Bill Smyly should not be confused with Bill Smiley.
| Bill Smyly | |
| Birth Date: | 22 July 1922 |
| Birth Place: | Peking[1] |
| Death Place: | Bedford, England |
| Birth Name: | William Jocelyn Smyly |
| Allegiance: |  United Kingdom |
| Serviceyears: | 1942–1946 |
| Battles: | Chindits Operation Longcloth[2] [3] and Chindits Operation Thursday |
| Rank: | Captain |
| Unit: | 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles), 3 Gorkha Rifles |
| Awards: | Mentioned in dispatches[4] |
William Jocelyn Smyly (22 July 192216 May 2018) was a soldier, journalist and educator. He was one of the last veterans of the two Chindit expeditions in the Burma campaign.
Bill Smyly was born in Peking and was educated at Wrekin College and joined the Army straight from school.
Bill Smyly took part in two of the Chindits[5] [6] operations behind enemy lines in Burma. On the first one he made a hard-won escape after being separated from his unit.
After the war he went up to Clare College, Cambridge reading History and English. He then became a journalist. After a stint in the UK he moved to Hong Kong working at the South China Morning Post. Then he took up Education, working at the Diocesan Boys' School, and eventually at the Chinese university in Hong Kong. After taking a post graduate degree at Leeds University he joined the British Council