Welded to my mind's eye: The story of the Last Ditchers in Burma

In 1942 The Japanese invaded Burma, hoping to secure access to some of the largest oil-fields and refineries in the world at the time. My grandfather worked for the oil industry in central Burma at the time and was one of a handful of civilians to stay behind to destroy those fields and refineries to ensure the Japanese gained no usable assets in the war inn the East. These men, known as the Last Ditchers, faced terrible physical and mental hardships during the destruction of oil fields they had spent their working lives constructing, and in their subsequent escape through Burma and over jungle-clad mountains to India.

In 2016, 74 years after Harry's dramatic last weeks in Burma, I went to work in the country now known as Myanmar. Over the following year, I explored the places Harry had known, and in April 2017, 75 years after Harry, I retraced his steps from Central Burma to the India border. It was a journey of discovery where I gained a new understanding of my grandfather, who had died when I was just 8 years old, and a journey where I learned about a country that had been hidden from view for so many decades since the events recounted in this book.

The account given here draws on Harry's letters recounting his experiences in 1942 and my own impressions and experiences of the country I have come to love.