There is a J Gibson, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, on the Tobermore War Memorial. This is thought to be the best fit. Joseph Gibson was serving with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he died on 21st April 1942. Fusilier Joseph Gibson has no known grave and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Burma.
Further Information
There is a J Gibson, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, on the Tobermore War Memorial. This is thought to be the best fit.
Fusilier Joseph Gibson served with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in World War Two. The 1st Battalion were based in southern India at the outbreak of World War Two.
The Japanese swept through south east Asia in early 1942, capturing Singapore and invading Burma.
In March 1942, the battalion were flown to the north of Rangoon in Burma, with the objective of destroying oil wells in the area of Yenangyaung.
By 17th April 1942, the battalion had reached the oilfields to find that the Chinese force that had advanced from the north had already demolished the wells. By then however, the entire division was cut off by a ring of Japanese positions.
Fusilier Joseph Gibson died in Burma on 21st April 1942.
Losses were extremely heavy and less than one third of the men of the 1st Battalion returned from the jungle to India
Fusilier Joseph Gibson has no known grave and is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Burma.
