On his return from France, Carew volunteered for service with SOE Force 136 in the Far East. After his exploits in the Arakan, in March 1945 he was parachuted into Pegu Yomas, a broad tract of land between the Irrawaddy river and the Rangoon-Mandalay railway.

During this mission he met the Commander of the Burma Defence Army, General Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, the present leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy. He helped to provide the general with safe conduct to HQ Fourteenth Army for a meeting with General Slim to discuss plans for co-operating to defeat the Japanese.

The Manual of Burmese, published in 1888, formed part of the equipment. It contained useful translations for words such as "laudanum" and "chambermaid"; quoted a fare of a few pounds for a passage from Rangoon to London; and listed, among the principal exports of the country, edible birds' nests and sea slugs.

They also produced high grade intelligence and, in January 1945 at Minzegyang, on the information they provided, the RAF inflicted 200 casualties on an enemy concentration in battalion strength.

On the night of December 27 1944, Carew was dropped into the Burmese jungle in the Arakan. His objective was to organise resistance, sabotage, ambush and intelligence-gathering against the Japanese. The "Jed" teams were not spies; they landed in uniform.  With him were Captain John Cox; his radio operator, Sergeant John Sharp; a guide; and a kilo of opium for currency. Most of them, Sharp recalled, suffered badly from nerves before the jump, but Carew slept throughout the flight.