One-Armed Hero
During vicious hand-to-hand combat in Burma, a British Army officer had his arm hacked off by a Japanese officer’s sword. Nevertheless, he carried on fighting until collapsing and later dying of his injuries. His Victoria Cross became the last gazetted VC
George Cairns was a lieutenant in The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s), attached to the South Staffordshire Regiment in Burma during the Second World War, the regiment a battalion of Wingate’s Chindits, part of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade.
On the evening of 12 March 1944, the South Staffords dug in near Henu and Mawlu, known as the White City. A nearby hill crowned with a Pagoda dominated the horizon. The following morning, several Japanese soldiers were discovered in the area, the South Staffords having dug in adjacent to a small Japanese force without either learning of the other’s presence. At about 11:00am, the hill erupted with fire. Brigadier Michael Calvert, who led the attack, wrote:
“On the top of Pagoda Hill, not much bigger than two tennis courts, an amazing scene developed. The small white Pagoda was in the centre of the hill. Between that and the slopes which came up was a mêlée of South Staffords and Japanese bayonetting, fighting with each other, with some Japanese just throwing grenades from the flanks into the mêlée. There, at the top of the hill, about 50 yards square, an extraordinary mêlée took place, everyone shooting, bayoneting, kicking at everyone else, rather like an officers’ guest night. In front, I saw Lieut. Cairns have his harm hacked off by a Jap, whom he shot. He picked up the sword and carried on. Finally, we drive them back behind the Pagoda”.
Cairns subsequently collapsed and he died the following day.
George Cairns was buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery in Burma, but a stone also commemorates him at St Mary the Virgin Church, Brighstone, on the Isle of Wight.
Cairns’ award was the last Victoria Cross gazetted for the Second World War, the recommendation having been with General Wingate when he was killed in an air crash and all documentation he was carrying was lost or destroyed. Two of the three witnesses had also since died and the matter was all but forgotten until the war was over.
The recommendation was eventually revived following a BBC broadcast about Cairns’ actions in December 1948, and after listening to the broadcast when her husband’s bravery was mentioned, George Cairns widow approached her MP who made representations with the authorities on her behalf.
As a result, the recommendation was finally approved.