Before The Show

Ray Cooper was just one of the many thousands of men involved in the Burma campaigns during World War Two in 1942 - 1945. Like many others he rarely spoke of his experiences in the Army. However he kept a diary during 1943 while in India as a member of a Light Artillery regiment and in early 1944 as a Chindit fighting in Mike Calvert's 77th Brigade with the Lancashire Fusiliers. Although the diary does not cover the period after the end of March 1944 it was possible to document what happened to him and his unit until the end of 1944 and his subsequent role in psychological operations under the Special Operations Executive in 1945. Ray's diary gives an extraordinary account of life as a junior officer in a non fighting regiment and at the beginning of a costly campaign behind enemy lines.