Veterans Remember Fallen of Kohima

Monday May 12 2014

Veterans of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders gathered at the Old High Church, Inverness, to remember members of the regiment who died 70 years ago at the Battle of Kohima, in India.

Their presence coincided with the transfer 'home' from Glasgow Cathedral to the Old High, the Camerons’ regimental church, of the colours of the former 1st Battalion, which played a vital part in the defeat of Japanese forces during the battle.

These colours, which were rededicated by minister the Rev Peter Nimmo, have joined the colours of the 6th and 7th wartime service battalions, and the 3rd Militia Battalion, which have hung in the Old High Church for many years.

Three veterans of the battle, now in their nineties were among those attending the service. They were Lieutenant Colonel David Murray, Major Gordon Graham, who won the Military Cross for his part in the battle, and George MacDonald, a former shinty stalwart, originally from Foyers, and now living in Inverness.

Former Cameron Highlander and Queen’s Own Highlander Lieutenant Colonel Angus Fairrie, North Kessock, a leading expert on regimental history, delivered a short address on the Camerons’ contribution to the battle, which turned the tide in favour of the Allied forces, and marked the beginning of the campaign to liberate Burma.

A bronze plaque, with the names of over 100 Camerons who died in the two-month long battle, is now on permanent loan from the Highlanders’ Museum at Fort George to the Old High Church, thanks to Col Fairrie’s intervention. It had previously hung on the 2nd Division’s memorial at Kohima, but had been removed in the 1980s, for fear that it might fall prey to metal thieves. There are only 65 Cameron graves at Kohima cemetery – the others who died have no known resting places.

Among those who attended the service was Major Donald Maclauchlan, son of the Rev Francis Maclauchlan, who served as padre to the 1st Camerons at Kohima, and later as minister of the Old High from 1950 to 1963. He read the Gospel lesson from Luke 24, from the Bible his father had carried throughout the Burma campaign.

The battle for the strategic community of Kohima, in north east India, which took place over a 50-day period between March and May 1944, marked a pivotal point in the war in the Far East.

The victory by British and Commonwealth forces there, together with a similar triumph at Imphal, 50 miles to the south, ended Japanese attempts to conquer India.

As part of the British Second Division, the 1st Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders fought throughout most of the battle.

Comments

Roger Weed - Wednesday, August 10th, 2016

“Congratulations to you all. Kohima was a great victory for the British Army and the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

Roger Weed, member Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25,San Francisco and Past President of 900 Golden Bear Wing, RCAF Association San Francisco”

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