‘You grow up with footballs. We grow up with kukris’

James Delingpole

20 September 2008

James Delingpole meets the Gurkha veterans seeking citizenship rights in the courts and says that, this time, the government has picked the wrong fight

It’s not often a chap gets to shake a hand that has personally accounted for 31 Japs in the space of one battle. But such was your correspondent’s privilege outside the Royal Courts of Justice this week at the launch of a splendidly righteous case demanding fair and just citizenship rights for Gurkha veterans.

A tearful Joanna Lumley was there — her father fought with the Chindits as a major in the 6th Gurkha Rifles — as was a typically well-mannered crowd of perhaps 300 ex-Gurkhas and their families. But the stars of the show were the two frail, elderly men sitting impassively in wheelchairs, with their un-mistakable crimson-ribboned bronze crosses stuck proudly on their chests. There are currently only ten living recipients of the Victoria Cross and three, it almost goes without saying, are Gurkhas.

Tulbahadur Pun (now 86) won his in June 1944 at the turning-point of the Burma campaign, when almost all his section had been wiped out by Japanese machine guns at the Mogaung railway bridge. Firing his Bren from the hip he continued to advance alone under shattering fire till he reached the enemy bunker, polishing off three of the occupants with his kukri (the Gurkhas’ legendary curved 18-inch fighting knife) and causing five more to flee in understandable terror.

The VC of Lachhiman Gurung (now 91)must rank among the most implausible ever. In May 1945 his forward post at Taungdaw, Burma, was attacked by 200 of the enemy. With his two comrades lying wounded at his feet, Gurung — all 4ft 6in of him — continued to hold his position single-handed for four hours. Quite literally single-handed, for his right hand — and his right eye — had been blown away by a grenade. Calmly, he continued loading and firing his rifle with his left arm alone, killing at least 31 Japanese at point-blank range.

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ian skidmore

September 18th, 2008 1:12pm Report this comment

Very well said, Sir ( and that is not a title I normally address you by). Your defence of the Ghurka was noble and timely. They are a shameful demonstration of just how far we have fallen as a nation.

Michael Ney

September 18th, 2008 5:32pm Report this comment

There is a simple policy that a Government of any colour should adopt: "Service guarantees citizenship". Any Ghurka who has served IS a citizen, no need to demonstrate "ties" they are ties of blood and honour. I am proud to call any Ghurka a fellow citizen.

AGB

September 19th, 2008 3:09pm Report this comment

A scandal indeed. My late father served a spell in HMS Ghurka and brought me up to admire, cherish and, indeed, fear these feisty warriors.

A question for Delingpole though: what does "and they earned themselves 6,500 military decorations, including 13 individual VCs and another 13 regimental VCs" mean? What does he mean by "another 13 regimental VCs"?

G.A.MACKINLAY

September 21st, 2008 9:34am Report this comment

For GHURKHA read GURKHA the correct spelling, the four ships of the RN with that name were all HMS Gurkha. Having been to Nepal, and to British Gurkhas Nepal in particular on a number of occasions since 1975, I can say you never see children playing with Kukris, but, you always see them playing with soccer balls

AGB

September 21st, 2008 4:28pm Report this comment

Apologies for mis-spelling! To answer my own question on "regimental VCs", what Delingpole means is that the regiment has won a total of 26 VCs, 13 by Nepali natives, and 13 by British officers of the regiment.

AGB

willgetfooledagain

September 23rd, 2008 5:38am Report this comment

We should remove the Gurkha element from our Armed Forces. Here we have another campaign from the legally rich to create a multi milliom pound immigrant policy to the detriment of our overcrowded little island.

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