Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 220
Four: Private J. H. W. Caley, West Yorkshire Regiment, who was killed in action in Burma in April 1942
General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (4536776 Pte. J. H. Caley, W. York R.); 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine or better (4)
Joseph Henry William Caley was born at Alverstoke, Hampshire in 1917 and enlisted in the West Yorkshire Regiment in the mid-1930s. Drafted to the 2nd Battalion, he was present in operations in Palestine in the period October 1938 to December 1939 (Medal & clasp). Having then served in Egypt and The Sudan, he transferred to the 1st Battalion and was embarked for Rangoon: it was in this capacity that he went into action in the 1st Burma Division.
On 16 April 1942, almost 7,000 men of 1st Burma Division - and 500 prisoners and civilians - were encircled by an equal number of soldiers from the Japanese 33rd Division at Yenangyaung, an area noted for its oil fields; the 33rd Division had cut the Magwe road between Slim's two Divisions, leaving them about 50 miles apart.
General James Bruce Scott, commanding 1st Burma Division, requested assistance from the Chinese 38th Division and, on 17 April, General Sun led his 113th Regiment - numbering just 800 combatants - to the rescue: they were supported by M3 Stuart tanks and a battery of 25-pounder guns from 7th Armoured Brigade.
Over the next three days - with palls of smoke from the demolished oil wells and refineries hanging over the battlefield and temperatures reaching 114 degrees Fahrenheit - the relief force attacked southwards. Meanwhile, 1st Burma Division fought its way across the Pin Chaung River where it met the relief force on 19 April: it was on this date - amidst such harrowing scenes - that Caley was killed in action.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial; sold with copied research, including G.S.M. roll verification.
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Sold for
£230
