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A Soldier in the Royal Gurkha Rifles
As I have said in a previous post, I find the stories of those who do the grunt work attract my attention. We did not fight alone in Afghanistan.
The motto of the Royal Gurkha Rifles is; Better to Die Than to be a Coward.
To say that Gurkhas are simply soldiers from Nepal would be a massive, massive understatement. If there’s a single reason no one goes to war with Nepal, it is because of the Gurkhas’ reputation. They are elite, fearless warriors who serve in not only the Nepalese Army but also in the British and Indian armies as well, a tradition since the end of the Anglo-Nepalese War in 1816. They are known for their exceptional bravery, ability, and heroism in the face of insurmountable odds. Faithful to their traditions, one Gurkha in Afghanistan, Dipprasad Pun, singlehandedly held his post against more than 30 Taliban fighters.
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Published in Military
Sounds like the Marines I knew in the 1970’s. Hope he is a U.S. citizen now. He sure deserves it.
And so do we!
A Ghurka named Bishnu Prasad Shrestha was riding the train home after his voluntary retirement from the Indian Army twelve years ago. A group of thirty to forty train robbers started looting the passengers. They got Shrestha ‘s possessions too, but that was only stuff. Then some of them started in on an eighteen year old female passenger.
Shrestha still had his khukri, the traditional weapon of the Ghurkas.
The robbers must have missed it. Leaving it in Shrestha’s possession was an oversight.
Shrestha’s words:
“Prevented”. Yeah, he prevented the hell out of them.
The girl suffered a small cut to her neck. Shrestha got badly wounded in the hand. And the robbers? Three dead, eight wounded, and the rest fleeing empty-handed.
Don’t mess with a guy carrying a knife like that.
Another Gurkha comes to the rescue.
Darn, you beat me to it. I was going to comment on this story, which is amazing. When you are skilled and you have righteousness on your side, things are in your favor.
Read “Bugles and a Tiger” by John Masters. He was a regimental officer with a Ghurka regiment of the British Indian Army before and during WWII. If you were not a fan of Ghurkas before reading it you will be after…
The Gurkha’s war cry is ‘ayo Gurkhali’, which means the Gurkhas are coming. And when a Gurkha draws his khukri, he cannot sheath it without it drawing blood. This custom is supposed to stop them from drawing a khukri in anger, but it also motivates people to get out of the way – because at that point the Gurkhas are not kidding around.
Joanna Lumley, of Ab Fab fame, is a daughter of the (British Gurkha) regiment, where her late father was an officer. She led the campaign for the British Govt to modify its rules and treat all Gurkha veterans equally – whether they retired after 1997 (in which case they had leave to settle in Britain) or before 1997 (in which can they didn’t).
Her campaign was successful, though of course there’s now some moaning about “the expense“.
I was told by a retired Gurkha that the khukri is too versatile an implement for that. You can use the straight part near the blade as a knife, and the part past the recurve makes a handy hatchet. The tip can even be used as a shovel if you really need to dig. They don’t mind the legend though. It freaks people out.
Considering the Narn and the Klingons have similar legends, I wonder how seriously people can take it.
Great comment, thanks.
This is also a feature of Highland Regiments. Children in sports competitions, or a recital will find that officers of a Highland Regiment will be present to support them.
The Japanese wakizashi is the first blade I ever heard the story about. They might just be that crazy.
Dune has the same legend in it about the chrysknife.
Okay, I’ll call that, and raise you that Klingons sharpen their teeth before going into battle.