Escape from Burma 1942

In 1942, my step-grandfather Lanc Corp Jack Gilpin of the K.O.Y.L.I's managed to evaluate his newly married wife Florence Roshni Gilpin (Singh) from Maymyo in Burma on the last transporter plane heading to India where she had left her two sons with their biological father in the Northern province of Pithoragah and from there take them both to England.

The transporter plane came under attack from a Japanese fighter plane but the transporter pilot managed to avoid being shot down and made it safely to India.

Meanwhile, Jack Gilpin was later captured by the Japanese army but managed to escape a week later with a few of his battalion. He was wounded during the escape but made it safely to allied-occupied territory. After a few months in hospital he was sent back to Leeds, England to be reunited with his wife and his two adopted sons Joseph (my later father) and Johnny.