261106 Pte. Dennis James Houston British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment from:Oxfordshire Dennis Houston served in Burma in WW2. He enlisted into the General Service Corps, embodied in the Territorial Army, and posted to 67 Primary Training wing on 1st April 1943. On 13th May 1943 Dennis was transferred to 17 Infantry Training Centre. On 20th July 1943 he was posted to the 9th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment and on 28th January 1944 was posted to the 2nd Battalion, moving yet again to Relegated Reserve on 11th June 1946.
He served overseas in India between 24th of October 1943 and 10th June 1946. At one point, Dennis was bitten by a snake and nearly died. He spoke little of his war years but some things he did say. He told of his time in Dad’s Army. On one occasion, he told how the men were given grenades to clean. One of the brighter sparks decided that placing them on a village hall heater would melt the grease and make the grenades easier to clean. Dennis said you have never seen men move so fast to get away, diving through doors and windows. On another occasion, he said that he was once paired with an elderly man to guard a crossroads. A car came along and was stopped. The elderly man asked the driver for his identification papers but when given them couldn’t read them because he didn’t have his glasses on. Dennis watched as his partner handed his rifle to the driver so that he could put his glasses on.
His time overseas was not spoken about in any detail, but he did talk about the Gurkhas alongside of whom he fought and for whom he had a great respect. He also talked of walking between mules so he wouldn’t be shot by Japanese snipers. Dennis gave money all his life to the RSPCA as a thank-you to the poor mules who took a bullet instead of the soldiers. He said the only American anything he saw in Burma was an American plane and that was shot down. He suffered from malaria all his life.
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