Pte Arthur Mortimer
British Army 2nd Btn. Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding)
from:Bradford
My father, Arthur Mortimer, who served with both lst and 2nd Battalions DWR during his service (from June 1936 - April 1944). He was 15 when he enlisted into the West Yorkshire Regiment Territorial Army, and into the Regular Army (1 DWR) in 1937. He was posted to 2 DWR in December 1938 and served with them in India and also during the Burma Campaign during the retreatand later as a muleteer. He was wounded by shrapnel in September 1944 and invalided back to the UK. In the photograph my father (seated) is shown with his friend (name unknown) who disappeared in the Burmese jungle; my father says that they had been asleep and that during the night his friend had disappeared - presumably taken by the Japanese.
My dad spoke only rarely about his time during the war - just snippets here and there. He told me that he had learned to swim crossing the river Sittang during the retreat - it was either swim or be left behind. He also told me that on one occasion in the Burmese jungle when they were without food he had shot and killed a pig, but that as punishment for potentially giving away their position to the enemy he was told that he would not get any of the bounty. The pig was duly cooked and dished up whilst my dad went without; by the following morning everybody who had eaten the pork either had the runs or were feeling quite ill!!
As a postscript I would just like to add that my great grandfather, grandfather, father and myself all served with The Dukes as Regular soldiers in a time span that covers from 1882 to 1975.
