WW2 Intelligence Corps Burma - Ron Wolfenden

Ron Wolfenden served with the ‘Blue Caps’, the Military Police Vulnerable Points (VP) Wing on Britain’s Home Front before being invited to join the Intelligence Corps. He was posted to India, then to Burma where he served with No. 579 Boat Section, patrolling the Irrawaddy in Central Burma, followed by a position investigating evidence of Japanese war crimes.
Aged 19 at the outbreak of war, Ron volunteered for the Military Police, serving on the Home Front operating convoy escort duties and point duties, etc. He was posted to the Vulnerable Points (VP) Wing, known as the Blue Caps, which were responsible for guarding important government property such as ammunition dumps and Bletchley Park.
Ron was invited to Whitehall for an interview at the War Office and accepted into the Intelligence Corps. His first posting was to India, followed by Central Burma where he served with No. 579 Boat Section based at Chaulk. 579 was responsible patrolling the Irrawaddy from Mandalay and Frome in small boats, visiting villages to seek intelligence about the Japanese. Promoted to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major, Ron worked closely with the Burmese Intelligence Corps.
After the boat section was disbanded, Ron was posted to a holding intelligence unit in the Shan States (Burma), then offered a position in southwest Burma to Basine [ph] near the Bay of Bengal to investigate Japanese atrocities. He was warned that the post had adversely affected the mental health of the previous Sergeant Major and the current commanding officer. Here, Ron undertook interrogation of Japanese and pro-Japanese Burmese. Such was the importance of his work that he stayed on after the end of the war to continue investigating Japanese atrocities.
Ron spent over 7 years in the Army. After he left, he worked for the international company of Adolph Hess & Bro Ltd Oil Distillers & Refiners, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, rising to the position of Managing Director. He was a member of the Intelligence Corps Veterans group and revisited Burma in his later years.
The Archive also holds Ron’s personal memoir ‘Return to Burma’, photographs, and other wartime memorabilia.