Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment Museum Trust has a permanent display of its collections as part of Luton’s Wardown Park Museum attractions .
Visitors can relive their history while posing new questions about their ancestral connections.
A Wednesday morning team of volunteers/trustees are on hand (10am until 12noon) to assist enquiries and research into lost family stories.
John Maddox, chairman of the Trust, wants to discover missing elements of Commonwealth support to Allied Forces engaged in the Burma campaign 1942-1945.
With such a diverse community in Luton and district there must be families wondering just where ‘Grandad’ was deployed, who he was alongside and just how this campaign developed and ended.
The Trust is planning a small exhibition during the Second World War commemoration period leading up to D Day, June 2014 and would welcome anyone with memorabilia of the time to call into the museum on any Wednesday morning.
As an example, the Trust recently received a visit from an Asian lady seeking knowledge of the use of Indian village horses as part of the 14th Army’s final drive against the Japanese invasion.
There must be similar stories to unfold.
So if you are related in any way to Naik Gian Singh VC 1915-1996, Jamamandar Abdul Hafiz VC 1915-1944, Kamal Ram (VC) 1924- 1982 or as part of the African support forces, such as Sergeant Major Kharmis Juma, twice wounded and the recipient of nine medals including the MBE, East & Central Africa, then please make contact.
Many countries were involved in the Second World War and often the contribution of less distinguished service is equally enthralling in its overall story to peace in our time.