To Our Men Known Unto God

(Courtesy: Anand Gurung)

Not many people have the privilege of having an obituary written about them in newspapers after they die. Bhanubhakta Gurung, one of the recipients of the Victoria Cross (VC), Britain's highest and most prestigious military decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy, was among few whose demise called for front-page obituaries in Kathmandu dailies.

"Ayo Gorkhali" (The Gurkhas have come).

The 85-year-old former British-Indian Gurkha soldier did deserve the citation more than any, for his stupendous bravery can so easily capture the imagination of us who take pride in our long history of gallantry in the battlefield. His death was such a 'devastating news' for The Kathmandu Post that it dedicated an entire editorial on him and other VC veterans, calling them 'part and parcel of our two-centuries old national heritage', and urging the government to recognize their 'daring feats' and 'valorous deeds' by establishing a memorial center or a museum.

The Post wrote: "[Havaldar Bhanbhakta] Gurung along with other Nepali recipients of the VC will not be remembered for securing the [VC] medal alone, however. By performing their deeds of valor with a 'khukuri' in hand, the Gurkhas not only amazed the Britishers but also made Nepal familiar to outside world."

Continuing with the same sensitivity, it further wrote, "due to the valorous achievement of the VC veterans, young Nepalis are still sought by the Britishers for recruitment in their army."
Words like bravery, valor, courage, heroism and others that evoke masculinity are easy to use, and it does also automatically come to mind while describing war-heroes. Except that it would be sheer thoughtlessness on our part to use them while referring to the Gurkhas without first understanding what they went through in those countless of wars in which they fought. What immense pain, agony, suffering and horrors they lived through to be entitled for being conferred with medals, which to them must have been as meaningless as their involvement in the war to defend a country and people who were alien to them. It would be called insensitivity on our part if we don't first put into perspective why they put or were forced to put themselves in situations where such 'bravery' was necessary? What pushed them to such limits so as to single-handedly take on the enemy? What force or energy that drove them to such madness or foolishness for that matter?

Grace under fire

It was March 5, 1945. The mighty Japanese troops were rapidly marching towards India after defeating the British forces in Singapore in the most pivotal period of the Second World War. A defeat either side meant that the entire face of the war could change. The Japanese forces needed not only to be stopped in Burma but convincingly defeated and repelled from there to avoid the most cherished possession of the British empire – India – falling into their hands. Rifleman Bhanubhakta Gurung was with the legendary 2nd Gurkha Rifles of British-Indian Army deployed at the frontlines to stop the advancing enemy. On that fateful day which is etched in Gurkha legend as the 'A sniper in the Cherry tree' incident, a Japanese sniper had killed dozens of Gurkhas and British officers, making it necessary to spot him quickly to avoid more casualties. Bhanubhakta, seemingly without any fear for his life, exposed himself defiantly in the open ground, and after having spotted the Japanese sniper, eventually shot him down from the tree.

Then again Bhanubhakta stormed at an enemy position with a complete disregard for his own safety even as the rest of his battalion were forced to ground by very heavy hail of Light Machine Gun, grenade and mortar fire. He leapt on to the roof of the bunker and dropped a smoke bomb through the air-hole. As the hapless Japanese crawled out choking, he promptly cut them down with his khukuri.

He seemed to have gotten intoxicated by so much blood, but there was no stopping him. He then crawled inside the bunker, killed the Japanese gunner and captured the Light Machine Gun. He then took up position in the captured bunker with three other rifleman. The enemy counter-attack followed soon after, but under Bhanubhakta's command the small party inside the bunker repelled it with heavy loss to the enemy. With outstanding bravery he went on to clear five enemy positions single-handedly the same day.

In stories after stories of unflinching and conspicuous bravery in battlefields South of France to the slopes of Monte Cassino in Italy, or in Greece and further east in Palestine and south in Tunisia, then again in the malaria infested dense jungle of Burma and Borneo, countless number of Gurkha soldiers fought bravely alongside the British against enemy troops, saved the lives of their comrades and officers alike and laid down theirs in the process.

Those who lived to tell the stupendous feat they achieved in the battlefield made others feel as if they were super-humans blessed with quasi-mythical powers who even belittled death with their valor. If not, how would anyone explain this moving scene that seems to give even the grimness of war a very poignant, all too human touch.

The London Gazette dated 18 November, 1915 praised the courage of Rifleman Kulbir Thapa, 3rd Gurkha Rifles, who was conferred the first Victoria Cross for his "conspicuous bravery" in this manner: "When himself wounded, on the 25th September 1915, he found a badly wounded soldier of the 2nd Leicestershire Regiment behind the first line German trench, and, though urged by the British soldier to save himself, he remained with him all day and night. In the early morning of 26th September, in misty weather, he brought him out through the German wire, and, leaving him in a place of comparative safety, returned and brought in two wounded Gurkhas one after the other. He then went back in broad daylight for the British soldier and brought him in also, carrying him most of the way and being at most points under enemy's fire".
Written words rarely evoke so much emotions!

Battle cry

After the Great War ended like the way previous wars had ended, with great suffering and misery to millions of people and the entire continent devastated with the experience, Gurkha soldiers who had survived the war returned to their homes as 'Lahureys', a name they came to adopt from the Pakistani city of Lahore where they were posted to during the early periods of war.

They were enlisted into the army from their village in large bands comprising of their uncles, brothers and friends. But as they had been thrown into the frontlines immediately after joining the army, returned home singly or in pairs scarred for life with the horrors of war but still with few consolatory words for the families of their fellow-men who were lost, taken as Prisoners of Wars (PoWs) or killed in action (KIA). The fortunate ones among them were able to start their life anew, but those who had lost their hands or legs had only themselves to curse.
Still most of them lived their life in ignorance like so many from their previous generation who fought for the British: They were called 'the Brave Gurkhas' by their commanding officers, and were encouraged to exhibit bravery in future such conflict, but they never knew that their own brothers had sold them as mercenaries to a foreign country for a fixed annual sum. They were sent to defend a foreign crown and country and compelled to raise weapons against an enemy whom they had nothing against. They were literally spoon-fed with high-sounding words, were told about the glory they would bring to themselves and their country if they fought bravely in the war, that a Gurkha should not show his back against an enemy, that it is better to die fighting bravely than live a single minute as a coward. Even praises can be used very effectively to exploit someone for one's own profit.

Having heard stories after stories of wars in distant lands which their grandfathers and fathers had fought; and probably also to escape the tremendous depravation and poverty in their home, many of them willingly joined the British-India army during the First and Second World Wars. They were not very well-built, but still very robust, as they were brought up in the treacherous hills and mountains, and the difficult life had toughened them to the core. They were simple hill-folks, who believed in their heart more than their brain. They followed certain moral codes, but at the same time they also had primordial instincts to kill without any feeling and judgment. This was what made the Gurkhas very lethal in the battlefield. Apart from proving themselves as ruthless warriors, the Gurkhas were also very loyal, who took orders of their commanding officers as if they were god's decree. They stormed enemy's position alone if need be and without any regard for their safety. And even the devil fears those who don't have fear for their lives.

The Turks and Germans dreaded them during the First World War. Then during the Second World War it was the turn of the Japanese. So petrified and afraid were they of the Gurkhas that only a call of 'Ayo Gorkhali' from a lone figure far at the distance amidst the smoke, with the khukuri flashing in his hands, used to sent shivers down their heavily armored bunkers. [It is said that after storming the Japanese bunkers and hacking most of its occupants to death with their khukuris, Gurkha soldiers used to always spare the life of one soldier so as to let him go and spread the terror he witnessed among his comrades in other bunkers.]

In subsequent military campaigns of the British Army over the years - in Falklands, Bosnia , Sierra Leone , Kosovo and now in Afghanistan - the Gurkhas found themselves at the frontlines of war. Tall tales of their ferocity and war-exploits sometimes reached ahead of them because of which enemy troops started fleeing at the knews that Gurkhas were coming. It is said that Britain had won the Falkland wars solely on the propaganda they spread about the Gurkhas, portraying them as merciless killers with khukris. And when Gurkhas were finally being deployed in the island to fight, the Argentinean army had already pulled out. Later it was immortalized in a remark attributed to legendary footballer Diego Maradona, who after having defeated the English team in the World Cup finals, was reported to have said that he wouldn't have been sure of their victory if there were Gurkhas instead of the English in the opposition team.

'Known unto God'

After India won its independence from Britain following the end of the Second World War, the two countries divided the Gurkha soldiers between themselves after signing a tripartite agreement with Nepal . Rifleman Bhanubhakta Gurung was to be with the new Indian Army, but he resigned from it because of his sheer abhorrence towards a war during which he witnessed the deaths of so many. However, many of his fellow compatriots went on to serve the Indian army, defending the territorial integrity of the Indian Union during the 1962 war with China , then two subsequent wars with Pakistan and repelling the Mujahideen fighters during the Kargil war.

Rather than having to kill anyone again, Bhanubhakta instead chose to return to his village in Gorkha. However, the poverty that drove him and his fellow men into war was still there and he battled with financial problems his entire life. As he had quit the Indian army after only six years in service, he had been deprived of pension. But in recognition for showing "extraordinary battle-field skill and bravery" during the war for which he won the VC, he used to get Rs 12 as annual allowance from the Gorkha Welfare Center. For 63 years he visited the center to get his allowance which was later increased to Rs 100 per month. This went on until he was confined to bed for the last 4 years of his life after becoming unable to walk. He was also suffering from Asthma since long back. Bhanubhakta must have lived his entire life with the feeling that he was betrayed, but he was a simple man; neither able to speak up against it nor stop his sons and grandsons to follow the only means to earn their livelihood he had shown. Then after his time came, he died as the last VC veteran. It was all over.

Bhanubhakta along with 12 other late VC veterans had also unknowingly set a long distinguished tradition in the community to which they belonged – of serving in foreign armies and laying down their lives while doing it. But later even those Nepalis who could never make it into the British or Indian armies were inspired to become Lahureys like them and would go to Qatar , Dubai , Saudi Arabia , Malaysia , even to war torn countries like Lebanon and Iraq in search of work, to escape the poverty back home. And the same thing happens – they would also die like the Gurkhas in a strange land serving foreign masters, only that they would not be so fortunate of having their death glorified.

If you ever read the accounts of the valor for which the 13 Gurkhas received the VCs then you'll find that it is not for bravery, but a desperate act that often drive men to do unusual things in the most trying of circumstances. Their utter disregard for their own safety while fighting the enemy troops may be called a daring feat, but behind that lay their anger, their frustration at being just picked up from their hills and mountains and transported to the middle of war to die. They were meant to be expendable, and the Gurkhas knew it very well. And all the bravery and courage they exhibited in the battle front was just to prove to the British, to every one, that they were not. This was a force that impelled them to such acts of valor, or we may call foolishness, as only a thin line separates one from the other.

More than 43,000 Gurkha soldiers fought for the British during the Second World War in Burma, and thousands of them died an unnamed death in the frontlines. They may have fought bravely, died a hero's death. Some may have even run away from the battle-field like any other soldiers do when faced with imminent death. But their stories were lost forever in the chaos and confusion of war, perhaps never to be written. These faceless Gurkhas never received any citation, but ended up just being a mere statistics of the great wars, or a body inside a grave in which has been inscribed " "A soldier of the 1939-1945 War, known unto God," or perhaps not even that.

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