Seeing as I have right of UK abode and can get citizenship based on where the folks were born, you can file this under "it's about time":
Gurkhas who have served in the British Army are to be allowed to apply to settle in the UK and gain British citizenship. The announcement made by Tony Blair follows a government review and a campaign by the Nepalese soldiers. The prime minister said the Gurkhas had made an "enormous contribution" and it was important that their commitment and sacrifice were recognised. Gurkhas have fought as part of the British Army for almost 200 years.The Gurkhas are still part of the British army and, though they come from a small country have done more than the share of many larger nations:
During World War I some 100,000 Gurkhas enlisted in regiments of the Gurkha Brigade. They fought (and died) in France, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine and Salonika. They won two Victoria Crosses. In World War II there were no fewer than forty Gurkha battalions some 112,000 men. Gurkhas fought side-by-side with British and Commonwealth troops in Syria, the Western Desert, Italy and Greece from North Malaya to Singapore and from the Siamese border back through Burma to Imphal then forward again to Rangoon. A total of ten Victoria Crosses were awarded to Gurkhas during World War II.My father has a number of childhood stories shared from family members who fought in WWII and describe the skill with the knife of the Gurkhas and their way of dealing with Nazis. Recently they have publicly been in East Timor and Bosnia and when I hear of goings on on the Afghan-Pakistan border, I can't imagine they are not there, too. Once at the CNE when I was a kid, we saw the tatoo and the Gurkhas marched - double time for the entire drill. Bagpipers, too.
Comments
alfons - September 30, 2004 4:30 pm
My father too has fond memories of these courageous men. They were the first British troops arriving at civilian prisoner camps in the Netherlands East Indies.
portland - September 30, 2004 7:07 pm
and they make delicious pickles.
Alan - September 30, 2004 7:09 pm
You only get the smallest cucumbers from the narrowest valleys of the Nepalese Himalayas.
Ben (aka the Tiger in Winter) - September 30, 2004 11:55 pm
Different types of pickles, says this half-Nepalese lad. :-)
Alan - October 1, 2004 12:11 am
Thank you for clearing that up, Ben. <p>Do you see, portland? We are throwing off the half-Nepalese audience. We need to find our centre again.
Craig (HB-Craig) - October 1, 2004 8:31 am
In my early days in Canada, I had the privilege of working with a guy who served with the Gurkhas. If you really probed, he would tell chilling stories of the ferocity and loyalty of the Gurkha fighter. He told of the practice of night fighting and what do if you felt a hand go around your neck in the night. You stayed perfectly still - allowing the hand to determine if you were wearing a dog tag. If you were not, you were dead.
Alan - October 1, 2004 8:35 am
One of my father's stories is similar. When the US physically joined the war in Europe in 1942, their guards were suffering strange losses at night. Apparently the Gurkhas told who was a Nazi by the height of the boot. The allies to that point work ankle highs but the US had the calf high brown boots like the German black ones. A finger was lightly run up the calf and if it was still touching leather at a certain point, the knife went in.
Mike - October 1, 2004 2:17 pm
Just back from London ~ there's a lone statue in front of the Ministry of Defence building: the Gurka soldier. High time they caught up to their statuarial rhetoric (or something like that).
My kingdom for Sky Sports channel!!!
Sumitra - February 19, 2005 4:02 pm
My grandfather was a British Gurkha and served for 30 years and was serving in Malaya until 1958. My mother was born in Malaya and my mother says he had been captured in 1948. Now my mother and her brothers and sisters live terrible life in remote Maoist controlled part of Nepal.
Majority of exgurkhas live an awful life in Nepal.
Sumitra