Skipton Royal British Legion are pleased to invite members and the public to a talk about the experiences of local lad Andy Shaw during WWII in the Far East. The event will take place on Friday, 1st August at 7.30 p.m. at Three Links Club in Skipton.
It is 80 years since the end of WWII in the Far East, when Japan surrendered with the atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The purpose of this talk is not to glorify war or celebrate the massacre of thousands of people, on both sides, or to examine why wars happen, but to try and show what it might have been like for an ordinary chap from Skipton who found himself in the jungle in India during the Second World War.
We will have a glimpse at part of the experience of Skipton-born Andy Shaw (1921-2008) who joined the RAF as a cook. Like most of the veterans of WWII, Andy never spoke about his experiences, nor did he leave a diary, but he did leave around 300 photographs and postcards of his time in India.
Diane Sloggett’s book, “Angels of Burma,” shares her experience as a nurse at Panetola in Assam where Andy was initially stationed. With Diane’s help, we take the long journey from England to Calcutta, imagining some of the sites enroute.
Then, through Andy’s photos, we meet some of the many Indian plantation workers who helped build the roads, runways and buildings of the general hospital at Panatola and neighbouring Dinjan, including the young girls, called bibis, who carried bricks on their heads. We meet the locals who prepared food for, cleaned and looked after the allied forces.
We see how the allied forces helped our Chinese allies by flying food and equipment over ‘the hump’ (Himalayas).
We see how Andy and his mates lived in the jungle, in huts, how they washed, how their pets and ‘camping about’ kept them sane.
We see some of the amazing cities Andy and his mates visited in between the battles of Imphal and Kohima.
Friday, 1st August, 7.30 pm Three Links Club, Skipton
