Memories of India and Burma

George Butterworth was a Lance Corporal in the 14th army, called the forgotten army. He lied about his age to get into the army.

He went to India and thought it would be warmer. He loved it there. He befriended a Sikh man who had a very important job in ICI. George loved football and played for England in Burma. He used to have football matches with local children.

His first job was in salt work. He got an apprenticeship in a boat yard. He had malaria there. He loved Burma as well. He came back in 1946 because war with Japanese lasted longer in Burma.

He was offered a job in Burma, India and Australia at the end of the war. But he came back home to marry, and his mother-in-law would not allow him to go abroad. His mother had had a child, the interviewee's stepbrother's Michael, in the meantime with an American soldier.

George Butterworth brought two Japanese swords home. He marched in London on Victory over Japan Day in 1987 or 1988.

He spoke about the war in commemoration days. He went there with his wife and children. The contributor listened in on the conversation among adults at these meets.

He used to collect newspaper reports on atrocities of the Japanese.

The contributor was a standard bearer in a military funeral service in 2013- held for his father's co-soldiers.

His parents lived in the countryside. His mother, May Heath, lived in the farm, away from bombs in cities. She experienced food rationing. There was a prison camp nearby with German and Italian prisoners. Her mother, that is the contributor's grandmother, was not happy that George was friends with a Sikh man. The contributor says that his father taught him better and differently regarding these things.