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From werner Wed Jul 13 14:06:34 1988
Flags: 000000000000
From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Subject: Gurkhas - the Martial Race
Keywords: true, chuckle
Date: 20 Sep 88 15:30:05 GMT
[Edited]
>From article <6907@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> in soc.culture.indian:
GURKHAS - THE MARTIAL RACE
Now that an accord has been signed between the GNLF of
Subhash ( not the go back to India one :-)) Ghising and the
Government of India, it might be appropriate to recollect
an interesting anecdote regarding these doughty warriors.
In World war II, an English reporter who had heard so much
about the bravery and elan of the Gurkhas visited a camp just
in front of the enemy lines (Germans). During the course of
his reporting, he had occasion to observe a mission being
conducted. The mission was to airdrop a bunch of soldiers behind
enemy lines to conduct some relatively light action. He watched
the commander of the Gurkhas (a British soldier) pitch
the mission and then ask for volunteers. To his surprise,
only about half the Gurkhas volunteered and were sent off.
Throughly disillusioned with the legends of Gurkha bravery,
the reporter went back home. After the war, he happened to
run into a Gurkha who had been there, and asked him why
half the troops had failed to volunteer. It turned
out that none of the squad, both those who volunteered and those
who did not, were aware that they would get a parachute for the drop.
Hence the low turnout.
