‘You grow up with footballs. We grow up with kukris’
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.
More articles from: James Delingpole | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
What I learned from the Somali pirates
Aidan HartleyAidan Hartley says that Somali piracy is very well-organised and efficient and is opposed publicly only by militant Muslims — who may yet seize power in Mogadishu
New Sondheim: enjoy it while stocks last
Gerald KaufmanGerald Kaufman is enthralled by the first Sondheim premiere in 14 years. A minor work Road Show may be, but it is still worth much more than anyone else’s musicals
The law applies to Damian Green, too
Rod LiddleRod Liddle is reluctant to join the journalistic herd in its unqualified outrage at the Tory MP’s arrest. But it is certainly time to put the police under the microscope
After Baby P: the crisis in child foster care
Mary WakefieldMary Wakefield talks to a courageous woman who blew the whistle on the deep systemic failures in the foster care service — and whose only reward was to be hounded and vilified
The global force behind Mumbai’s agony is in our midst
Stephen SchwartzStephen Schwartz and Irfan Al-Alawi say that LET — the Army of the Righteous — is a worldwide Islamist organisation which is well-established in Britain. The Mumbai atrocities are further proof that the march of Islamic extremism is the central fact of our time
Brown has played into the hands of the Tory Bullingdon Boys he loathes
Fraser NelsonFraser Nelson says that the Pre-Budget Report killed off New Labour without landing a punch on the Tories. It has paved the way for a new Conservatism, in which Cameron woos aspirational voters, focuses on government debt and looks for responsible spending cuts
Thank goodness we can have a run on the pound when we need one
Martin Vander WeyerMartin Vander Weyer looks ahead to next week’s Pre-Budget Report and reflects on George Osborne’s contentious remarks about the devaluation of sterling. It looks like Gordon Brown is getting away with his borrowing binge — leaving the Tories isolated
Want to cut taxes? First cut spending. Here’s how
Fraser NelsonAfter a week of clamorous competition between the parties over tax cuts, Fraser Nelson offers a guide to paying for them: a programme of spending cuts that would preserve core services but shave off the fat of the Brown years. All that is needed is political will
A quantum of respect for the forgotten master
Sinclair McKaySinclair McKay hails the pioneering novels of William Le Queux, true inventor of the modern spy novel, whose thrillers prefigured the Bond books by more than half a century
Osborne stumbles: but is there a bigger story about Mandelson?
Melissa KiteMelissa Kite says that the shadow chancellor should have known better than to cross the most brutal spin-doctor in Westminster, or flout the conventions of the super-rich. But we should not be distracted from the Business Secretary’s true role in this saga
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now
Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be amongst the first to have it - order now.
Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now
Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be...
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
ian skidmore
September 18th, 2008 1:12pmVery 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 5:32pmThere 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 3:09pmA 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 9:34amFor 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 4:28pmApologies 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 5:38amWe 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.