Daily Telegraph Obituary
In December 1941 the Japanese landed south of Bangkok. Tindley was working there for British American Tobacco (BAT) and, learning that there were no official plans to evacuate the British community, decided with several colleagues to head to Kanburi, where they hired a rice barge. They had some dangerous moments negotiating rapids on the river Kwai before they reached a small settlement. Guides, carriers and two elephants (to carry rice) were hired and the party set off across miles of dense, virtually uninhabited and trackless jungle. Their socks were soon soaked with blood caused by leeches and there was no protection against mosquitoes.
On arrival at Tavoy, on the coast of Burma, they learnt of the sinking of the battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse. Tindley joined a sabotage group headed by the manager of a tin mine who had been on a training course run by SOE.
In April 1942 he was one of a group of four who were near Namkham, in sight of the Chinese border, preparing a 400ft-long suspension bridge over the Schweli river for demolition. After the charges were set, he guarded the bridge all night in a steady downpour.
At dawn, three Japanese lorries with headlights blazing and a machine gun mounted over the driver’s cab came tearing towards the bridge. They ignored the firing from Burma Frontier Force troops, and by the time Tindley reached the demolition point the first vehicle was on the bridge and firing straight at him. He uncovered the safety fuse, but the matches were damp and would not light.
As he reached for a second box, the lorry hit him in the leg and threw him to the ground. He limped up the hill and, while his wound was being dressed, a last desperate, but unavailing, effort was made to detonate the charges by firing the Bren gun at them.
Tindley subsequently joined up with a planter, a soldier and an anthropologist, and together
