Review of ‘Gurkhas: Warriors from the Himalayas’

‘Gurkhas: Warriors from the Himalayas’ is by Gordon Elsden, who served alongside Gurkhas when with the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1979-2019, latterly becoming a Senior Inspector. It is a handsome two-volume compendium of stories and reminiscences collected from 28 retired Gurkhas and three Gurkha ladies. Most of the material is consequently about the Gurkha experience of the last 50 years although some of the family histories hark back to the early 20th and even late 19th centuries. Two of the most prominent testimonies from Sirmooris are by Major Rambahadur Gurung and Major(QGO) Hitman Gurung.

The book gives a voice to Gurkhas in a way that few other books have done (one exception is Lieutenant Colonel JP Cross’s 2007 book ‘Gurkhas at War’).  As such Elsden’s book deserves to be fêted.  It contains very little supplementary material explaining context which gives a welcome prominence to the personal accounts. I found the many anecdotes and insights fascinating, mainly because they provide such a different perspective on the Gurkha experience to the many factual histories and the plethora of glossy coffee-table books about Gurkhas. The contents also remind us of the rich Nepali hinterland behind the details of British military service. There are many stories about jhankri, bhut and bokshi (witch doctors, ghosts and witches). Several accounts reminisce happily about rodhi, the (to western ears and eyes) rather innocent gatherings of young Nepali boys and girls. Several recount at length the experience of finding a wife and getting married.

The concept of the book means it is necessarily new material. As such it is an important historical record in a similar way to Studs Terkel’s verbal histories and the ‘Forgotten Voices’ series. It has only a few passing accounts of warfighting, and even those are not particularly detailed or evocative. The book is consequently less a history of wartime events in the way these other verbal histories are, and more a series of personal accounts of the complete Gurkha experience. Much of that has been and will continue to be peacetime soldiering, and so it is perhaps unsurprising that the contents of the book reflect this.

The book is copiously illustrated, with many previously-unseen photographs provided by the Gurkhas who were interviewed. There is also much humour. I enjoyed the story of the 7GR CQMS who, on the way to the Falklands, got lost for 24 hours on the QE2, not having sufficiently good English to find his way back to where he was supposed to be and having to be rescued ‘embarrassed and extremely hungry’ by a kindly British NCO. Major(QGO) Judbahdur Gurung of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers tells the story of how they fixed small explosive charges to a Figure 11 target at which (the then) General Sir Edwin Bramall was shooting in order to ensure he got a good grouping – and which he had the good grace to disown, stating that he had always been a ‘lousy shot’!

‘Gurkhas: Warriors from the Himalayas’ is an almost entirely British-free zone, although there are a few passing mentions of individuals. The story of Krishna Bahadur Gurung, latterly Gurkha Major of the Queen’s Own Gurkha Transport Regiment, includes a photograph of him when he was (then Brigadier) John Chapple’s driver in 48 Gurkha Infantry Brigade. The much-respected WRVS lady of 2/2GR, Eileen McEvoy, gets a couple of mentions. Three or four unnamed British Officers (but who you may recognise) make an appearance in group photographs. There is a short paragraph in one account about training British subalterns. That’s about it. Far from finding this disappointing, I felt it is probably an accurate account of lives in which most of Gurkhas’ experience is coloured by their fellow-countrymen and we British play a fairly distant role.

Each individual is given a chapter in the book. These are loosely grouped together into ‘Chronicles’. For example the input from several family members of Subedar Buddhi Bahadur Limbu of 10GR are combined under ‘The Legacy of Buddhi’, and the accounts of seven westerners are grouped under ‘Tales from the West’ (although there are accounts from other westerners elsewhere in the book). This structure gives prominence to the personal stories – which was perhaps the intention – but it does not provide a logical sequence to the narrative and, as there is a great deal of commonality in the experiences of those interviewed, leads to much repetition. Common themes include family background, recruitment, training, service in the various garrisons where Gurkhas were based, operational service in Cyprus, the Gulf, the Balkans and Afghanistan, marriage and retirement. Grouping the material around these would have provided a more progressive storyline and made the book easier to read. Many individual accounts are also incomplete or disjointed, but that is of course how we remember our past. Nevertheless, combining them in a thematic treatment might have created a more comprehensive and coherent picture.

I would also observe that the majority of the accounts are from senior Gurkha officers. Only 8 out of the 28 stories from Gurkha men come from those below the rank of Captain, and only 3 from those below the rank of Sergeant. This does not necessarily detract from the accuracy of the overall picture as the officers all came up through the ranks and are therefore able to reflect that experience, but it does mean we are mainly hearing from the relatively small number of the most capable and successful Gurkhas rather than the much greater majority whose careers did not progress beyond junior rank.

In summary, I am glad I bought the book. It provides a different view of what life in the Brigade is like for Gurkhas in a way that has not been done before. As such it is a valuable historical record. Its structure and its length (833 pages) means it is not an easy book to read in a conventional way, but it is well-indexed and lends itself to being read by individual chapters. ‘Try dipping in and out of it’ is perhaps the best advice I can offer other than recommending that you buy or borrow a copy to enjoy it for yourself.