Second World War Burma Campaign Medal Group – Trooper William McLaren Staley, 149th Battalion, Royal Armoured Corps, Later 1st Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry – Served in India and the South-East Asian Theatre
1939-45 Star – unnamed as issued
Burma Star – unnamed as issued
Defence Medal – unnamed as issued
War Medal – unnamed as issued
Together with original Kit Bag as well as the his medal box of issue and entitlement slip.
William McLaren Staley was born at Sheffield, Yorkshire, on 19 June 1912, the son of Wilford McLaren Staley and Lilian Maud Standish. By 1939 he was living in the North Riding of Yorkshire. During the Second World War, he served as Trooper 4696960 in a varied military career which took him from the infantry to the Royal Armoured Corps and eventually to the 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry.
Staley’s Army number came from the block allocated to the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and his tracer cards confirm that he initially served with the 7th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. From 10 October 1940 until 26 August 1941, the battalion was serving at home as part of the 207th Independent Infantry Brigade.
On 22 October 1941, Staley was recorded as transferring from the 7th KOYLI to the 149th Battalion, Royal Armoured Corps. This was principally an administrative redesignation rather than a move to an entirely different body of men, as the 7th Battalion had itself been converted into the 149th Battalion, Royal Armoured Corps. The battalion left Britain for India and, on arrival, formally assumed its new armoured identity.
In India, the battalion initially formed part of the Heavy Armoured Brigade, which was redesignated the 50th Indian Army Tank Brigade on 31 October 1941. Staley served exclusively with the Royal Armoured Corps during the period 22 October 1941 to 8 May 1945, and his service subsequently qualified him for the Burma Star. His wartime career therefore included service in the South-East Asian theatre, where British and Indian forces fought a demanding campaign against the Japanese across India and Burma.
The Burma campaign was conducted in exceptionally difficult conditions. Troops faced tropical heat, monsoon rains, disease, poor communications and long supply lines, in addition to the hazards of combat. Armoured units operating in the theatre were required to adapt tanks and tactics to jungle roads, rough ground and river crossings that were very different from the open terrain for which armoured formations had originally been designed.
On 8 May 1945, Staley was posted back to the Royal Armoured Corps Depot in the United Kingdom. He subsequently transferred to the 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry on 19 September 1945 and served with the regiment as part of the British Army of the Rhine. The regiment had earlier distinguished itself during the fighting in France in 1940, but Staley joined only after the end of the war in Europe and therefore did not participate in its celebrated stand at St Valery.
Staley was transferred to the Territorial Army Reserve on 24 January 1946. His medal application records his release under Class A on 10 January 1946, after which his campaign medals were issued to him in February 1949. He was finally discharged on grounds of age in June 1957.
For his wartime service, Staley received the 1939–45 Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal and War Medal. Although his medals and accompanying items identify him with the 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry, his entitlement to the Burma Star arose from his earlier service with the 149th Battalion, Royal Armoured Corps in the South-East Asian theatre.
The group is accompanied by its original box of issue, addressed to Mr William M. Staley at 22 Belvedere Road, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, together with the original Under-Secretary of State for War compliments slip. Also accompanying the medals is Staley’s wartime canvas kit bag, stencilled with his number, name and later regiment: “4696960 TPR. W. M. STALEY. 1ST. LOTHIANS AND B. YEO.”
After the war, Staley married Ivy Swan Hanks at Middlesbrough in April 1951. William McLaren Staley died at Scarborough in January 1977, aged sixty-four.
Together, the medals represent the service of a Yorkshire soldier who began the war with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, converted to the Royal Armoured Corps, served in India and the Burma theatre with the 149th Battalion, and later joined the 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry for occupation duty with the British Army of the Rhine.
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AJMS Medals