'Gurkhas are devil'

History of gukhas Foreign tourists entitled to be baffled

the Tower of London the crown jewels

guarded by diminutive mercenaries from a

distant Shore

who comes there the keys oh well the

grammar may be somewhat quaint but the

Gurkhas don't fight on syntax their

legendary ferocity is matched only by

their loyalty to our monarch god

preserve quite Elizabeth their distant

homeland is enshrined in stained glass

at the Sandhurst Military Academy the

real thing is a noble mountain in the

annapurna range of the himalayas

nopal spectacularly beautiful pitifully

impoverished this is the Gurkha

Heartland and to be born male here is to

face a life of peasant drudgery but

there's one escape route boys like this

already turning in the rice fields will

be among the many thousands who will

compete to take it it is to join the

British Army this is what they dream of

and literally are prepared to die for

ironically in a changing world their

chances of becoming slimmer another

Gurkha regiment this time the 7th Duke

of Edinburgh own Gurkha Rifles is being

stood done the grief is evident

these are fighting men many of whom

would have chosen to fall in battle

rather than be neutered by political

defense cuts but the banks remain ramrod

straight as the cookies half knife half

sword are sheath for eternity

it's a royal occasion Prince Phillip

arrives to take the valedictory salute

to the regiment live for his title

soldiers whose battle honours were

redolent with wild bravery and

unquestioned sacrifice

more than 200,000 Gurkhas fought for

britain in the first world war 20,000

were killed or injured in world war ii

some quarter of a million took on the

Germans at Tobruk and Monte Cassino and

the fanatical Japanese in the Far East

they suffered 23 thousand six hundred

and fifty-five casualties

most men are marching into oblivion for

Gurkha regiments have been constituted

into one two-thirds of their numbered

jettison yet courtesy prevails with the

traditional floral farewell to Prince

Philip an anomaly explained by George

MacDonald Fraser novelist and military

historian who fought alongside them in

Burma that was a curious thing about the

Gurkha these awfully happy jolly nice

little men were the most terrible

dangerous fighting men on the face of

the earth I mean they were natural-born

killers

but Donald Fraser's celebrated fictional

hero flash Minh would have fainted at

the outset of this Gurkha action against

the Japanese went into a Japanese

position the ground in front of the

physician was littered with their rifles

they just dropped the rifles and went in

with their cookies and it was discovered

afterwards but never was drawn they

didn't have a single round of ammunition

among them but he just fought the Japs

hand-to-hand I always thought there was

a pretty clumsy weapon but it suits this

obviously it was a very fearsome thing

and I should think probably terrified

the opposition more than any other

weapon in the armory Fleshman would have

been wise the gutkas brandishing their

cookies in this world war ii footage

were enough to put the fear of God into

the godless and then came the terrifying

war crime the Gurkhas are coming in fact

it was the advance of the British in

India early in the 19th century there

was two forged and initially bizarre

alliance the East India Company's foot

soldier II swept the entire subcontinent

before them until they reached the

Himalayan kingdom of Nepal Nepal still

living in the Stone Age was going to be

a pushover

Dursley compliant no sooner had its

population risen than it was ready to go

to bed again it was a desperate

misjudgment bloated from steam rolling a

huge subcontinent they encountered the

men from Gorka from which the Gurkha

staked their name uninformed that its

inhabitants regarded war as sport

from this tiny Mountain thought the

Gurkhas led by petty nari and Shah had

swooped into the valleys to occupy 700

frontier miles Harris India and invade

Tibet the advance of the British Army

didn't bother them at all

the clashes were probably unique in

military history in that the British

were soon to abandon their disparagement

of native troops the Battle of Colunga

heavily outgunned the Gurkhas fought

almost to the last man losing 520

warriors but not before killing almost

800 British troops an ensign who

survived it wrote run they would not and

have deathly seemed to have no fear

though their comrades were falling

around it was a sanitary put-down for

patronizing attitudes and was to lead to

a remarkable alliance born of mutual

admiration after the battle the British

erected memorials to both sides

inscribing the Gurkha obelisk for the

words they fought in fair conflict like

men and in the intervals of fighting

showed us liberal courtesy

for the Gurkhas life was never to be the

same again their indomitable spirit

their stand here till we die philosophy

and so startled their British opponents

at their commander General David octal

Oni said in effect we must get these

little banners on our side pragmatically

the Gurkhas leader agreed that this was

a jolly good idea the British he

condescended fought like larks they're

nearly as good as we are and so was

resolved a contract there was to put the

Gurkhas under the aegis of the British

Army for the next 180 years the only

change has been that they are now less

exotically dressed

gee knob

today's Gurkhas to a man come from the

same Himalayan terrain so barren and

without future that recruitment into the

British Army is the ultimate prize so

fierce is the competition that

candidates have to submit to the

indignity of being branded like cattle

albeit with indelible ink this is to

prevent the unsuccessful leapfrogging to

the next recruitment outpost and

applying again under a totally different

name major Gordon Corrigan explains the

qualities they're looking for I suppose

what we're looking for is physical and

mental robustness flexibility

intelligence loyalty it's actually quite

easy to find those qualities amongst the

Gurkhas because their own society is

hierarchical it's a society where

respect is automatically given to elders

to parents gaku children do what the

father tells them to do sadly in our

society we stopped doing that a long

time ago it's a society where you are

thrown back very much on yourself

there isn't a welfare state a natural

disaster is ever present earthquake

landslides hail storms flooding fire

nobody is there to bail you out you're

thrown back on your own resources and

this produces a tough society it

produces a fatalistic Society fatalism

if you're an infantry soldier is a good

thing to have because it means you don't

worry too much about being shot you are

going to be shot or you aren't and it is

better to be shot gloriously and have

your name live on down the generations

than it is to stay at home or to run

away for minister hundred years the

Gurkhas never fought outside India but

the 20th century was to bring to world

conflicts in the first a plea from

General Sir Ian Hamilton for them to

help out at Gallipoli I am very anxious

if possible to get a brigade of Gurkhas

the type of man who will I am most

certain be most valuable on the

Gallipoli Peninsula the scrubby

hillsides on the southwest

the plateau are just the sort of terrain

where these little fellows aren't their

brilliant best each little jerk might be

worth his full waiting gold

Gallipoli Gallipoli in 1915 was a blunt

chilling disaster thousands of Allied

troops died and senior heads rolled

including that of Hamilton himself in a

bitter disclaimer he had praised for

only one body of soldiers it is Sir Ian

Hamilton's most cherished conviction

that had he been given more Gurkhas in

the Dardanelles then he would never have

been held up by the Turks

Jes number twenty fifty eight point five

selection tests for candidate Gurkhas

have hardly changed down the years even

here back in 1928 supply outweigh demand

the only difference then was the

preservation of the top not the sprite

of hair by which a stricken Gurkhas God

could hold him into some Nepalese

Valhalla some eccentricities have always

been acknowledged such as a Gurkhas

problem about running from a VAR b to c

in straight lines once you come to this

a flat area for running side i think

they've got a problem because they don't

have a certain sort of a a good piece of

land out here to do sort of running in a

bad area we can't work on the flat they

can only operate how they can they can

operate quite easily on hop in downside

but it's very difficult for them to do

the sort of running or any sort of

physical fitness on the set area side

about our per solitary try gonna for you

hey look thank you very much higher

nevada

it's a dispiriting moment for the

unsuccessfully just six are going

through to the next processing stage but

for the losers is back to boring old

Annapurna along the polls m1 the ancient

spice road leading to the bet they

remain trapped in a time warp where the

solitary hotel is not exactly the

himalaya Hilton and only the animals

appear pampered for dry martini reed

Horlicks but there's more to this place

than meets the eye and the reason is

this man tom behad upon who left here

many years ago to join the Gurkhas when

eventually he returned it was with the

conviction that education is the key to

life

he'd had none only picking up

rudimentary reading and writing when he

joined the army he came home determined

that the village school should be

extended saying he who is without

education will finish last his words for

an exemplary reason carried weight he is

one of 26 cookers to have been awarded

the Victoria Cross the highest of all

military decorations and indeed which

takes precedence over honours such as

knight of the garter or the order of

merit On June the 23rd 1944 fighting

with the 6th Gurkha Rifles against the

Japanese in Burma he found himself alone

after his section comrades had been

killed his citation reads riflemen flew

Bajada

seized the Bren gun and firing from the

hip as he went continued to charge on

the heavily bunkered position in the

face of the most shattering

concentration of automatic fire directed

straight at him with the dawn coming up

behind him he presented a perfect target

to the Japanese he had to move 30 yards

over open ground ankle deep in mud

through shell holes and over fallen

trees despite overwhelming odds he

reached the house and closed with the

Japanese occupants he killed for with

his gun and three with his cookery still

the citation didn't tell at all

when relief family arrived this benign

looking gentlemen acquired a

flamethrower and incinerated a further

30 Japanese in the dugout he regarded

this as appropriate reparation but the

something of which he is even prouder

which he insists on sharing to the world

his VC carries influence with a Gurkha

Welfare Trust and by using it he was

able to install in his village a simple

communal water tap paradoxically only a

few steps distant there flows this river

highly photogenic but seriously polluted

before the tap every drop of drinking

water had to be carried in from an

uncontaminated source 8 miles away the

beauty of this place is solely

compromised by our poverty that the

Welfare Trust strives to alleviate from

limited resources Nepal is the fourth

poorest country in the world to give you

an illustration of the deprivation

there's any one doctor the 20,000 a

hospital bed to one to nine thousand

people there is no state welfare system

apart from primary school which is now

being extended up to secondary school

and therefore without the Insurance

Scheme out any welfare scheme any

hardship means that people become

destitute they can lose their homes and

all means of livelihood and therefore

all rx-7 and indeed their dependents

look to ask the Gurkha Welfare Trust to

try and help them

the tap was a gift from the gods

not just to X Gurkhas but to entire

communities

forget splitting the atom or man's first

step on the moon this is reality

no more back-breaking there and back

tricks for a cup of non poisonous tea

now it's only a matter of yards the

villages have nudged into the 20th

century and it's all down to the Gurkhas

and the Gurkha Welfare Trust which

across the foothills of Nepal installs

other new taps at the rate of 40 a year

from their forays into the hills the

Garko recruiting officers have selected

the 700 candidates for further

examination they come to Pokhara it's

not exactly twin with Las Vegas yet for

most of them it's already the thrill of

a lifetime it's the first high street

they've seen then suddenly the gates to

a new planet open up before them this is

the Gurkhas recruiting demo order from

chaos

now they are tantalisingly close to a

career that will provide clothes food

world travel they're very conscious of

the traditions they have to live up to

and go holly's to fight for british army

bravely so they give their life but they

they don't give up there and so I think

that's why this water is given to

Valhalla they don't give up till their

life

they don't give up till they die

he's also well acquainted with the

Gurkhas motto even in English it is

better to die than to be a god this man

is a sherpa yak herder from the

foothills of Everest not many shoppers

have got your ambitions so his main

concern is how his family will react if

he fails but like I know I never got

party deck here I'm a beret mondo Hana

and Jackie Laverty Mel Gallagher City

God you gotta get that Kalia someone to

help parent I mean be upset they will be

quite angry he's laughing now but it's a

serious matter

there are many Nepalese who regard being

turned down by the Gurkhas as a disgrace

on the entire family some rejects don't

even go home again yes you will be quite

afraid but even so then you must go back

to his village the last lap to

acceptance his rigorous and literally

rock-strewn

a squad of Gurkhas once competed in a

London Marathon and finished hardly out

of breath it was a Sunday stroll

compared with this the competition is

daunting 57,000 initially applied to

join the Gurkhas this year 700 have

reached this stage eventually just one

hundred and fifty three will be chosen

the burden here is 45 pounds of stones

tomorrow it will be increased to 75 some

find it disturbing that the elite of

each generation leaved the server

foreign army but not John cross annex

durka colonel who went back to live in

the pool and niches that kathmandu

university what we don't do is we don't

go into the mountains or someone else's

country take a fellow by the nose and

say you're going to be our soldier isn't

alliant their volition and whether it's

hardship or the sense of adventure or

because they can't get their act correct

in their own country is of no concern to

the recruiter who once what he knows and

good material and if a nepali a

high-ranking thereby for instance might

think it's wrong to give people to

another country to fight to lose blood

like noni tell you what pundit narrow in

his wisdom in the early fifties said

when the indian loksabha said why should

we have our country used as a passageway

for these busses going to the dreadful

british army cetera and pontedera said

until the Nepalese can give a higher

standard in Nepal to the people the

British recruit until that happens I

will let them through

the 700 candidates have been whittled

down to 400 and attention is palpable

this is prized day but for fewer than

half the final selection process is

conducted outside the Gurkhas compound

this is to thwart any remonstrants by

rejects who feel they've been unfairly

treated

the winners might have come up in the

National Lottery which when their

indelible markings have been verified

they have they can't wait to get in a

few rip off their coats or cheap

wristwatches to give to a less fortunate

friend the British Army will now provide

find the pauli standards they're now

rich insulated for life against

everything except the winds of war they

will have fine uniforms and civilian

clothes good food medical attention and

after 15 years of pension the passing

into the compound is itself symbolic

acceptance into an exclusive club

festooned with battle honours renowned

for bravery a few of the rejected can

rustle up that no hard feelings look

well maybe next year inside there is

frantic in some cases perplexing

activity writing farewell notes to the

relatives they won't see for at least

three years they don't spring from an

acquisitive society but if they believed

in Christmas this would be Christmas day

off come the battered thongs to be

replaced by kit that for many will be

the first words of English they'll ever

speak first Petey Greene it can now be a

puzzling world there is for example the

ultimate challenge of new technology the

shoelace

everything is an exciting discovery but

can they imagine what lies ahead because

something from British I mean with

something I'll have my family from

poverty what does he expect England to

be like what does he hope to see them I

think England is a very big city the

country the big city

I like to see that cities and I'd like

to see that big buildings in every

region have that kind of building so I'd

like to see that the Yaak man already

knows everything about England because

it net house I guarantee he says England

is to development country and he says

it's very cool places just what you'd

expect from a chap who comes from

Everest is there anything he wants to

see that allows someone the average day

of the antenna

this is he says he would like to see the

house in the England animals the animals

what kind of animals idea Saudis yachts

it's made of

yeah in case English restaurants don't

come up to scratch

he's put his own food yaks milk cheese

hardest marble no it doesn't taste as

good old army switz will notice

something missing here

no balling screaming or obscenity on the

barracks square there's a warm affinity

between NCOs and men the reason is that

the men don't need to be motivated they

already are a first time while I reads

to training depot on my section

commander was there i but i didn't know

and he called me up in a bad language

and I was place

surprise yeah really surprised what sort

of people are here we even don't know to

how to speak to the people that is

myself all the section commander they

they used to talk rude wars that I know

that were that's way no I said rude

words yeah why do you think they did

that because because if they call if

they don't use rude words they cannot I

mean they they cannot make soldier from

the civilian equally the British

officers have to adapt native Gurkha

attitudes and customs there's no place

for patronizing haughtiness full nudity

when you're washing is not tolerated at

all the boys in fact in fact probably

wash all the time with their swimming

trunks on you never pointed anyone at

any time if you're pointing you have to

use your thumb or if you're if you're

pointing someone asks you where

something is you'll see a lot of the

Gurkhas pointing you their chin

depending on how close or far away that

is if they're far away they'll make a

big gesture with their chin and if

they're close they'll just jerk their

head in their direction there are other

ones you you would never ever touch any

of your soldiers necks or shoulders

because they believe that in Nepalese

tradition if you touch someone else's

neck or shoulders then you'll make them

be ill they probably get a goiter or

something growing on their neck if you

do inadvertently touch someone's neck or

have to for a reason to get rid of the

evil spirit that you've put into them

you have to blow on your fingers just a

quick blow on your fingers afterwards

for some cons uki at the end of their

basic training app and it administers

the oath of allegiance they're

mercenaries they have a king of their

own and yet there's no more solemn

moment in their lives I swear I will be

faithful and bear away gence to Her

Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second her

heirs and successors in person and with

dignity against all enemies I will obey

all orders of Her Majesty and of the

generals and officers set over me and

they mean it under an aquiline stare

there to come face to face or beard by

photograph with the person to whom they

have pledged their very lives a few

weeks ago many of them were unaware even

that the British monarch was a woman

they touched the Union flag an

endorsement of their oath who knows what

history has in store for them

one young hooker couldn't suppress her

nervous giggle he was brusque ly

admonished but they do have a sense of

humor a girl who would rather laugh than

eat oh that was the impression that we

got they most of them used to carry

catapults and they would hide and as he

went by they would they would snipe you

with their catapults and if you shouted

either Oh Johnny I can see you you know

the little head would come out giggling

and then he would hold up he's his his

captor polkas must say this is what i

did it with you know as if you didn't

know and you couldn't take offense I

mean you just couldn't it would it would

have probably been very dangerous about

from anything else back home three

square meals a day were a mirage now

this is the Savoy without the built on

average in the first year of training

each recruit grows one and a half inches

and puts on a stove

none of it fat if you find a finger

habit mildly off-putting

remember that they've only just got to

grips with shoelaces knives and forks

are on the agenda but not yet anyway

who's only the other day sixteen eleven

in fact that knives and forks were

introduced to England but while these

men prepared to die for the British

crown it simply says we've eaten your

rations we've eaten your salt the

obligation is binding

obviously there are times and a

soldier's life when room service is not

available for example the Burma jungle

in 1944 when the Japanese were being

extremely tiresome so for a while it was

grilled beetles garnished with

imagination

the colonel-in-chief has suffered

similar indigestion I never got one of

one visit in Hong Kong we were they were

on an exercise in in one of us a jungle

yet parts of Lanka

where I was then invited to to to come

and have lunch with them I think in the

jungle I then found myself being given

snake which actually was one of the more

disgusting things I have ever eaten they

sleep on the floor because they always

have and unacquainted with EastEnders in

a black hawk other icons of British

culture they spend their evenings

singing songs about Himalayan mountains

or hacking people's heads off

[Applause]

local parents others if they can afford

the journey drop in to Pokhara for the

farewells

there are also some enterprising young

ladies a Gurkha even if he is off to

Britain for the next three years is a

pretty good catch but for some the

partings are the worst part of any

adventure will he ever see his father

again almost certainly which is more

than can be said for some of the

rejected candidates down the years their

sense of shame was so great that they

came to this sinister bridge and threw

themselves into the river below they've

now constructed anti-suicide nets

they may be leaving a shangri-la film

set but they're also departing a world

were to be ages and bent is to become a

supplicant this man fought with the

Gurkhas in world war ii he did the dirty

work but because he didn't serve 15

years

he doesn't qualify for a British army

pension body and soul are now held

together by the independent Gurkha

Welfare Trust each month he receives a

10 pound handed sufficient for a few

daily handfuls of rice nor had to trust

forgotten the widows of their former

colleagues in arms we're talking here of

hardship not hard luck stories this guy

a widow lost her husband just after the

war and is about to lose the roof over

ahead the house was lent to her by

relatives who now want to sell it to

augment her 10 pounds a month she was

still forced to work but where now can

she find it but what she will do see she

go to the riverside and collect the

firewood from the riverbank normally in

no mention season and there are lots of

them lying either side of the riverbank

and you can see our finger collecting

piece of wood which lied either side of

the riverbank and then we can survive

but the problem is obvious the lady is

getting old

the star the festival of TR is a cow its

plant with drink probably Horlicks and

sweet beets the cow is sacred here based

on the theory that it's the provider of

almost everything from milk when it's

living to leather when it's dead

the god krishna declared the car his

favorite animal a thousand years ago

which was fortunate without the car the

Gurkhas would have never have become

soldiers of international renown

this is the lee-enfield mark 6

muzzleloader it's cartridges were the

problem allegedly for being sealed with

paper contaminated by Congress David

Harding is an ex Gege and bisley

champion the cartridge for the new rifle

was Gries dat the bullet end inside this

end of the cartridge there was a bullet

of the shape in this end there was

enough powder for one shot in the

process of loading the Sepoy he had to

bite open the powder end with his teeth

said he could pour the powder into the

muzzle he then reversed the cartridge

pushed the bullet end in tore off the

empty part of the paper and rammed the

bullet into the bore and in the process

of biting that cartridge he would have

come in closer contact and he cared for

with the grease on the bullet and the

grease was the rumor was that it was

composed of the fat pigs and of cows and

the fat of pigs would have been an

objection walked to the Muslim see pies

and the fat of cows would have been very

objectionable to the Hindu see poise and

contact with it especially for higher

caste Hindus could cause serious loss of

of caste itself and of course social

ostracism back in the home village the

British government said well get her own

grease but high caste Indians were not

to be mollified they were itching for a

fight

believing that the British were crushing

their own cultures throughout the land

but the cow grease rumors still

persisted

a hundred and fifty years later no such

taboo was to deflect the younger kurz

from the obvious venue for their first

public meal in Britain burger beef one

these gherkins were serving with the

British in India in 1857 at the musketry

school in Ambala they insisted on using

the car grease cartridge to distance

themselves from the whinging Indian

troops but the Congress rumor continued

to fuel the bigger issue India was

seething with anti British antagonism

the guns were primed for mutiny

deli capital of the old Mughal Empire

was the scene of the bloodiest conflict

it was a rising of manic intensity and

unspeakable atrocity officers were

hacked to pieces their wives children

and servants mutilated before death or

thrown live into the city's wealth major

Charles Reid commander of the Sam or

battalion of Gurkhas was among those

ordered to head to the aid of his

beleaguered British colleagues of the

60th rifles within four hours his relief

column was on the way at the 60th rifles

pictured here and happier times as I say

were apprehensive about the Gurkha

involvement could they trust these

guards

foreign troops after all they were soon

to learn fiercely loyal braved to a man

the Gurkhas actually enjoyed their part

in quelling the mutiny indeed when word

got abroad they were accorded the

highest of accolades

a rave review in London Illustrated news

the Fusiliers and a little Goethe was

sitting by a window when one of the

enemy who had consumed himself popped

his head out to see what was doing he

happened to look the other way when the

little darker as quick as thought

whipped out his crockery and sliced his

head off in an instant to the great

delight of the Fusiliers who could not

for 10 minutes shoulder their muskets

for laughing the Correa's are kept very

sharp and I have seen a Gurkha cutting

his corns at arm's length it is not to

be wondered at that these are the dread

of the rebels the few surviving rebels

continued to dread they were simply tied

to gun barrels and dispatched to join

their holy cow in the sky among the

heroes of the Gurkhas action was Subedar

major Jessie ranch bought with medals

never again would the integrity of these

fighting men from Nepal be questioned

their campaigns were commemorated on

their chests and such now was their

reputation the Queen Victoria herself

intervened promoting them to a rifle

regiment

but rifle regiments don't carry colors

so she presented them with a ceremonial

trench the trench and mean more than a

regimental color to us in in our

language it's called Missoni mine little

meaning Missoni

is a point and my is mother if not a

goddess so it's more like a goddess to

us than a simple red melancholy it is a

sad and nostalgic day at Sandhurst

this is the last parade of the 2nd

Gurkha Rifles bane of the Japanese now

victims of Whitehall defense

but to the Gurkhas the truncheon which

evokes such homage is not being laid up

it is being placed in suspended

animation against the day perhaps

generations ahead when they may come

another rallying halt it's been so

precious to us and particularly for

myself having served in the resident for

20 years and if anybody would want to

steal or take away from us I wouldn't

hesitate to draw my cookery in charge

simplest that

officers past and present have come to

pay their respects and as another icon

of British military history goes to the

wall some can't contain a sense of

bitterness if we are to play our part in

the United Nations we should have troops

available to answer that the present

rate of things if the country were

threatened we'd probably have to send a

policeman to Dover to stop the invasion

coming in even though she's not present

in the regiment she will always be in my

heart and every morning whenever I form

my wrist prayers I will think about

Hashanah my as well

ironically as the old guard leaves the

new recruits land in Britain they

arrived in Gurkha fashion smart and

marching none had flown before

they've come straight from Kathmandu to

a world in which our obvious is their

astonishment you don't even need to walk

here even the pavements move

from Gatwick Airport they shut their

eyes around the m25 always a sensible

precaution to their new home near

Aldershot what's going through their

minds well I think it's probably a

mixture of partly of delight that of the

57,000 applicants they have been one of

the only 153 they're very selective and

probably also a certain amount of

amazement in Nepal they often talk of

England orb Alliance as the place where

the gods live then I discovering that

God lives in a rather cold very wet

environment and that may dislike it

possibly oh well it's warm and dry and

the Queen Elizabeth barracks Church

cookin but there are some culture shocks

for most it's their first night in a bed

with Springs and a mattress next day

there's the tricky introduction to the

night and fork

but as with their predecessors the menu

confronts no theological misgivings back

home they'd be eating rice and lentils

but the traditional English breakfast

presents no problem they're quick to

learn two years ago these Gurkhas were

also fumbling with knives and forks now

they're in Bosnia operating a

sophisticated communication system for

the United Nations

I live in Orlando but for the new

recruits there is yet more to assimilate

not least the mystery of the urban

traffic light

you never see a Gurkha scruffy badly

turned out look at them they got and

this is a day off their monthly and

they're always immaculate credit to

their unit and to the British Army very

good when they come here they have an

image of our society which probably

hasn't existed for 50 years they assume

that all the British asam's that there

are no criminals in England that

everyone behaves in the way that they

believe people ought to made that of

course isn't the way that our society

operates

unfortunately getting money out of a

wall requires some of coaching one of

their number once and trusted his pin

number to a total stranger then ask for

assistance in camp they're being

inducted into the use of the fundamental

tool of their trade this is quite a big

moment for them because this is the

first time they will ever have fired a

live round on the range today and I

haven't yet been to look at the targets

I would be surprised if there were many

who had a group larger than an inch now

that at this stage having never fired

around in their lives before to get five

runs in a one inch group is actually

very very good good eyesight and doing

exactly what they're told they will

absorb instruction they're given they'll

follow it absolutely they'll get their

breathing right they'll get their

trigger operation right they're patient

and they'll far when they're ready too

far they haven't seen Rambo forms they

don't think they know it all and they're

starting from scratch and therefore

they'll make very good shops well that's

what I was saying so those are very very

good groups for the first time he's ever

fired a shot in his life right he's

quite pleased with it but he's sure he

can improve in fact it is very very good

I can tell you quite difficult to

improve on it but I mean that's five

rounds straight between the eyes

Lorraine Maga have an additional amount

of water I get it just allow yourself he

says very happy to go and kill the enemy

again here in Britain the friendliness

between Gurkha officers and men is

immediately apparent one has to remember

that a Gurkha unit in a sense is a

company of equals I command my men not

because I'm a major but because I have

got more experience than they have I

have done more courses I've been in the

army longer they respect me and they

obey my orders but we are a company of

equals and there would never occur to

agaaca riflemen that there would be any

social distinction between the two if I

go to Nepal I will stay in a soldier's

house if a soldier brings his wife to

England for a holiday quite often she

will come and stay in my quarter and we

have had situations in my married

quarter why I've had a brigadier a

corporal on a rifleman all staying there

at the same time all with their wives

this is regarded as extraordinary by the

rest of the army but it works

in our society and the British officer

has to be able to fit into that there's

no rooting for the arrogant there's no

room for the patronizing there is no

room for the pompous because that just

doesn't wash with the gap the whole

thing runs on mutual trust I trust them

and they trust me

we've got a high proportion of chaps who

will have a go at anything and will

claim to swim some of them will have had

a go at swimming at home largely because

they're hoping to get into the army and

they will Trek off to the nearest river

and they'll jump into a pool and they'll

either long swim or they'll drown

unfortunately most of a better to learn

to swim below it's very much

doggy-paddle again it's easy to teach

agar I keep saying it's easy to teach go

for things and it is because he wants to

he's intelligent and he wants to learn

he also has great faith than the system

so when we say to agaaca you are to jump

into the swimming pool which

incidentally is eight feet deep do you

understand that yes no jungle he will

jump and he will do exactly what he's

told to do and he will therefore very

quickly learn how to swim and if he

sinks to the bottom we will fish him out

and he'll do it again and within a day

or two they'll all be swimming quite

reasonably everything is done to help

them settle in the Yaak man from Everest

for example has been missing his yaks so

on a neighboring farm he meets at least

a hide and look-alike Beck in genuine

yak country there's a happy ending to a

remarkable story this is the Himalayan

home village of the most celebrated

living Gurkha in may 1945 from the banks

of the Irrawaddy River riflemen Nachum

and guram here with friends took on the

Japanese literally single-handed this

was because he'd had his right arm blown

off Latterman was also wounded in the

face chest and lakes he won the day

alone and was awarded the Victoria Cross

aged 78 now and walking with some

difficulty he wanted to move from the

mountains to a house on the plain there

was an obvious cashflow problem his

income was 56 pounds a month

supplemented by a gift of 100 pounds

every year from Eric Williams a British

Gurkha officer who'd fought in the same

era war d'action then he learned that

his Victoria Cross if offered for

auction in a London cell room could

fetch up to fifty thousand pounds but

where was it mrs. Lachman knew precisely

in 1951 his old Indian army regiment had

asked if they could borrow it and

display it as an inspiration to their

troops just seven years ago nach Minh

sent his two sons to India to retrieve

it

they returned empty-handed the Indians

had offered to house him in India

Latterman refused my home is Nepal he

said and what would happen to my family

when I died the mess had been dragging

on now for 44 years

a simple Nepalese hillman against a vast

bureaucracy Nachum ins old commander

General Sir Walter Walker took up the

case there was a heated exchange of

letters with the Indians but still

nothing came of it so each month

Letterman son prepared for the journey

down the mountain to collect his pension

no he's not heavy he said how could he

be he's my father

the prides understandable for this is

a citation of what his father did to win

the Victoria Cross at the age of 17 at

Tong door in Burma on the west bank of

the Irrawaddy on the night of the 12th

13th of May 1945 riflemen lucky man guru

was manning the most forward post of his

platoon at over 120 hours at least 200

enemy assaulted the company's position

the brunt of the attack was borne by

lucky mangu wrong section and by his own

post in particular before assaulting the

enemy heard innumerable grenades at the

position from close range one grenade

fell on the lip of rifle and lucky man

groans trench he had once grasped it and

hurled it back at the enemy

almost immediately another grenade fell

directly inside the trench and again his

rifleman snatched it up and threw it

back a third grenade then fell just in

front of the trench

he attempted to throw it back but it

exploded in his hand blowing off the

fingers shattering his right arm and

severely wounding him in the face body

and right leg his two comrades were also

badly wounded and lay helpless in the

bottom of the trench the enemy screaming

and shouting now formed up shoulder to

shoulder and attempted to rush the

position by sheer weight of numbers

rifle and lucky man guru regardless of

his wounds loaded and fired his rifle

with his left hand

maintaining a continuous rate of father

wave after wave of fanatical attacks

were thrown in by the enemy but all were

repulsed with heavy casualties for four

hours after being severely wounded

rifleman lucky man Goering remained

alone awaiting with perfect calm each

attack meeting it with fire at

point-blank range from his rifle

determined not to give one inch of

ground of 87 enemy dead counted in the

immediate vicinity of the company's

locality 31 lay in front of this

rifleman section the key to the whole

positions this rifleman by his

magnificent example so inspired his

comrades to resist the enemy to the last

that although surrounded and cut off for

3 days and 2 nights they held and

smashed every attack his gallant and

extreme devotion to duty in the face of

almost overwhelming odds were the main

factors in the defeat of the enemy

the happy ending is that natural Minh

did get his house on the plane when the

story was known the Gurkha Welfare Trust

bought a plot the British limbless

ex-servicemen Association chipped in a

donation and the readers of a British

newspaper sent in more than a hundred

thousand pounds

not only for Latterman but for other

Gurkhas on hard times incidentally the

Indians turned up for Letterman's

housewarming they gave him 8,000 pounds

in lieu of his BC

quite by chance at church cookin a piper

is practicing he is playing Ode to Joy

today from the wreckage of five infantry

battalions one new regiment the Royal

Gurkha Rifles is being raised the

Gurkhas are now serving with the fifth

Airborne Brigade and other specialised

units of the British Army

the man honored and delighted to become

the colonel in chief is the Prince of

Wales they march at a brisk 140 pieces a

minute exemplifying 50 years on the

words of field marshal bill slim

commander of the 14th army which won the

war in burma nothing looks as uniform as

a Gurkha battalion nothing looks more

workman like and few things look so

formidable

they have the most remarkable and I

think approach to life I mean they're

the Loyalists people in the world

approximately us I supposed to the point

of view of a military existence so many

of them are ready-made for it because

they come from martial clans in in Nepal

and some of the clans you know have to

have this particular tradition of being

the warriors and I think that's what I

suppose makes them such wonderful

soldiers but they have such a good sense

of humor and they're really sort of

noble people I think

I just think there's remarkable people

many have tried to enshrine the Gurkha

character here are the words of Sarov

Turner a former Gurkha officer once more

I hear the laughter with which you

greeted every hardship uncomplaining you

endure hunger and thirst and wounds and

at the last your unwavering lines

disappear into the smoke and Roth of

battle bravest of the brave most

generous of the generous never had a

country more faithful friends than you