GRAVE OF A FAMOUS CHINDIT IN USA
(From the Spring 1981 issue of Dekho!)

 In view of the Association trip to Washington later this year, some of the party may wish to visit the Arlington National Cemetery at least to view the gravestone which includes the name of Major-Gen. Orde Wingate (Section 12, No. 288). 

A considerable amount of mystery has always surrounded the death of the Chindit Commander. From authentic details supplied by Bill Lawrence, Lewisham, the subsequent happenings were also unusual. He writes:

 A few years ago a man, on seeing my Association blazer badge, asked me if I knew there was a grave in Chariton Cemetery, SE London, with the name of Major-Gen. Orde Wingate, RA, on it. He gave me its position and when I visited the cemetery I saw the headstone with the inscription together with the date of death 24th March, 1944. On requesting permission to take photographs the Town Clerk of Greenwich refused, it being against the family’s wishes. A short while afterwards I received a letter from General Wingate’s brother, Judge W. Grant Wingate, QC, and the information he then gave was surprising to say the least. Judge Wingate said:

“The history of the matter is this. The plane carrying my brother and his ADC Burrow and several Americans crashed on a mountain top in Burma.

 An expedition was sent to find the spot at once. They found scattered remains unidenti­fiable, collected these and buried them upon a mound on which they placed a bronze plate (I have it) engraved with the names of all who perished in the plane.

In many ways it would have been fitting to have left this interment undisturbed hut in due course the British War Graves authorities removed the remains to lmphal. Later, without consent or knowledge of my family the remains were again dug up and removed to Arlington Cemetery, Washington, USA. This was done upon an agreement made between the British and American Courts, that where bodies were buried unidentified in a mass grave the Americans had the right to have re-interment in the States if there were more Americans than British concerned. Accordingly such remains (and none, I repeat, were identifiable) of my brother as may have been found and interred with the rest are now in Arlington Cemetery.

 We were represented at the re-interment ceremony at Arlington by a personal friend of mine who happened to be First Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington at the time. We had only 24 hours’ notice of the re-interment. The manner in which this matter was handled was the subject of a complaint taken up on our, behalf by Winston Churchill but nothing could be done. We felt and feel that it was quite inappropriate for General Wingate to be buried in the States. However, I don’t suppose he would have minded as much as his family.

 It follows from what I have said that no remains of my brother were buried in Charlton Cemetery. It is a memorial inscription only. There is another memorial of a more impressive character in the North Porch of Chariton House School Chapel, of which I also have a photograph”.