17thBGH RAMC in India

[Joy Dean]

My father, in the RAMC, was in the 17th British General Hospital in India in WW2. In recent times, particularly the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, I started looking at maps of India and Burma; I don't know why I had not done so before now! And it struck me just how many thousands of miles patients would have had to be transported from Burma to the Field Hospitals in India. Also I wondered why the 17th BGH was in India and not Burma.

Recently I bought a book called The Campaign in Burma which I found very helpful and interesting especially some of the maps in it, being able to place locations.

[Mark Wells]

Hello Joy, Just seen your post re your Father who was in the 17th BGH, in India. I was wondering if you have much information about your Fathers service. My Father was also with 17th BGH and of course in India. I have been searching for a while but not found much info apart from dates the unit was in certain locations. My Dad was Sgt Lewis Wells, his home county was Lincolnshire. I would very much appreciate if you could share any information you have.  Many thanks. Mark

[Joy Dean]

Hello, Mark. I wonder if they met 
I shall have a look at my Dad's service records.

[Joy Dean]

I apologise for the delay.
Yes, there are dates and locations, when he was on leave, when promoted to Staff-Sergeant, home address, name of wife, names and dates of birth of children. He attested to the T.A. in April 1939 for four years; then war got in the way! My Dad was in India for three and a half years.

I sent for my Dad's service records twenty years ago. The letter I received stated "Rather than a statement of service transcribed from the information we hold, I am enclosing copies of all the relevant documents from your father's service file.".

[Joy Dean]

In October, 1939, the unit was re-named as the 17th (London) General Hospital, (TA) and served in Europe and India as shown below:
Jan - May 1940 France
June 1940 - Jan 1942 U.K.
April 194 2 - Jan 1944 Dehra Dun, India
Feb - June 1944
July 1944 - Jan 1946 In Transit Dacca, Bengal
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.friendsofmillbank.org/downloads/217%20General%20Hospital_Combined-s.pdf

[Joy Dean]

Hello Joy, Just seen your post re your Father who was in the 17th BGH, in India. I was wondering if you have much information about your Fathers service. My Father was also with 17th BGH and of course in India. I have been searching for a while but not found much info apart from dates the unit was in certain locations. My Dad was Sgt Lewis Wells, his home county was Lincolnshire. I would very much appreciate if you could share any information you have.  Many thanks. Mark

Would you like me to scan a couple of photos in case your father is in them?

[Mark Wells]

Hello Joy, Only just seen the last 2 messages, I have been having problems with the forum. Dates you mention relate to what I have found. Not had any time recently to do any research. Would be great if you could scan any photos or any thing else that you think may be interesting. I have many photos that my Dad took while in India, and also have the camera they were taken on. Also a couple of official group photos, one is of a hockey team which my Dad was in the other looks like a unit photo. I will scan those for you if you think they may be of interest to you. H I don’t know o anything of his time in Dacca and he never spoke about it.

[Joy Dean]

I shall search out the photos, Mark. I don't think that Dacca rings a bell with me either. My Dad didn't speak about the war much.

In the meantime, I shall attach something that may be of interest. It was only last year, I think, that I decided to relinquish sympathy cards and letters concerning my parents. However, I came across the attached on the computer that I must have scanned sometime ago. I must print it and put it in my Dad's military file.

[Joy Dean]

Forgot how to attach something just now!