Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-war Colonial Service O.B.E., Second World War campaign group of five awarded to Captain A. R. Elliott, 4th Gurkha Rifles, attached 2nd (Gurkha) Battalion, Indian Parachute Regiment, late Royal Engineers, who was mentioned in despatches for gallant deeds in Burma - most probably his unit’s parachute deployment to Elephant Point as part of “Operation Dracula” in May 1945

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, in its Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, these last four mounted as worn, together with Royal Life Saving Society bronze medal, the reverse engraved, ‘A. R. Elliott, July 1930’, in its fitted case, a quantity of badges and buttons, including original embroidered Parachute “Wings” and India Airborne shoulder flash, and Colonial Service uniform collar boards, generally very fine or better (Lot) £600-800

O.B.E. London Gazette 11 June 1960.

Arthur Roland Elliott, who was born in Warrington, Lancashire, in March 1915, attended Wadham College, Oxford, in the mid-1930s and worked as a post-graduate in education out in Germany and Switzerland up until the outbreak of hostilities.

Enlisting in the Royal Engineers as a Sapper in July 1940, he served in No. 76 Chemical Warfare Company, R.E., from November 1940 until January 1942, and in the 1st Parachute Squadron, R.E., from the latter month until December 1942, when he applied for a commission in the Indian Army.


Having then attended an O.T.S. at Bangalore for much of 1943, he was duly appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Gurkha Rifles but, shortly afterwards, joined 153 Parachute Battalion - later titled the 2nd (Gurkha) Battalion, Indian Parachute Regiment - and it was in this capacity that he was present in a good deal of fighting on the Burma front.

As part of 50th Independent Parachute Brigade, Elliott’s unit was present at the at the battle of Sangshak (21–26 March 1944), which lasted six days, the Brigade suffering extremely heavy casualties - 40 officers and V.C.Os and 545 other ranks. The breakout on the night of 26 March 1944 saw the remnants of the once-proud Parachute Brigade fight its way south and then west through the Japanese-infested jungles to Imphal. But it achieved its task of keeping the outflanking Japanese forces from surrounding Imphal and destroying IV Corps. Despite the losses it suffered in Sangshak, the paratroopers formed ad hoc units and continued to participate in actions to destroy Japanese forces near and around Imphal until its withdrawal in July.

Imphal aside, Elliott was also actively engaged in his unit’s first airborne operation towards the end of the War, when it was parachuted into Elephant Point, Burma, in May 1945, as part of “Operation Dracula”.

At 02:30 on 1 May, two C-47 transport aircraft took off from Akyab, transporting several pathfinder teams and a platoon tasked with defending the initial drop zone at Tawhai. The rest of the largely Gurkha composite battalion boarded 38 Dakotas and took off 30 minutes later, and at 05:45 jumped over the drop zone - there were only a few casualties, one being a Medical Officer attached to the Battalion. At this point it encountered no Japanese opposition, and after it had rallied, advanced towards Elephant Point and the artillery battery. It halted 3,000 yards in front of the battery to allow B-24 Liberators from the U.S.A.A.F. to carry out a preliminary bombing attack on the battery. Unfortunately, despite officers and other ranks wearing yellow recognition panels and carrying orange umbrellas to identify themselves, ‘C’ Company was bombed and strafed by the bombers, causing a number of casualties. As a result, a Forward Air Controller attached to the Battalion ordered a halt to all further bombing runs on the battery.

After moving through torrential rain, the Battalion reached Elephant Point at 16:00, and close-quarters fighting then took place, with flame-throwers being used against several Japanese bunkers guarding the battery. About 40 Japanese soldiers and gunners were killed during the assault, and the Battalion also sustained several casualties. After the battery had been secured the Battalion dug in around Elephant Point and awaited the arrival of the relief force, which landed at Thaungang at 15:30, with a supply drop following it several minutes later. The Battalion remained where it was through the night, although high tides submerged a number of trenches and forced it to higher ground. By the dawn of 2 May, after it had cleared a number of nearby bunkers, the Battalion was able to watch as minesweepers cleared the Rangoon river for the columns of landing craft following behind them.

Here, then, the probable background to Elliott’s mention in despatches.

At the War’s end Elliott applied for a post as a Civil Affairs Officer, in which he was clearly successful, and it would appear his O.B.E. was in respect of colonial service on the Gold Coast and, more specifically, in Ghana.

Also sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s O.B.E. warrant, in the name of ‘Arthur Roland Elliott, Esquire’, dated 11 June 1960, and his M.I.D. certificate in the name of ‘Captain (Temp.) A. R. Elliott, Indian Parachute Regiment’, dated 19 September 1946; his Soldier’s Pay Book; an old typed copy of his application for a post as a Staff Officer, Civil Affairs, circa August 1945, from which much of the above information has been taken, and three original portrait photographs, namely the recipient in uniform as a wartime parachutist, as Colonial Administrator, and on investiture day outside Buckingham Palace in 1960.