Footage of a memorial service held in memory of Major-General Orde Wingate, the commander of the Chindits, after his death in a plane crash in Manipur in March 1944.

Series of shots, increasingly close, of a wooden cross with an inscribed metal plaque in the centre. Close-up shows the plaque to read: ‘Maj Gen O C Wingate, DSO / Capt. G H Borrow, MC / Mr Stewart Emeny (War Correspondent) / Mr Stanley Wills (War Correspondent) / 1st Lieut. Brian E F Hodges, USAAF / 2nd Lieut. Stephan A Wanderer, USAAF, Tech Sgt Frank Sadoski, USAAF / S Sgt James W Hickey, USAAF / S Sgt Vernon A McInnich, USAAF’ and is decorated with a simple line image of a chinthe and pagoda spire. Brief shot shows Major-General Lentaigne and Lord Louis Mountbatten walking together, along with a third officer. Mountbatten leaning against a small wooden podium as British troops gather and sit down around him. A simple church parade with troops on three sides of a square with priest, altar and organist in front. Pan of the congregation. Priest, altar (with cross seen earlier) and organist. Congregation with Mountbatten and Lentaigne; a woman in nurses uniform stands next to Mountbatten and she is apparently the only woman present.

Notes

Major General Orde Charles Wingate, commander of Special Force (3rd Indian Division 'The Chindits') died on 24 March 1944 in an air crash. His death came a few weeks after the launch of Operation Thursday, an airborne invasion of Burma, and was a substantial blow to the morale of troops under his command. When the crash site was located it proved impossible to identify the bodies, all the remains being interred together. As the majority were American, they were later reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Series note: The MWY series of films is believed to be part of a ‘pool’ of film received by the Government of India from various sources, including South East Asia Command, the Indian Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate, the Ministry of Information, and from Allied governments. This footage would have been considered for editing and release through the Indian Newsreel Parade; see INR series.