Leyland man cases out bandits in the Malaysian jungle during his National Service

Wading through muddy swamps in the jungle was all in a day’s work for Leyland resident George Culshaw.
Bobby Nelson (Preston) Jimmy Morris (Bolton) George Culshaw (Leyland) travelling with the Loyal Regiment A Company to Singapore, enroute to Malaya in January 1957Bobby Nelson (Preston) Jimmy Morris (Bolton) George Culshaw (Leyland) travelling with the Loyal Regiment A Company to Singapore, enroute to Malaya in January 1957
Bobby Nelson (Preston) Jimmy Morris (Bolton) George Culshaw (Leyland) travelling with the Loyal Regiment A Company to Singapore, enroute to Malaya in January 1957

Wading through muddy swamps in the jungle was all in a day’s work for Leyland resident George Culshaw.

The now 81-year-old served in the National Service with the Loyal Regiment A Company from 1956 to 1958, where he travelled to Singapore and Malaya, now known as Malaysia, in 1957.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

More than 500 British servicemen were killed in Malaya while defending British interests in the 1950s.

He says: “We started off in Singapore and went across the Causeway to do basic training. We went to a camp around 50 or 60 miles away and worked in the jungle.“We were looking for bandits in the jungle to get them to surrender. Some of them had been there that long they didn’t know the Second World War was over, so they were still willing to kill people.“It was difficult in the jungle, knowing you could be shot at any time and bitten by mosquitoes and leeches. We were shoulder deep in swamps. We had to change our day time clothes and wear dry clothes in the evening, but the following morning we had to put our wet stuff on which wasn’t very nice.“I did two years National Service and saw places I would not have seen otherwise.”

Related topics: