:41 > 0:54:43to voice their grievances.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03Veteran Stephen Mingle had been shipped home
0:55:03 > 0:55:08early in 1945 after being seriously injured in the battle for An Road.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11When he recovered, he joined the Gold Coast Police
0:55:11 > 0:55:13and he was on the other side of the barricades
0:55:13 > 0:55:16under the command of the British Head of Police,
0:55:16 > 0:55:17Superintendent Imray.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20I was one of the men sent to the crossroads.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25And a police officer called Imray came to stop them.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30They insisted on sending the petition to the Governor.
0:55:31 > 0:55:36When he asked them to return, the ex-soldiers refused to go.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Imray got annoyed, snatched the rifle from one of the policeman
0:55:40 > 0:55:42and shot!
0:55:42 > 0:55:43He shot.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45HE IMITATES GUNSHOTS
0:55:46 > 0:55:49He killed three people that day.
0:55:49 > 0:55:50My own officer.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52He shot the three men dead.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55- He just took the gun and shot them. - Yes.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57Just dead, dead.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02The soldiers returned and any vehicle
0:56:02 > 0:56:04they meet with a white man,
0:56:04 > 0:56:06they overturned the vehicle.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11For the next week, rioters rampaged through the city,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13destroying white-owned businesses.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16When order was finally restored, a special commission was set up
0:56:16 > 0:56:19to investigate the causes of the unrest.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Their conclusions led to radical change.
0:56:25 > 0:56:31If the veterans' march of early 1948 had gone off peacefully,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33we wouldn't be talking about it.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36The fact that it was fired on makes it a catalyst,
0:56:36 > 0:56:42and therefore we can see it as one of those critical events in Africa.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Those fatal shots, if you like, that rang out in Accra...
0:56:47 > 0:56:52..and thereafter, the course of history of the Gold Coast,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55the future Ghana is transformed.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57Less than ten years later,
0:56:57 > 0:57:01in 1957, the Gold Coast became Ghana,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05the first African colony to leave the British Empire.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14When my father returned to the family home here in Wales
0:57:14 > 0:57:17in 1946, he came back to a different Britain.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22The empire that he'd been sent half way across the planet to defend
0:57:22 > 0:57:24was disintegrating.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Within a decade, India, Burma and West Africa had gained independence.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32A Labour Government had come to power, introducing a radical
0:57:32 > 0:57:36social plan which would transform my father's world.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40Elwyn would spend the rest of his life working as an NHS doctor.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44It isn't really possible for me to say
0:57:44 > 0:57:49whether the war changed him, but it must have affected him.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52It was something that I think defined his generation.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57They had throughout their life, he had, a sort of sense of moral duty,
0:57:57 > 0:58:02which now, I sort of...I envy.
0:58:02 > 0:58:08I don't think he would have wanted to make a fuss about it.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13He was ordinary. He...he liked being ordinary.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17He relished, when he got back, a simple, ordinary,
0:58:17 > 0:58:19secure family life.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25And having seen what he went through, I suppose...
0:58:25 > 0:58:30I can understand that a lot more clearly.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd