A scarce 1944 Maungdaw operations Burma casualty group of six to Major R. H. White, 9th Jat Regiment, who having seen service with the Kharaji Force in operations against dissident tribesmen on the North West Frontier during 1930, and as 2nd in Command of the 3rd/9th Jat Regiment during operations in In Egypt and Iraq during 1942-3, was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper in Burma on 20 January 1944.
Group of 6: India General Service Medal, 1908, 1 clasp: North West Frontier 1930-31 (Lt. R. H. White, 2-9Jat R); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Burma Star; War Medal; India Service Medal.
Condition. Court-mounted for display, Extremely Fine.
Richard Herbert White was born in Penzance, Cornwall, on 6 February 1908, the son of John Henry and Winifred Louise White, latterly of St. Hellier, Jersey. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey and the R.M.C. Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the 9th Jat Regiment on 2 February 1928 and arrived in India in March that year, being posted to the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment for 12 months prior to taking up his posting with the Cats. He gained his Instructor’s Certificate at the Ary Signalling School at Poona during 1929 and in February 1930 was appointed Signalling Officer for his battalion. Promoted to Lieutenant on 2 May 1930, he participated in operations against dissident tribesmen, August-December 1930, his battalion being part of the Khajuri Force commanded by Major-General J. F. S. D. Coleridge.
In 1933 he served for a time as Company Officer with the 10th/9th Jat Regiment (the training battalion) and during the 1930s attended and passed courses in small arms, physical training, army intelligence and Urdu. He was promoted to Captain on 8 March 1937. In January 1939 he became Company Officer with the 2nd/9th Jat Regiment. In January 1941 he was posted to the Staff College at Quetta, after which he was posted to Egypt as G.S.O.2 at H.Q. 6th Indian Division. In June 1942 White was was given temporary command of the 3rd/9th Jat Regiment, with the rank of Acting major; he later served as the battalion’s second in command, serving in Egypt and Iraq. In December 1943, the battalion was posted to Burma. In an action near Maungdaw, Major White was killed in action by a shot from an enemy sniper, on 20 January 1944.
He was buried where he fell and after the war his remains were transferred to the Taukkyan War Cemetery, near Rangoon.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show that following his battlefield burial he was interred in Akyab War Cemetery in the Arakan, but was exhumed on 20 May 1952 and reinterred at Taukkyan on 3 June 1952.
