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No. 1 Burma M.T. Company (No. 1 Burma Ford Van Company, 1023 M.T. Company A.S.C., No. 1023 (Burma) M.T. Company R.A.S.C.)
The first Burma unit was formed in Rangoon in November and December 1917.1 <ref>The main sources of information used for this research are the various unit War Diaries held at The National Archives, London. Where these have been digitised they are available for download via the State Library of Victoria. They are as follows. <br>WO 95/5007/3 No. 1 Burma M.T. Company – from November 1917 to 30th November 1919. <br>WO 95/5008/1 and WO 95/5008/2 No. 2 Burma M.T. Company – from 1st July 1918 to 30th November 1919. <br>WO 95/5005/3 No. 3 Burma M.T. Company – from 24th January to 6th March 1919, and December 1919 only. <br>WO 95/5007/2 No. 4 Burma M.T. Company – from 15th April 1919 to 31st May 1919 only. This Diary is incorrectly catalogued at The National Archives, London, under WO 95/5007/1. <br>WO 95/5007/1 No. 5 Burma M.T. Company – from 3rd May 1919 to 30th September 1919.<br>By May 1919 all five Burma companies were part of No. 5 M.T. Column, which was formed in December 1918 specifically to service the Persian Lines of Communication. There are mentions of the companies in the War Diary for this unit. <br>WO 95/5005/1 No. 5 M.T. Column – from 1st January 1919 to 30th October 1919.</ref> It departed from the depot in Rangoon on 5th January 1918 and embarked for Bombay under the command of Major Reginald Willows Hildyard MARRIS with Captain Guy LYNN as Workshops Officer; LYNN took over as Commanding Officer on 3rd September 1918. Officers received commissions in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers.2 <ref>The War Diaries usually refer to officers by surname and initials, sometimes only by surname. Where possible, full names have been obtained from the Indian Army List. <br>The Quarterly Indian Army List, April 1920, Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, 1920. <br>The Quarterly Indian Army List, April 1921, Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, 1921.</ref> One third of the drivers for this unit were Indians and the remainder Burmese. The unit re-embarked at Bombay on HM Hospital Transport ''Bamora '' on 11th January 1918, disembarked at Basra on 18th January with a total strength of five British officers, 23 British other ranks, and 200 Indian other ranks (the latter including the Burmese), and went into camp at Makina, Basra, to continue training until 13th February 1918.
Interestingly, the War Office had allocated the Army Service Corps company numbers 1023 and 1024 for the No.1 and No. 2 Burmese M.T. Companies, but then allocated the same two numbers to two British companies formed at Bulford, England in the autumn of 1917. When the British units arrived in theatre they found the first Burmese unit already there, and this caused some hasty rearrangement of numbers, personnel and duties. The British 1023 was temporarily renumbered to 1024, and then absorbed into the M.T. Depot, and the British 1024 was disbanded in mid-March 1918 and its personnel sent to M.T. Company 1020 as reinforcements; the two Burmese units retained their promised 1023 and 1024 numbers.
On 13th February 1918 the No. 1. Burma unit, now unquestionably 1023 M.T. Company A.S.C., commenced its journey by road from Makina to Hillah, where it was to be stationed, and where it arrived on 2nd March 1918 and commenced convoy operations.3 <ref> Every attempt has been made to identify the places mentioned in the War Diaries. Where the modern spelling or name differs from that used in the War Diaries, the modern versions are as follows (in Iraq unless otherwise stated). <br>Ain Dibs – no modern equivalent found – a few miles south of Sharqat. <br>Aliabad – probably Ali Abad (Iran) between Kerend and Eslamabad. <br>Bazzan – Baizan. <br>Belad – Balad.<br>Chemchamal – Chamchamal. <br>Fathah – Al-Fathah.<br>Hillah – Al-Hillah.<br>Huranabad - Eslamabad-e-Gharb (Iran).<br>Karind – Kerend-e-Gha (Iran).<br>Kasrabad – probably Khosro Abad (Iran) between Kerend and Eslamabad.<br>Kermanshah – Baktaran (Iran).<br>Khanagin/Khanakin – Khanaqin.<br>Quasi-Sharin – Qasr-e Shirin (Iran).<br>Samarah – Samarra.<br>Sharqat/Shargat – Al-Shirqat<br>Takigerrah – also Taq-i-Girreh and many other variants – was the name given to the mountain pass north-west of Kerend on the road from Qasr-e Shirin to Kerend-e-Gharb, later known as the Pai Tak Pass (Iran), and historically known as ‘The Gates of Zagros.’<br>Tashluja – Tasluja, the pass being on the road from Chamchamal to Sulaymaniyah.<br>Zaccho – Zakho.</ref> Convoys carried various loads – mats (trench mats etc.), bamboos, lime, black earth, bricks, petrol, kerosene, foodstuffs including vegetables, water and ice, ordnance stores, tentage, mails, personnel and baggage.
Officers assisting Major MARRIS and Captain LYNN included 2/Lts. George Robinson COCKMAN, Ernest Raymond ALLEN, Edwin BRUCE and Ernest Gibson FLEMING. There were various subsequent transfers in and out of the unit, and temporary attachments of personnel from time to time, and the Diary needs to be read in detail to follow these. The Diary is also unusual in that it mentions a number of the non-commissioned officers and men by both name and regimental number; one being Mechanist Staff Sergeant Louis Vernon COLATO (050206), who later became a commissioned officer.
