0:00:02 > 0:00:05Joe Simpson is on a personal journey,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09deep into the heart of modern Burma - Myanmar.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Joe, an internationally renowned mountaineer, made the headlines
0:00:12 > 0:00:17when he almost died high in the Andes when his rope was cut.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21A story recounted in the iconic bestseller Touching The Void.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Now, 30 years on, he's in Burma.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26So my father was here.
0:00:26 > 0:00:32He was armed, he was behind enemy lines and I'm trying to just go
0:00:32 > 0:00:36and see where he fought as a young man and get some sense of it.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Accompanying Joe is ex-British Army officer and expedition leader
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Ed Stafford, the first man to walk the length of the Amazon.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49Together, they are on the trail of an Allied Special Force
0:00:49 > 0:00:51called the Chindits.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54These guerrilla troops were dropped deep behind enemy lines
0:00:54 > 0:01:00into the jungles of Burma in 1944 to attack the Imperial Japanese Army.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05And Joe's father was one of them.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08I've always been immensely proud of my father.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11I found it difficult to tell him.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13I just never did. So that's what I regret.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18For more than 30 years, Joe has dreamed of following
0:01:18 > 0:01:22in his dad's footsteps, to try and see what his now-deceased father,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Lieutenant Ian Simpson, experienced fighting here in World War II.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30I can't even begin to think what it would have been like
0:01:30 > 0:01:32to try and do this in a monsoon.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Absolutely...
0:01:34 > 0:01:37unimaginably awful.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Both son and father confronted extreme events in their 20s.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Joe facing death in the mountains,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47his father surviving battle in the guts of the enemy.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51I wouldn't dream of comparing a wartime experience with
0:01:51 > 0:01:52fiddling around on a mountain.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Dad didn't choose that, he was in a world war
0:01:56 > 0:01:58and he and all those other men were doing their duty.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02But Joe and Ed's modern-day journey...
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Whoa! Whoa, whoa...
0:02:06 > 0:02:07Keep coming down!
0:02:08 > 0:02:11- Get out the way! - ..has its own dangers...
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Whoo-hoo-hoo!
0:02:15 > 0:02:18..when they too get caught up in a conflict,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22a modern-day echo of Joe's father's time in Burma.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27- We seem to have walked into a war. - We have walked into a war.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Soon we'd better walk out of it.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I can't have waited all this time to come here and to finally think it's
0:02:33 > 0:02:36just about to happen and we've got all the permissions
0:02:36 > 0:02:37and then to find...
0:02:39 > 0:02:41..we get the door slammed in our face.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43That's not good news.
0:02:45 > 0:02:46It's not good news at all.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06It's the 8th of November, 2015.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09A momentous day for Myanmar and its people.
0:03:09 > 0:03:10Election day.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Political activist Aung San Suu Kyi and her party
0:03:16 > 0:03:19the National League for Democracy are the frontrunners.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23But how the military dictatorship will react is anyone's guess.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Joe and Ed got their first glimpse of this impending election
0:03:30 > 0:03:33when they arrived in Myanmar ten days ago.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Just about to set off and there's about 100 motorbikes
0:03:37 > 0:03:39coming down the street.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40Hello!
0:03:42 > 0:03:43Ah, it's an election parade!
0:03:44 > 0:03:48These are the first open elections since 1990
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and could end nearly 50 years of military rule.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54So it's a historic time for Myanmar.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58- Aung Suu Kyi's supposed to win by a landslide.- Really?- Yeah.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01But neither of them realise that its repercussions would have
0:04:01 > 0:04:05massive implications for their journey, too,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07when they were moved away from their planned route,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10following Joe's father's Chindit track
0:04:10 > 0:04:13to the town of Bhamo in the northeast of Myanmar.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18We're sort of trapped in Bhamo at the moment. It's election day.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25But, apparently, there was a shooting on the outskirts of town
0:04:25 > 0:04:28last night and the Army have put a cordon around the city.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30The trouble is, you're dealing with politics
0:04:30 > 0:04:32and you're dealing with the military.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33And that's just a...
0:04:35 > 0:04:37..bloody awful combination, really.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40And it's just hugely frustrating to just sit here
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and look at those hills and that's where he was. He was just there.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Just in front of us. Couldn't get any closer.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52When they were deployed into Burma in 1944, the Chindits were
0:04:52 > 0:04:56part of one of the largest airborne operations of World War II.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01But today, they are a forgotten army in a largely forgotten war.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05In 1978, when I was 18, it sort of lodged in my head
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and I thought, "What an extraordinary story!
0:05:08 > 0:05:10"Wouldn't it be fascinating if you could
0:05:10 > 0:05:13"actually go back to where he went?"
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Well, we're in Bhamo.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18And they won't let us out of town.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Joe and Ed's journey started off well,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29following Joe's father's wartime path as a Chindit
0:05:29 > 0:05:33fighting with Morris Force deep in the jungles of northeast Burma.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39But because of increasing tensions around the election
0:05:39 > 0:05:43in rebel hotspots, they're stuck in the town of Bhamo
0:05:43 > 0:05:44in Kachin State.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53It's one of those situations where you have to be patient,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and that really isn't my strong suit.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Worst-case scenario, we don't get permissions,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03I'd just be devastated.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08I'll never get this opportunity again, so I'm just...
0:06:08 > 0:06:11churning inside, really, trying to...
0:06:11 > 0:06:12HE EXHALES
0:06:19 > 0:06:21I have to put this in perspective.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25I mean, it is absolutely infuriating for me
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and disappointing doesn't even get near it,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31but at the same time, this is an election
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and this is hugely important to the people of Burma, of Myanmar.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Three days later, it's a landslide victory
0:06:49 > 0:06:52for the National League for Democracy.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58However, until the military relinquish control,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00tensions are running high,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03particularly in the northeast state of Kachin.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08For Joe and Ed, there's positive news.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11They've got permission to move on again, but they're
0:07:11 > 0:07:15uncertain how long it will last.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16I can't wait, really.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18I mean, I just want to get up there
0:07:18 > 0:07:20and see what he could see, be where he was.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22We're just really pleased that
0:07:22 > 0:07:24even though we have to jump ahead a little bit,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26we can get back to the job that we came here for.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38The plan is to head from Bhamo to the Taiping River Valley,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41which Joe's father crossed over 70 years ago
0:07:41 > 0:07:45as the Chindits fought their way north.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48It seems at the moment that our original permissions
0:07:48 > 0:07:50aren't valid here.
0:07:50 > 0:07:51Where we want to go up in the hills,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54above the Bhamo-Myitkyina road,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57where Morris Force went,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59we can't go there right now
0:07:59 > 0:08:02and we're applying for permissions to go into that area.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07For more than half a century, there's been a civil war
0:08:07 > 0:08:10between the military and rebel groups like the KIA,
0:08:10 > 0:08:11the Kachin Independence Army.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15It's created hotspots across Myanmar,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and one of them is along the only paved road
0:08:17 > 0:08:20connecting Bhamo to Myitkyina -
0:08:20 > 0:08:22the road that Joe and Ed are on.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27There is fighting going on at the moment.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29It is an area that tourists aren't allowed to go.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32We do need to be careful because without permission,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34it potentially could be dangerous.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44This road was also the front line for Joe's father in 1944.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Back then, it was one of the Japanese main supply lines
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and was heavily protected.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Today, it's still the front line, and most of its 160km
0:08:58 > 0:09:03is bristling with troops, fortified positions and military checkpoints.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15This has clearly been built to be defendable.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17This bridge is obviously quite a key point
0:09:17 > 0:09:20in terms of this logistics route, this main road,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23which is essentially the front line, that we're on at the moment,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25of a war that is still going on.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28This is exactly what the Japanese were doing, they were defending
0:09:28 > 0:09:31the supply line, which was this road between Bhamo and Myitkyina.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34And they're really in the same static position,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37the Chindits could come down whenever they wanted
0:09:37 > 0:09:41and put blocks on the board, blow up trucks.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44KIA could do exactly the same thing.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Heading up the Taiping River Valley, they're now 50km closer
0:10:05 > 0:10:08to reconnecting with Ian Simpson's route,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10as recorded in his diaries and maps,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13but with a plain-clothed soldier as a guide.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18This morning we're walking with a military escort,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and the reason for that is that we're walking through an area
0:10:21 > 0:10:27of anti-personnel landmines and there is no safe way of telling
0:10:27 > 0:10:32where the mines are unless you know where the mines are.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34Parts of Myanmar are amongst
0:10:34 > 0:10:36the most mine-ridden regions in the world.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And up until 2013,
0:10:39 > 0:10:40its government was the only state
0:10:40 > 0:10:42in the world to have scattered landmines
0:10:42 > 0:10:46every year since the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51It's the indiscriminate and hidden nature of mines
0:10:51 > 0:10:53that make them so very effective.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55You literally only have to say they're there,
0:10:55 > 0:11:00and so it's good not to take any risks.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03After all, were making a programme about my father's war,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06we're not trying to blow ourselves to pieces in the process.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15In 2015, 79 people were reportedly injured
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and 11 killed by landmines in Kachin State alone.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28We go here or here?
0:11:29 > 0:11:32- Good? Bad? Bad.- Bad?
0:11:32 > 0:11:33OK, so here.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36We're having to stay right close to the river.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Any inclination of us wanting to move away from the river
0:11:39 > 0:11:42into the jungle gets the two thumbs down.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44I think that means landmines.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51I'm up to my thighs in water at the moment,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53just making our way down the banks.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57It just shows how dangerous
0:11:57 > 0:12:01our military escort considers the jungle to be.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04He'd far prefer to be wading straight through the water
0:12:04 > 0:12:06than going through the trees.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15They have no choice but to walk along the river bank.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19For Joe, who's coping with injuries from his climbing days,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21it's another problem.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26What I'm worried about is this is classic knee-wrecking territory.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29It's rounded boulders and you're stepping onto slimy rocks,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and all I need to do is catch my foot, sit down heavily on my knee
0:12:33 > 0:12:35and it could be game over.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Joe's knee was badly damaged in 1985,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47when he and fellow mountaineer Simon Yates
0:12:47 > 0:12:49were caught in a storm high in the Andes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51A story recounted
0:12:51 > 0:12:54in the international bestseller Touching The Void.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02When I broke the leg, I did it at 19,000 feet
0:13:02 > 0:13:05and it was just me and Simon.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08In truth, he should have left me, really.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13HE YELLS
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Descending the mountain, Simon cut Joe's rope
0:13:15 > 0:13:18when he thought Joe was close to the ground.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Joe plummeted into a crevasse.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26I was damn near dead by then anyway.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29I was really angry. I wanted to climb all over the world,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32I wanted to live a lot longer than 25 and I didn't want to die
0:13:32 > 0:13:35in a bloody crevasse on my own and I didn't want to...
0:13:36 > 0:13:41..die crawling around, pissing myself, crying on rocks.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Joe survived and went on to climb many more mountains.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48But with a permanently damaged right knee.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51He retired from mountaineering in 2009.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Joe still bears the scars of that moment in his 20s.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02His father, too, faced a life-changing experience,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07carrying his own burdens from fighting the Japanese as a Chindit.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09It's often said that
0:14:09 > 0:14:12the rest of their lives they're a shadow of what they were, you know.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15It was significant to him and if it hadn't been,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19he wouldn't have written his diaries and his notes.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22He wouldn't have so carefully annotated those maps.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26It was almost as if he wanted someone to follow this journey.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36By early afternoon, Joe and Ed want to set up camp,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40but that means crossing the river to the mine-free zone.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44If you go over a rapid, if you smash your head
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and you're unconscious then it's a completely different ball game.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53You can see here that the river is really quite fast-flowing
0:14:53 > 0:14:56as it narrows and goes over the edge of the lip.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00That's enough to sweep a man off his feet, definitely.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06My bet actually is that we swim across in the pools,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08I think they're much, much safer.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12I was nearly killed in a river in Pakistan,
0:15:12 > 0:15:14- and it scared the- BLEEP- out of me.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21Despite being a self-confessed poor swimmer, Ed's in first.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28In 2010, Ed set a world record for walking - not swimming -
0:15:28 > 0:15:30the full length of the Amazon.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35He crossed it countless times during his two-year expedition.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49They're carrying 30 kilos on their backs.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54I'm just going to see how buoyant this rucksack is before I jump in,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56not wanting to sink like a stone.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00Are you quite a good swimmer?
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Not with a flippin' great rucksack on my back, but I was.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07I'm going to have a little practice swim.
0:16:32 > 0:16:33I'm trying.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43I'm glad I did that.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48I didn't realise how much when you try and swim with a rucksack...
0:16:48 > 0:16:50it's pushing you under.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55I saw your panic on your face, just stay upright and just do that...
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Yeah, I know, I'm getting it.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Joe and Ed decide to try their luck below the rapids.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18The Chindits crossed many rivers during their 17-week campaign,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21losing men and mules to raging torrents.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28When Ian Simpson's column tried to cross the Taiping
0:17:28 > 0:17:30on the 25th of April 1944,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33they found it impossible to swim across
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and had to use a small bridge further downstream.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Nearby Japanese activity made it fraught and dangerous.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Just got to find a few trees.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55One tree here, one tree there, that's a hammock spot already.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57It's nice.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12We're back out in the jungle, we've strung our hammocks up,
0:18:12 > 0:18:13done a river crossing,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Joe's about to have a little fish.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18He's just drying all the things that weren't in the waterproof bags
0:18:18 > 0:18:20when he crossed the river.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23And I think we're good, back in the game.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Joe's father's secret wartime diary describes just how tough
0:18:37 > 0:18:41the conditions were for the Chindits in this same area.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46He makes a reference to all of them being tired, hungry, lousy -
0:18:46 > 0:18:48as in being bitten to death by lice,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52they're all infested with lice - and long hard days,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56carrying heavy loads up and down hills without food.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Joe's father's role was to organise supply drops,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04essential to keep a mobile army like the Chindits on the move
0:19:04 > 0:19:07and in the fight.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12But bad weather and poor communications
0:19:12 > 0:19:14often meant they went without.
0:19:17 > 0:19:18Really, for the last four days,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21they'd been having quite a bad time.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Big thunderstorms every afternoon with heavy rainfall
0:19:24 > 0:19:28and that was cutting off their contact with the aircraft.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32And at this point they ended up 48 hours without food
0:19:32 > 0:19:36and Da says they took to digging up roots and cooking them.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39He actually talks about trying to go fishing and falling in instead
0:19:39 > 0:19:41and not catching anything.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03I'm just going to go and see if I can find some of what
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Joe's father describes in his journal.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10His father refers to eating lots of shoots,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12and I'm assuming that's bamboo shoots.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Round this area, Da said he found clear water.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21This is the first clear water streams we've seen.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24If I catch some fish, we're going to have a picnic.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31There appears to be a little cave system.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33You can just see.
0:20:33 > 0:20:34It's dark and cool in here.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36It's really nice, actually.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42I've emerged out of that gully into just a...
0:20:44 > 0:20:47A veritable field of bamboo above me.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49He was a keen fisherman.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51My earliest memory is going out on a boat with him,
0:20:51 > 0:20:57I must have been really small, catching three-foot-long barracudas.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00I remember fly-fishing in North Yorkshire with him
0:21:00 > 0:21:02when I was about ten,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05so, yeah, he was a keen fisherman, but this wasn't fishing for sport,
0:21:05 > 0:21:10this was trying to get the fish out just any which way they could.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Get the fish, bring them back, feed the men.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16And clearly if he was doing what I'm doing now,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18he'd have been very hungry.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Every bamboo shoot that I see... it's a bit like cardboard,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31it's just dead.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Maybe bamboo shoots is off the menu.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Nothing, not a squiggle.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39That's it.
0:21:39 > 0:21:40No fish tonight.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Unlike his father, who went hungry here,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Joe and Ed have rations to keep them going.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57But the psychological effect on Ian Simpson
0:21:57 > 0:21:59and the Chindits was profound.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06You're a hidden army.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09You're hiding up in the jungles and making lightning attacks.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12You're constantly attacking and hiding,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14attacking and hiding, attacking and hiding.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16And that sense of sort of,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18"Am I being chased, will I be found?"
0:22:18 > 0:22:21I can imagine the psychological stress can weigh you down
0:22:21 > 0:22:26as much as just the physical stress of every day getting up,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28trying to march through this stuff.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31You know, I've been in through some hairy places in Afghanistan
0:22:31 > 0:22:34or in the Red Zone in Peru, actually when walking,
0:22:34 > 0:22:39but where I've thought that my life was at threat, directly at threat,
0:22:39 > 0:22:44and I think you can't underestimate how that saps you of energy
0:22:44 > 0:22:48because you can't help but worry.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51I don't care. If somebody says to you they are going to kill you,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54you can't you can't go to bed and sleep well.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Just received a text message on the satellite phone to say that
0:23:11 > 0:23:15apparently there's 100 troops have just arrived at the base
0:23:15 > 0:23:17where we left off yesterday
0:23:17 > 0:23:21and we've been ordered to return immediately.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Our military escort disappeared last night.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38So we are picking our way down the side of the river
0:23:38 > 0:23:42as best as we can remember,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45but clearly...
0:23:45 > 0:23:48we are still in the area of landmines and...
0:23:51 > 0:23:55So I'm just being a little bit cautious.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Overnight hostilities between the KIA and the Burmese Army
0:23:59 > 0:24:02have escalated just up the Taiping valley
0:24:02 > 0:24:06and the local military commander wants Joe, Ed and the film crew
0:24:06 > 0:24:08out of harm's way.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13The military guys on the other side of the river.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Coming back into the military camp now.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Over 100 heavily armed soldiers are on their way to reinforce
0:24:56 > 0:25:00a strategic hydroelectric dam further up the Taiping River.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Once again, Joe and Ed's plans are thwarted.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10There's apparently KIA members on the banks of the Taiping
0:25:10 > 0:25:13taking pot shots at military soldiers
0:25:13 > 0:25:16so that they literally can't even go and fill up their water bottle,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and they've said there's no chance that we can go up the Taiping now,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22it's just far too dangerous, basically.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25They were very heavily armed.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30They had 50 cal machine guns, light machine guns, mortars, RPGs,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33they had the lot. They were seriously tooled up.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36They looked like they were going into battle, quite frankly.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39We seem to have walked into a war.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40We have walked into a war.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42We better walk out of it
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Joe and Ed are almost halfway along Ian Simpson's track,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56but now they're having to walk further down
0:25:56 > 0:25:58the Taiping River valley.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00It's taking them out of harm's way,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04but also further from where Joe's father and the Chindits were,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07high up on the ridges that look down on the Bhamo-Myitkyina road.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25This is the river that Da crossed, he crossed 20 miles up there,
0:26:25 > 0:26:33up in the hills where we can't go to so, this is as close as we can get.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Which is a shame, but you get some sense if you look up on the skyline
0:26:38 > 0:26:43of the mountainous jungle ridges, that's where he was moving.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49The Chindits used the high ridgeline as their base of operations,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52ambushing Japanese positions along the main road
0:26:52 > 0:26:54which runs parallel to the ridge.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59They were actually relatively safe from the enemy up there.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02In many ways this forest, which I found intimidating
0:27:02 > 0:27:08and claustrophobic and horrible to move through, became their friend.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16With the fighting between the military and the KIA escalating,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Joe and Ed can't get to where his father was, but they can walk along
0:27:20 > 0:27:23the road that the Chindits were trying to disrupt.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27It's the front line in today's battle.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33It's taking them past yet more minefields.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Got a flag here, mate, on the left-hand side.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40- Mines?- Mines, yeah.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Fortified military positions...
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Look at the door, it's a spiked door.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53It just drops shut, you can't get through.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55..fences blocking jungle paths...
0:27:56 > 0:27:58It's just so crude though,
0:27:58 > 0:28:03rather than barbed wire you've got sharpened sticks and bamboo.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05It's brutal.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09..and deserted villages.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12It's all abandoned, it's quite sad, really.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Five decades of fighting across the whole of Myanmar
0:28:15 > 0:28:18has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23This one's even got the front door open.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Don't worry about the landmines, Ed.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35It's still in one piece, it hasn't been deserted long, has it?
0:28:39 > 0:28:41Depressing.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48It's quite eerie.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06What I do think is amazing coming out of the trees is
0:29:06 > 0:29:13the ability to see, it's almost like a release, I suppose.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16Oh, that's nice, just the ability to have a view,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19to see more than ten metres is making me smile.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22- Big country though, isn't it?- Huge.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27After the frustrations of the past few days, finally Joe and Ed
0:29:27 > 0:29:31have a chance to reconnect with his father's journey.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Below, on the flood plain, is the village of Nalone
0:29:34 > 0:29:38that the Chindits attacked in April 1944 - one of the few places
0:29:38 > 0:29:41villagers haven't fled from along the main road.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46We've just come down to the village of Nalone
0:29:46 > 0:29:49and we need to find somewhere to stay.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56As recently as 2011, it was occupied by the KIA
0:29:56 > 0:29:59and the government planes bombed the village.
0:29:59 > 0:30:00DOG BARKS
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Shut up. Shh.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Don't even think about it.
0:30:05 > 0:30:06ED LAUGHS
0:30:08 > 0:30:10I'm not in the mood.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14In the Spring of 1944,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17the village housed a Japanese garrison.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19It was an important target.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22- Mingalaba.- Mingalaba.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Is it OK to put these hammocks over there?
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Yet, despite all they've been through,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31they still welcome strangers with open arms.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35HE SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE
0:30:35 > 0:30:38OK, these guys have very, very kindly allowed us to
0:30:38 > 0:30:40string our hammocks up around their well.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44OK, mate, you put yours up on that side, I'll put mine on that side.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50We've heard that the old lady was a nine-year-old girl when
0:30:50 > 0:30:52the Chindits were here
0:30:52 > 0:30:55and apparently there's a bomb crater in the village.
0:30:58 > 0:31:0386-year-old Daw Tawnt was a young girl in 1944.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Were you scared when fighting was taking place?
0:31:45 > 0:31:50Is there any evidence of the war still left here in the village?
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Were you angry with the British and the Japanese,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04that they were fighting in your beautiful country,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06in the middle of your peaceful village?
0:32:43 > 0:32:47In April 1944, the Chindits ordered an airstrike on
0:32:47 > 0:32:49the Japanese garrison in the village.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55An account written at the time by Terence O'Brien
0:32:55 > 0:32:57captures what happened.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59"The last remnants of the night mists
0:32:59 > 0:33:01"were being swirled away by the rising sun.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05"A few columns of cigarette-blue smoke rose vertically in the air
0:33:05 > 0:33:07"above the tranquil village.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10"I could see a woman in a classical pose of arms upright
0:33:10 > 0:33:12"to a terracotta pot on the head
0:33:12 > 0:33:14"moved back towards us from the river.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18"When you thought of the death-loaded aircraft,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20"now thundering towards the peaceful village,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23"you wanted no part of this sort of thing.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28"The destruction of the village was a terrible thing to watch.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32"You could see the houses splinter and shiver under the cannon fire,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35"and when it was all over, there was no more blue smoke rising gently
0:33:35 > 0:33:38"from the scene, but black clouds of it churning up into the sky
0:33:38 > 0:33:40"and spreading over the plain to the west."
0:33:43 > 0:33:45Hard to believe, really.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Very.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53The Japanese had chosen to set up a barracks here,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55so they were a legitimate target.
0:33:55 > 0:33:56And as always in war
0:33:56 > 0:33:59it's the civilians who get stuck in the middle.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02And then when you come to the present situation today and you see
0:34:02 > 0:34:06this same Myitkyina-Bhamo road is blocked all the way along by
0:34:06 > 0:34:08the Burmese Army, and you think
0:34:08 > 0:34:10"You're in exactly the same position as the Japanese,
0:34:10 > 0:34:15"all you own is the road." It's uncannily the same, actually.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19And it's desperately sad that these people have just been stuck
0:34:19 > 0:34:21in this conflict for 70 years.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24And I've got to say, they're some of the most...
0:34:24 > 0:34:27I don't know, loveliest people I've ever met.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32They say the first casualty of war is truth,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35well, the second casualty of war are the civilians, really,
0:34:35 > 0:34:37and that's never, ever changed.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57Today, all that remains of those bloody days is the bomb crater.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03It looks like a village pond! Just needs some ducks, mate.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07Yeah, it's quite a big crater, really.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10They said that they went in and dug the shell casing out
0:35:10 > 0:35:13and used the metal to make woks and pans and stuff.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15To make frying pans. Yeah, they did.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18So, this here could be the only physical evidence
0:35:18 > 0:35:20that's still left today.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25What's poignant is the thought of a whole wing
0:35:25 > 0:35:29of P-51 Mustang fighter bombers, sweeping down this valley,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31dropping 250, 500lb bombs and the villagers
0:35:31 > 0:35:34running for the hills.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39I mean, the villages are, almost, medieval agricultural community
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and these were the most advanced... warplanes in the world.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47I mean, that would have been bloody awful for them.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53They must've been just utterly confused.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12- If I sleep on my back I snore like a dog, as you noticed.- Yeah.
0:36:14 > 0:36:15Yeah, yeah. I do, yeah.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19- I haven't been snoring the last few nights?- You have.- Oh.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Back on track, the ever present jungle is uppermost
0:36:30 > 0:36:31in their thoughts.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38There's no hiding the fact, that you know, 70% of the guys here
0:36:38 > 0:36:40died from jungle related diseases.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42So Joe's father would have
0:36:42 > 0:36:45experienced horrendous atrocities. Literally watching his friends
0:36:45 > 0:36:48that would have loved each other and they would watched each other die.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51That must have had a big impact on him.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55A big, big, emotional, psychological impact.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03He cannot fail to have gone home with some scars.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Some really, really, really big scars.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09I think he was very proud to have been a Chindit.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13And you'd think that, if that was the case,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15then he'd be proud to tell his son.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22But Da wasn't that good with emotion, really.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Didn't give much away.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I had all that time when he was ill
0:37:30 > 0:37:33towards the end, where I could have just sat down with his diaries
0:37:33 > 0:37:36and said "Explain this. What happened there? What happened here?"
0:37:36 > 0:37:38I didn't.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43I can't believe I didn't.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Ed's relationship with his parents was difficult, too.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51He was given up for adoption by his teenage mother.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56My birth mother and birth father stayed together
0:37:56 > 0:38:00and they had two more sons, so I've got two full brothers.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03So, did they have you when they were very poor, where they couldn't...?
0:38:03 > 0:38:05Yeah. My mum was 15.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07It's quite mad. I've got two brothers,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10one ten years younger than me, one 12 years younger than me.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12- Pretty weird, isn't it? - It's bonkers, yeah.
0:38:12 > 0:38:13You never met them?
0:38:13 > 0:38:16- Yeah, yeah, I've met them now, we're good mates.- Really?- Yeah, yeah.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18- Oh, that's neat, isn't it? - Yeah. Yeah.
0:38:18 > 0:38:19That's brilliant.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24After days of skirting around the troubles,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27following the road so often fought over,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30finally, Joe and Ed are back on track, heading up to the ridgeline.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36We're going to point 60 today, which is right on top of a hill.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39So, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a bit of a cheeky climb this morning.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Um, we've not got permission to stay at the top
0:38:41 > 0:38:44because of the tensions, at the moment,
0:38:44 > 0:38:45so we're going to have to go up there
0:38:45 > 0:38:47and come back down the same day.
0:38:47 > 0:38:48So, quite a long day.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07I can imagine him doing it, yeah,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10and, er...
0:39:10 > 0:39:13with hundreds of men, in a single column,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17in the monsoon, of course, pouring rain,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19would have made this absolute hell.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23Must have been dreadful,
0:39:23 > 0:39:28I cannot imagine marching, heavily laden, round these jungles
0:39:28 > 0:39:31in a monsoon, let alone...
0:39:31 > 0:39:38trying to fight an enemy, much greater than your size.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41- BREATHLESS: - Really quite unimaginable.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Got to be near the top of this sometime soon, I think.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Steep hill, 1,000 feet in...
0:40:13 > 0:40:15..two kilometres, so...warm.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Kind of cheeky, isn't it?
0:40:17 > 0:40:20As soon as went from the paddy fields into the forest
0:40:20 > 0:40:24there was... You're just hit by this coldness, this fresh air.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26It's so much cooler under the canopy,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29but the hill is steep, really steep.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33- OK. Go for it, Joe. - You go first.- OK.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Oh, wow!
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Look at this!
0:40:43 > 0:40:44HE LAUGHS
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Ah!
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Look at this!
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Wow! That's a view.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56That is an extraordinary view.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00Down below is the plain of the Irrawaddy River,
0:41:00 > 0:41:02as it flows past Myitkyina
0:41:02 > 0:41:04and the small towns of Maingnar and Waimaw.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Waimaw is the first village they attacked.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13They just, basically, went down into the plain
0:41:13 > 0:41:16and pretty much walked single file, straight into the town.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18Met quite a bit of resistance.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Of course, militarily, it was just bloody stupid.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24It was stupid. A lot of men died.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33Joe's father's diary records the events of the time.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35"Tuesday, 30th of May.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39"Mustangs pasted hell out of Maingnar North, all day.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45"Very tough nut to crack."
0:41:51 > 0:41:52It must have been very satisfying
0:41:52 > 0:41:54when you've been staggering around in the jungle,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57just to sit here and watch the enemy just getting blown to pieces.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01They had air support, but, um, it wasn't perfect air support,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04because he describes watching a C-47,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06a Dakota, being shot down in flames...
0:42:09 > 0:42:11..by six Japanese Zeros, which were fighter planes.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13So they, they weren't having it all their own way.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16It's quite noticeable in the diaries that, up until now,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19occasionally somebody gets ambushed and somebody gets wounded,
0:42:19 > 0:42:20but it's just a continual list
0:42:20 > 0:42:24of wounded and killed from now on, which shows how the war had changed.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30- How many years ago did your dad die? - Um. Good question.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35He was 86. Um...um, born in 1922.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Yeah, doesn't seem that long ago.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41It's odd that, isn't it?
0:42:41 > 0:42:43When people die, how fast time goes by.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Particularly, when Da went,
0:42:46 > 0:42:48I felt more alone in the world.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Mmm.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52I regret never telling my father what I thought of him.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56I mean, you know, without being schoolboy-ish, or anything,...
0:42:59 > 0:43:01..I thought he was a hero to me.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06We're just one of those bloody families who don't talk.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08And, actually, if I had said
0:43:08 > 0:43:11something like that, he would've just been embarrassed...
0:43:12 > 0:43:14So...
0:43:15 > 0:43:17So, yeah, there's regrets like that.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19I'd written seven books, for God's sake,
0:43:19 > 0:43:24and only discovered years later that he'd read all of them.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Had to discover from my sister.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29And he never said a word.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31He never said a bloody word to me.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Can you imagine if your son wrote a book?
0:43:33 > 0:43:35Doesn't matter, even if it was a terrible book,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38but if it was a bestselling, world, bestselling book...
0:43:38 > 0:43:39And he never even told you that.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42He could at least say, "Well done, son."
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Or, you know, "I read it." You wouldn't read all of his books
0:43:44 > 0:43:46and then not say a single word!
0:43:46 > 0:43:48Go figure.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53That's quite an insight, actually, isn't it?
0:43:53 > 0:43:56- Wouldn't tell you he loved you, then?- Never did, no. No.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59Don't even know he did, for that matter.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04But, you know, it sounds as if I'm criticising him.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06That's just how he was, you know.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08He was a good father, he was a good man.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10I think he was a good soldier.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32On Tuesday 30th of May 1944, Joe's father walked straight up
0:44:32 > 0:44:34this road to attack the small village of Waimaw
0:44:34 > 0:44:37and its heavily entrenched Japanese garrison.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41Back then, it was a dirt track
0:44:41 > 0:44:44and the noise would have been of war, not hustle and bustle.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56It's a bit unreal to think that my father
0:44:56 > 0:44:59came marching up this road, taking out Japanese bunkers,
0:44:59 > 0:45:01and got to this crossroads,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04at which point they'd pretty much run out of ammunition
0:45:04 > 0:45:06and had to retreat all the way back,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09and then came back and attacked it the next day
0:45:09 > 0:45:12and consequently took quite heavy casualties.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15But they couldn't take... take the town.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17They just didn't have enough men.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22The Chindits were nearly three months into their campaign
0:45:22 > 0:45:25and by now were exhausted, malnourished,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27and suffering with various tropical diseases.
0:45:29 > 0:45:30Looking at Da's diaries,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33it wasn't a well-planned, well-coordinated attack.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Over 70 years ago, the Chindits faced
0:45:36 > 0:45:39some of their toughest fighting to date,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and, today, Joe and Ed are facing the reality
0:45:42 > 0:45:45of the ongoing post-election conflict.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Slightly ominously, we've just been called in to a meeting.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52It would appear that the situation is deteriorating quite rapidly
0:45:52 > 0:45:54So we may have to move out of here.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56We've been told that we were on curfew for 24 hours,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58but I think it's gone beyond that.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00The local fixers are sharing the latest news
0:46:00 > 0:46:02about the fighting between the rebels
0:46:02 > 0:46:03and the government.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08So, what are you hearing? What's happening and where?
0:46:08 > 0:46:12Actually, Kachin State, Shan State, so the Burmese military
0:46:12 > 0:46:17and the Kachin military and Shan military, they are fighting.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21They lost lives from both sides.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24So it's all on Facebook, local news.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29The fighting's contained within restricted local hot spots
0:46:29 > 0:46:30in northeast Myanmar.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34There are rumours of up to 8,000 refugees fleeing the danger zones.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38As a result of the increasing violence,
0:46:38 > 0:46:40the film crew have been banned
0:46:40 > 0:46:43from travelling back down the Bhamo-Myitkyina road.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47And the local porters, mostly from areas near the fighting,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51want to leave so that they can get back to their homes.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54We should let them go to their families
0:46:54 > 0:46:58and I think the sensible thing for all of us, is to go to Myitkyina.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00We should just get over the bridge
0:47:00 > 0:47:02so, at least, we're near the international airport.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06It would appear that the situation is deteriorating rapidly.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12I laugh, but it's turning into a fairly serious situation.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17The team have two hours to get out of town.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19For now, the trip is over.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22This is the Burmese Army flexing its muscles,
0:47:22 > 0:47:24showing how important it is after the election,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27showing that they're needed, showing that they're a security force.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29Unfortunately, to do this,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31they're killing people, on both sides.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Two days later and there's news about one of the villages
0:47:54 > 0:47:56that welcomed them en route.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01The little village of Nalone, which we were in only a few days ago,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04apparently, there's three tanks now in the village
0:48:04 > 0:48:06and the military are occupying it.
0:48:06 > 0:48:12And, erm, that's quite...that's quite shocking to be told.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Well, it was only a few days ago we were interviewing an old woman
0:48:16 > 0:48:21who said she'd spent her entire life ready to move
0:48:21 > 0:48:26and she'd moved countless times, you know, and three days later,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30she's moving again. Yeah, that's...it's desperately sad.
0:48:30 > 0:48:31It's sad for all of them.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35The fact that we'd, you know, been presented by
0:48:35 > 0:48:38nothing but smiles and openness and happiness.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42To know that the army's gone in there now and occupied it,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44having been told how...
0:48:44 > 0:48:47How they behave when they do go and occupy,
0:48:47 > 0:48:48I think that's very shocking.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Whilst Joe and Ed are stranded in Myitkyina,
0:48:59 > 0:49:04by sheer luck they meet 101-year-old Dawng Gawn Tang.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06I'm very pleased to meet you.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08He served with the Chindits during World War II.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34Was the fighting frightening for you at the time?
0:50:30 > 0:50:34Over the next few days, the situation calms down,
0:50:34 > 0:50:39Joe and Ed venture out once more, on the final leg of their journey
0:50:39 > 0:50:40deep into the heart of Burma,
0:50:40 > 0:50:45following Ian Simpson's wartime path, heading for point 68.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51It's quite emotional, really, thinking about it.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54This was the bloody end and they took a lot of losses.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56A lot of casualties.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01I mean, there's one reference in the diaries to 23 wounded and four dead,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05and, of course, those wounded, not all those would have survived.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Now, point 68 is a sleepy cattle wallow,
0:51:16 > 0:51:22but back in 1944, it was the scene of another bloody battle.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24We're here, this is it.
0:51:28 > 0:51:34This is where my father's commanding officer, Major Monteith, was killed.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38He ran into a Japanese ambush,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41machine-gun post, and...
0:51:41 > 0:51:46he was wounded and a Japanese officer ran out
0:51:46 > 0:51:49and decapitated him with a sword.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54So, so close to the end and he just died like that, seems a great shame.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01But within a week of this attack,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05Da had succumbed to what he called scrub typhus,
0:52:05 > 0:52:09he had a temperature of 101 and he was very ill
0:52:09 > 0:52:12and he was flown out from here to India.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15He nearly died, actually.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19All his hair fell out, and six or seven days later,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23the rest of the Chindits flew out after him and that was the end of it
0:52:23 > 0:52:26and, as Da says in his diaries, "Here endeth the lesson."
0:52:27 > 0:52:31When the Chindits were finally evacuated back to India,
0:52:31 > 0:52:35medical officers discovered that well over 50% of the survivors
0:52:35 > 0:52:37weren't fit for active duty
0:52:37 > 0:52:41and many of them were never fit enough to return to duty again.
0:52:41 > 0:52:46For many, the psychological wounds would last a lifetime.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48The amount of death
0:52:48 > 0:52:52and the amount of aggressive death that they would have seen
0:52:52 > 0:52:55would have been very difficult for any mind to process, really.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58This was back in the day where you just got on with life, you know,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01you just didn't go there, really,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03because it was a dark, scary place to go,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06so I would have thought that people would have come out of this campaign
0:53:06 > 0:53:09very affected, yeah.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32After one final push...
0:53:34 > 0:53:38..Joe and Ed arrive at one of Ian Simpson's last camps in Burma.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Right, we could just literally set the tarps up down here
0:53:44 > 0:53:46and just sleep on the ground, don't you think?
0:53:48 > 0:53:51They are going to camp one last night,
0:53:51 > 0:53:56at the same place that Joe's father did some 70 years ago.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00I'll stay further away because you were snoring.
0:54:01 > 0:54:02YOU were snoring, you mean!
0:54:02 > 0:54:04JOE LAUGHS
0:54:04 > 0:54:05Cheeky...!
0:54:10 > 0:54:16Em...I suspect that Ed is doing it rather more efficiently than me.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19- Eh?- The pegs go in quite easy.
0:54:20 > 0:54:21He's made pegs.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31All right, pegs, OK, pegs.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01For Joe, this trip is the culmination of a 37-year dream.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07I wish I had done it when Da was still alive.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10I wish we had been closer.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14I wish we had a different relationship.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19I wish we could have talked.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29I wish I could have shared the things I did in my life with him.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36Because he gave me that life and... I owe him everything.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42I wish I could have told him what I thought of him.
0:55:45 > 0:55:46How proud I was of him.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52It's like I've said goodbye, really.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56And what I really wanted to do was say hello.
0:56:12 > 0:56:16There were nearly 74,000 Commonwealth casualties in Burma
0:56:16 > 0:56:20fighting the Japanese, who finally surrendered in 1945.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26The memories of this bloody time rest with a few remaining veterans,
0:56:26 > 0:56:30with the words in diaries like Joe's father's
0:56:30 > 0:56:33and at places like Yangon's War Memorial.
0:56:35 > 0:56:374th Gurkha Rifles.
0:56:38 > 0:56:3917th of July.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45It's... It's quite strange, seeing these graves here,
0:56:45 > 0:56:48to recognise the names and the dates
0:56:48 > 0:56:51that correlate exactly with Da's diaries.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56The diary suddenly becomes much more real, desperately sad.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01Look at these names on the walls,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04these are just the soldiers whose bodies were never found,
0:57:04 > 0:57:06there's 27,000 of them.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14It's the end of quite a long journey, actually.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16A sort of a fitting end, really.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23I've got a much better idea of what he went through.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30Only...a tiny idea, really,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34but it's turned into a goodbye, really.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37So...
0:57:37 > 0:57:41oddly enough, it's led to something that I'd never really expected,
0:57:41 > 0:57:44which was understanding that something rather more important
0:57:44 > 0:57:47than my obsessive desire to follow the Chindits
0:57:47 > 0:57:49was happening all around us.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52You know, this was a momentous, historical time.
0:57:53 > 0:57:54In a funny way,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58rather more significant than the old, dead history of my father,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02and I think he would think the same, as well, actually.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11I didn't expect to be as moved or as touched by the people of Burma.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17It's seeing such generosity and openness of hearts
0:58:17 > 0:58:19after you know that they've suffered,
0:58:19 > 0:58:21that's what has just blown me away
0:58:21 > 0:58:26and that's, I suppose, a lesson in just the human spirit, really.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28It's extraordinary.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31To me, the star was the country and the people.
0:58:31 > 0:58:32And...
0:58:32 > 0:58:35And I was so obsessed with my father and what he did,
0:58:35 > 0:58:38that it never crossed my mind that that might be what would happen.