COMING SPRING 2024
A fascinating legacy book for a man whose father fought in Burma in WW2.
Arthur Edmund Crooke, from Ilkley, West Yorkshire, was in 16th Field Regiment and one of the first men to cross the Irrawaddy river, contracting malaria many times and witnessing untold horrors at the hands of Japanese soldiers.
Whilst Arthur was on leave, he took snapshots of people and places right across India: Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Darjeeling, Lahore, to name a few. But like many who who fought in Burma, he shared very little about his experiences.
Fast forward forty years and his son Martyn, a professional photographer, sees the pictures for the first time and decides to go back to every single location to take the same shot from where his father stood.
Martyn is helped by best friend Vipul and his family from Mumbai, and has adventures of his own on the way, including working with elephants, having a debilitating bout of Delhi-belly and meeting the well-known artist M F Hussain.
Alongside these fabulous photographs, Martyn reveals more about his father's story in Burma. It is one of camaraderie, great strength and heroism. But this is also a tale of how a father and son fell in love with India in vastly different circumstances.