Can someone identify this badge?

My grandfather fought in the Chinditz in World War Two in the King's Own Regiment, and recently my nan showed me this badge which she said he received there. Can anyone identify it and tell me what it is for?


the badge:

 

It looks like an emboidered chindit. Chindits were the temple guardians found in that part of SE asia.

From Wikipedia 'Chindit is a corrupted form of the suggested name of the Burmese mythical beast Chinthé or Chinthay, statues of which guarded Buddhist temples'

 

CHINDIT........Burma WW2

 

Wow thank you for the speedy reply. Were those badges given to all those who fought there?

 

No, only 'Wingates Chindits, behind Jap lines, beat the Japs in the Jungle, part of the 14th. Army, under General Bill Slim.
Many different regiments served as Chindits, including the Leicester Tigers and the Gurkhas.

 

From www.chindits.info

 

Part of the "forgotten army" when it came to dishing out medals. Very good bbc series many years ago that covered WW2 , one part of which covered the jungle war,horrific terrain and weather to fight through,those guys really did go through a sjit storm.

 

Here is another variation of the insignia. The insignia were more than likely locally produced resulting in the variations.

But never mind that looking at your palm you are going on a long journey!

 

Just finished last night reading a great book about the Chindits, found it in second hand store and its a keeper. Its called Prisoners of Hope by Michael Calvert, who was an interesting character who went into SAS and commanded then then topped himself after being accused of batting for the other side.

 

And one of the blokes on the bottom of the memorial is mentioned in the book

 

A bit more info for you!
They were known as the 'Forgotten Army' but General Slim told them "You are not forgotten...........nobodys ever heard of you".

 

I'll say. Aside from all the difficulties associated with the climate and terrain, they were dependent on resupply and casevac by air - which couldn't always happen (imagine trying to fly in/out in monsoon), so they were underfed and exhausted, and often had to shoot their wounded rather than abandon them for the Japanese to torture to death. Severe losses were a fact of life: if memory serves, the force that emerged from the jungle at the end of the last Chindit exped was down to 2/3 of its original strength.

 

What's that mean?


And yes my Grandfather was among those who had to walk to India after the war ended, when they lost 1/3 of their numbers and lost much of their supplies. They had to eat the pack donkeys and then carry the stuff that the donkeys had.
My nan did say that he dropped behind enemy lines.
I wish he was still alive, but he died when my mum was 18 in the 50s of a heart attack.
Apparently he would never speak about what happened and his family only truly understood what he went through when my uncle saw someone wearing the same badges as him and asked him if he knew my grandfather. Apparently they were really good mates and he said alot about their exploits. I still need to ask my uncle exactly what he said, and when I have I will post the results here for anyone interested.

 

Apparently one of the things he did tell my nan was that he once had to pretend he was dead to avoid being captured by the Japanese when they attacked the camp they were in.
I think that he must have been in the first expedition since I remember my nan talking about that 1000 mile walk.

In a secret compartment he made in his Paybook I found a handwritten copy of Kipling's 'If' that his mother sent him. Apparently it was his favourite poem.

 

Joke - as in Madame Petulengra The Gypsy Palm Reader At Brighton Beach . .

Nip down to your local library, see if they've got Max Hastings book "Warriors" - it has a chapter about a Gurkha officer who led one of the Chindit Brigades in that last exped. I read it last night, it is a good short summary of what it was all about.