239215 Capt. Charles Fredrick Pomphrey British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Scots from:Scotland I met a group of older guys in a `spit and sawdust' type pub in the Old Town, Edinburgh around 1984 with my brother. Somehow we got onto the subject of fighting the Japanese during WWII. They told us that our father, Charles Pomphrey, saved all of their lives, especially when crossing a river xxxx. They knew him by the nick name 'black bastard'. Not very nice, but he did have black hair, dark brown eyes and a moustache. They trained in India and Africa and fought in Burma and other regions.
We have a photograph of my father being introduced to King George during training in Bulawayo. All of the chaps we spoke to said that they owed their lives to the fact that he was a great strategic and forward planning officer who knew his stuff, even though he was of a young age.
As children we were brought up in a very strictly styled regime probably due to our father's time in the Army and the tropics. You will find that those who fought in these conditions and witnessed the horrors of this type of warfare very rarely speak of their experience. I know, however, that some of my brothers did manage to glean some informative snippets from my father. He never really wanted to have to remember or discuss his war experience.
The letter that he received after the war states the following:
The Second Division
France 1939-40
England 1940-41
India 1941-44
Arakan 1943
Kohima-Assam 1944
Burma 1944-45
Capt. C. F. Pomphrey
For your service in the Division.
Our success has been largely due to the determination and devotion to duty displayed by all ranks, and we may all feel justly proud that by these successes we have maintained and enhanced the already fine record of the Second Division. Well done. Good luck in your future life.
3 Sept. 1945 G Glicholson, Maj. Gen. Commander 2nd Division
A very basic and politic style of letter for what these men had to endure, experience, witness and suffer as far as I am concerned.
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