Troops of 19th Indian Division lay on a special party for children, recently released from Japanese internment, in parkland at Maymyo (Pyin U Lwin), Burma.

A lorry drives across an open field in a park at Maymyo. The vehicle stops and a number of children climb down from the lorry. Some are helped down by British soldiers. Regimental Sergeant Major T M Belt, of 33rd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, holds up a young girl. Group of children walk past camera with a number of soldiers amongst them. The children gather in an area of scattered trees that has been carpeted with parachutes used to deliver supplies. Captain J H S Spread, Anglican chaplain to 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, shows photographs of his own children to the children sitting around him. Close-up of a young (Anglo-Indian?) boy grinning happily. Children play musical chairs. Close-up of a group of young (Burmese?) children. An English-looking (teenage?) girl. A group of young girls run a race. A group of boys run a race. Three soldiers sitting on the ground; the soldier in the centre is a sergeant and two little children have their arms around his neck. Children of various ages eating what look like jam tarts. Major-General Thomas Wynford 'Pete' Rees, commander of 19th Indian Division, seen talking to a young girl and a younger-looking boy (siblings?). Rees is handed a cup of tea. A soldier, out of shot, holds a mug for a little (Anglo-Indian?) girl. Sandwiches are given out. Rees talking with a young girl. A basket of jam tarts are distributed. Children sitting on the ground for a show, 'Stepping Out', put on by the RAF. A man in drag, complete with bonnet, performing on stage. The stage backdrop is made from parachutes. The audience applauding. A captain of the Worcesters with two children. The performers waving to the audience at the end of their show.

Notes

The dopesheet provides a long and detailed narrative preamble for this film, and credits the idea for this children's party to the cooks of 33rd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery. Other performers apparently included a duet of 'When the Lights of London Shine Again' by two children aged 10 and 6, and 'Danny Boy' by 'a self-possessed young man of 11'. The experience of children freed from internment at Maymyo is also covered in JFU 275. See related items.

Maymyo was a British hill station which served as the summer capital of Burma due to its cooler and less humid climate than Rangoon. During the war it was the site of a Japanese internment camp in which large numbers of British, Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burmese civilians were held. After its capture it became one of the first rest centres for Allied troops in Burma itself, who previously would have to travel to India for leave.

Besides this film's obvious human interest, it also provides a fairly rare glimpse of Major-General Rees (who not long before had been overseeing his division's assault on Mandalay) in an informal setting. For more film coverage of this party, and of Maymyo more generally, see related items.