Memories of Burma and Hong Kong

My dad (Patrick Joseph Matthews) joined the army when he was 16. He was from NI born in Armagh. He joined when he was 16 years. He went out to Hong Kong having the time of his life then war broke out. I have some photographs of his early days before the war broke out. Then when he went to war after it broke out, he was sent to the Northwest frontier of India before partition. I was born in 1947, the year that India and Pakistan separated company.

I have a photograph here of planes being bombed up ready for action and photographs of villages that had been hit. There are photographs of the airfield.

Just before the end of the war he joined the paratroopers which meant he was parachuting into places. He parachuted into Burma and met with a group who were abandoned there. He never spoke about his time in Burma. I only found out when he died, and I found his discharge papers.

My dad walked from his village in Northern Ireland to take the exams for the Navy, but he failed them. He didn't know they could be retaken so then he joined the Army.

I have a photograph of bombs underneath the plane. The planes look so flimsy. There are horrific photographs of a village in India just being obliterated.

My father never spoke about his time. He said that he had a good time in Hong Kong but didn't speak about Burma.