SGT ERIC PRIESTLEY
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

Eric Survived But So Many Others Didn't

Eric Priestley, from Barnsley, Yorkshire was 22 when he was sent to join the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry’s second battalion stationed at Maymyo, near Mandalay in India. The old hands waited eagerly for the new recruits to arrive, shouting out their home towns in the hope that some of the  ‘townies’, as they were labelled, would communicate news from home. The two squads never really hit it off, however, as both sides viewed the other with suspicion. 

They were sent on a very long train ride to Burma and formed one of two British battalions defending the Eastern bank of the Sittang river. Eric was a sergeant and on one occasion was put in charge of a squad who were moving the mules. He was moving them North when he encountered a unit of Japs at a roadblock. He fled across a field as they fired at him and acquired a gaping wound in his leg. When the soldiers went to sleep at night they lay in a circle on the ground but every third man had to stay awake. They could hear the Japs in the vicinity trying to detect where they were by pretending to be Gurkhas, shouting, “Hello Johnny!” The KOYLIs had to stay quiet and were not allowed to fire in case they gave away their position. They had no ammunition anyway, only bayonets and knives. 

The British believed that if the Japanese captured the Sittang Bridge they might reach Rangoon before it could be defended, so General Smyth ordered the demolition of the bridge. This was a fearful blow to the British. Everyone realised that they had been cut off and some felt that they had been abandoned. The Brigadier decided the troops should try and cross the river as best they could. The building of rafts and the evacuation of the wounded was to start at once. Eric and his three or four comrades built a raft from a bamboo door and with a wounded officer on top swam the mile-wide river. He says they were told simply to make for the railway line and head North to India. They met no other soldiers until months later when they emerged over the border and made their way through the lines of fire to the British units that were fighting in India. They simply followed the North Star. 

When reminded about ‘the train’ that was supposed to have arrived to carry them, their stores and what little ammunition they did have, Eric remembers finding what he believed to have been this train, after he had crossed the river, so it appears that we have two trains in the picture.  He had lost his shoes in the river but continued walking until his feet were cut to shreds. When he saw the train he crawled on hands and knees to it. He was able to get a new pair of boots from the train. The salt water in the river (it was close to the mouth) had healed the wound in his leg. Otherwise he says he would have died from the infection, so you could say that the blowing up of the Sittang Bridge saved his life! 

All the time he was ploughing through jungle terrain he was starving and would eat nothing for long periods. The main diet was berries and monkey nuts. 

When he arrived in India he was sent to a camp which was set up as a hospital miles behind the lines of fire, as he had Malaria and malnutrition. He says he was so terrified and couldn’t stop shaking even though he was safe. 

There had been 800 men in the 2nd KOYLIs and only 80 survived! 

Eric is now 85 and living in Filey, North Yorkshire. He has never spoken of his wartime experiences until a few months ago. I came across the Burma Star site on the internet and, as I am his daughter, became interested. I have encouraged him to talk about it and to read the book about the KOYLIs that has been put on the site. He doesn’t get upset anymore and we have many long and fascinating conversations on the topic. 

I just feel so lucky that he was one of the 80 and we both feel so sorry for the families of all those brave men who were killed.

Maggie Scott
mascott@maggiesmail.com