Came across this blog which I found interesting but by posting here does not mean that I necessarily endorse the charity. Andrew Buncombe's Asia diary - How to help the forgotten heroes of WWII Last week I was on the Thailand-Burma border near the town of Mae Sot to research this story about 130 elderly members of the Karen tribe who fought for the British during WWII to help drive Japanese forces out of Burma. These farmers-turned-soldiers were promised their own independent homeland if they helped the British, yet that was quickly forgotten once the war was over. These old boys (and quite a few widows) are now living on food hand-outs in rather depressing refugee camps, scattered along the border, having been driven from their villages inside Burma by the brutal junta that runs that ill-fated country. The MoD provided with me with a remarkable statement as to why it could not offer any help, claiming these veterans were not eligible for any sort of money because they fought ALONGSIDE British troops rather than FOR the British. You, like me, might consider such a comment nothing less than a shameful lot of rubbish. For some years, these veterans received a tiny grant from a British charity, the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League, but that has recently stopped as the charity has decided that its limited resources are better spent helping those veterans still living inside Burma, in conditions they say are worse than those in the camps. Their spokesman told me they had not taken the decision to stop the grants lightly, but that its resources were limited. Another charity is now trying to raise some money for these old boys and anyone who wishes to contibute to the cause can easily do so. The charity is called Help 4 Forgotten Allies and it can be contacted at the following address: c/o Lieut. Col. Sam Pope, Heather Bank, Fyning Lane, Rogate, Petersfield, Hampshire, GU31 5DH. If anyone prefers to pay by international bank transfer the bank account details are: Help 4 Forgotten Allies Bank a/c: 363-0448657-72 IBAN: BE38363044865772 BIC: BBRUBEBB Branch: ING Place Luxembourg, Brussels, Belgium. Its website is: http://handsoffriendship.dynalias.org/ Of course, people can also contribute to the RCEL. Its contact details can be found here.
Friend of the Karen: Major Hugh Seagrim GC The Karen people made tremendous sacrifices for the British in WW2 and were never rewarded. They continue to be persecuted, often killed, by the Burmese government to this day. Hugh Seagrim was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his work behind the Japanese lines with the Karen: Major Hugh Paul SEAGRIM, GC, DSO, MBE 19th Hyderabad Regiment, attached Special Operations Executive Major Hugh Seagrim, while well aware of the horrors of captivity in Japanese hands, deliberately gave himself up to them to save the lives of Karen civilians. He was a member of a small patrol that was operating behind the enemy lines in Burma in 1943. It remained undiscovered for almost a year until a day when several members of his party were ambushed and killed. Seagrim, however, got away and was given shelter by Karen villagers, but the Japanese now knew of his existence and made sustained efforts to track him down. Amongst other things, they arrested no less than 270 of the Karens in the area and many of them were tortured and put to death in the most brutal manner. Despite all this, the Karens who were sheltering Seagrim made no attempt either to get rid of him or even to suggest that he went. However, the Japanese succeeded in getting a message to him to say that if he gave himself up, they would cease their reprisals. As soon as he heard this he walked out of the village where he was hiding and into the nearest Japanese camp. He was sent to Rangoon with the eight other members of his patrol who had previously been captured and, on 2nd September 1944 they were all court martialled and sentenced to death. As soon as the sentences were announced, Seagrim stood before the Court and addressed the President, saying that he had been in command and anything the others had done had been done on his orders. He was quite ready to die but asked that the others should be spared. His pleas were ignored and all the men were returned to prison to await execution. There, Seagrim devoted himself to comforting and inspiring the others and he did this so successfully that each one of them said that if their commander was to die they would pefer to die with him. They did. Every evening in Burma, he had conducted prayers round the campfire, reading from the bible in Burmese and expounding it to his followers. He told one of his men that during his time in the hills [including previous expeditions] he had read the bible right through twelve times . He never ceased to exhort the Karens to pray to God and to find strength through prayer. On the night before this death he fellow captive Keren in the same cell, "Don't worry Ta Roe, we are Christians and must have faith in God, Ta Roe, and trust him. Christ came down to earth and suffered on a cross. We must suffer like him. He showed him a passage in the bible "If we die with him, we shall also live with him" No. & Rank at the Time of Action: IA 985 & 49359 Temporary Major Unit: 19th Hyderabad RegimentJ attached to Force 136, Indian Army Date and Place of Birth: 24th March 1909 The Vicarage, Ashmansworth, Hampshire) Family: Son of Rev. Charles Paulet Conyngham Seagrim [d. 1927] and Anabel Emma Halsted Seagrim, of East Dean, Eastbourne, Sussex. Early life: Attended Norwich Grammar as a boarder in the lower School towards end of WW1 & King Edward VI School, Norwich. Was a spectacular goalkeeper. Graduate of RMA Sandhurst. Date and Place of GC Action: February 1943 to February 1944, Burma The London Gazette: The award of the George Cross was published on p. 4573 of The London Gazette No. 37720 dated the 12th September 1946 Remarks: Major Seagrim's brother, Lieutenant Colonel Derek A. Seagrim, was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in Tunisia on 20th-21st March 1943, and was killed in action shortly afterwards. This is the only instance of one family being awarded both the Victoria and George Cross. The Seagrim family consisted of four sons: Charles (commissioned into the Royal Artillery), Cyril (commissioned into the Royal Engineers), Derek (commissioned into the Green Howards), Jack (commissioned into the Indian Army) and Hugh (also commissioned into the Indian Army). The sons served a combined total of nearly 100 years. Hugh joined the Indian Army in 1931 going to Cawnpore, attached to the Highland Light Infantry. During the first year he spent his leave on expeditions in the Himalayas. He later joined the 1st/20th Bn of the Burma Rifles then in Taiping. He then joined the 19th Hyderabad Regiment, later the Kumaon Regiment.This unit was composed of hill people, with whom he spent most of his life in Burma.
A very informative posts David and Adrian. Some ex soldiers from other countries have been hard done by the so called Super Powers
The government(s) and their representatives made promises very easily however the delivery of those promises, were I believe, never meant to be fulfilled. I realise at the time it was war and you had to use every means available to secure victory however these "promises" made to simple inhabitants were denied in the great "Pass the Buck" ways of government as soon as the conflict ended.
