Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Captain

Unit:

Burma Frontier Force, Indian Army

Awarded on:

January 1st, 1943

Recommendation:
"Captain Stapleton was on active service with a unit of the Frontier Forces in Minbu, where he was wounded. He refused to be evacuated to India and arrived in Myitkyina at the beginning of May [1942]. When Myitkyina was bombed on the 6th and 7th May he did excellent work in assisting to remove refugees to the hospital, and then made his way to the Hukawng Valley.
On arrival in the Hukawng Valley, Captain Stapleton, who had no men of his own under his command, collected nearly 300 Chin members of the Frontier Force who were stragglers and formed them into a disciplined body and inspired them with his own devotion to duty. With their aid he was able to clean up camps and villages along the refugee route; he disposed of corpses, protected civil officers collecting and distributing rations, and rendered aid to the sick and dying along the road; he also enforced order and discipline among the refugees generally. By this devotion to duty and voluntary assistance to the civil administration he and his men were delayed in their journey to India until after the monsoon had broken in full force, the streams had risen, and the chances of contracting a fatal disease greatly increased. He thereby jeopardised his own chance of reaching India safely. Owing to a fortunate break in the weather he was able to continue his journey and he and his men continued to preserve order along the route from which the forward camps of the Assam refugee organisation had been forced to withdraw.
Captain Stapleton's action did much to restore confidence among the local villagers living near the route thus enabling civil officers to enlist the services of these villagers later in assisting refugees. Captain Stapleton's devotion to duty is all the more praiseworthy since he had not fully recovered from the effects of his wound and at no time was he really fit."

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)