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Burma Mechanical Transport Companies, RASC

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:'''1015''' (Burma) M T Coy RASC (No 5 Burma MT Company) disembarked 2.4.19
No 3 Burma MT Company and No 5 Burma MT Company took over the duties and equipment of an existing Mechanical Transport Company, at least some/most/all of of whose previous personnel were then demobilised, and it appears likely this was also the situation with No 3 Burma MT Company, and
No 4 Burma MT Company
Medal entitlements for 1024 Company were exactly the same as for 1023 Company. Again, the indicated date of demobilization is 25th January 1920.</blockquote>
==No 3 Burma MT Company==
Noel Clark has provided the following summary. <blockquote>
No. 3 Burma M.T. Company (No. 3 Burma Ford Van Company, No. 784 (Burma) M.T. Company R.A.S.C.
 
Recruiting started for this Company on 28th August 1918. From 4th November 1918 the Company undertook training at the No.1 M.T. Training School at Sohan Camp, Rawalpindi, India, where its Commandant, Major Richard Stanley BAKER died suddenly of influenza on 13th November 1918. Captain Thomas Garnet Henry BROWNE commanded the unit from 30th November to 9th December 1918, and Major George Chesney Nevill STEVENS took command on 10th December.
 
Orders to proceed overseas were received on 12 January 1919, and the Company embarked on HM Hospital Transport Bamora at Karachi on 24th January, subsequently disembarking at Basra on 30th January and going into Camp 7 at Makina, Basra. Officers assisting Major STEVENS included Captain BROWNE (Workshops Officer) and 2/Lt. John Marmaduke CONDER (Adjutant).
 
On 6th February 1919 orders were received via Captain LYNN, O.C. No. 1023 M.T. Company R.A.S.C. to proceed up country to Baquba to relieve No. 784 M.T. Company R.A.S.C. The unit left on river craft the following day, and after slow progress up the River Tigris due to flood conditions arrived at Baghdad on 17th February. The unit then entrained for the final leg of its journey, and arrived at Baquba on 19th February 1919.
 
On 4th March 1919 Major STEVENS received orders that No. 3 Burma M.T. Company was to take over all the equipment and duties of No. 784 M.T. Company R.A.S.C. and that he was to command the unit henceforth to be known as No. 784 (Burma) M.T. Company R.A.S.C. British and Indian personnel of the “old” 784 Company were to remain attached to the “new” Company pending demobilization or transfer. The changes were completed and the new arrangements took effect on 6th March 1919.
 
6th March 1919 also saw the final entry in the War Diary for No. 3 Burma M.T. Company and I have been unable to find any further diaries for 784 Company after this date. However, references to all five of the Burmese companies have been found in the War Diary of No. 5 Mechanical Transport Column, which was formed in December 1918 specifically to service the Persian Lines of Communication. (See below.)
 
Officers and men who arrived in Mesopotamia as members of No. 3 Burma M.T. Company and who had no other qualifying service did not qualify for the award of the British War Medal or Victory Medal. Most officers and men of No. 784 (Burma) M.T. Company would have qualified for the General Service Medal (1918), with either or both of the Iraq and Kurdistan Clasps; medal rolls have been located on www.ancestry.co.uk for the enlisted men, but for only one known officer (CONDER). For some reason the entitlements have been indexed as ‘7th Mechanical Transport Company.’ One record shows service with 784 Company until 15th September 1920, indicating demobilization on that date.</blockquote>
==No 5 Burma MT Company==
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