‘My Grandad fought in Burma during WW2 for the Royal Artillery and fought alongside the Ghukhas. He didn’t talk much about his experiences, but I found out after he died that he did talk to me about it from about the age of 12. maybe some kind of therapy?
Anyway in memory of him, he often talked about the Gurkhas and this is what I remember.
Whilst his battalion often moved in the valleys for the day, the Gurkhas would be high up on the difficult to navigate ridge, giving cover. Despite this, they would always have camp set-up when the RA got there!
They were truly amazing. if they hit a bottleneck of enemy, these guys would literally go in as a problem solving squad and deal with it. My Grandad always used to say that they were truly mystical back then and seemed to understand and melt into the jungle in some way.
One taught him how to defend himself with a knife, which in itself was amazing because he said they kept themselves to them themselves in camp. the kind of training a soldier in the UK army doesn’t get! It saved his life one day when he found himself isolated and being hunted by an enemy soldier…’
Source: Quora website (article recommended by Gurkha advisers to the information resource project) https://www.quora.com/Are-British-Gurkhas-really-as-good-as-people-say-they-are
The above is a subject-setting direct introduction to the phenomenon of the Gurkhas in terms of courage, military sagacity and effectiveness, and peerless service to and within the British Army.
The Gurkha Signals (predecessor of the Queens Gurkha Signals [QGS]) were established in 1949.
Signalling activity originally came under the Royal Engineers, and in terms of the presence of Gurkha service in this important area of military activity, by the time of the First World War era some Gurkhas were already serving in the three Indian Corps of Sappers and Miners, and during the war period actual Companies of Gurkhas were formed in the three corps, subsequently in 1920 these Companies were organised into the Indian Signal Service.
The first major operations of the Gurkha Signals took place in Malaya and Borneo, with across a fourteen year period Gurkhas having the highly prestigious Mention in Dispatches, twenty five times. The total broader Brigade of Gurkhas itself (which included the Gurkha Signals) was however from that point downsized from 15,000 to 6,700. For the Gurkha Signals this meant a reduction from three Brigade Signals Squadrons to just a Regimental Headquarters and two Squadrons; a reduction from 1,100 to 416, with 17 Gurkha Signal Regiment leaving Seremban (Malaysia) in 1970, to be subsequently disbanded in Singapore on 31st July 1971. From that point 248 Gurkha Signal Squadron was reformed, and moved to Hong Kong.
Separate to the Gurkha Signals, the 99 Gurkha Infantry Brigade, through 1st and 2nd King Edward VII Own Gurkha Rifles saw service in countering the First Brunei Rebellion in 1962. Brunei was a small British Protectorate, and Sultanate, on the north coast of Borneo. By 1963 part of 248 Gurkha Signals Squadron were despatched as elements of the Indonesian military threatened Nth Borneo and Brunei. These were more conventional type engagements rather than countering and preventing ambushes.
Hong Kong: 48 Gurkha Infantry Brigade Signal Squadron was formed in late 1954 from reorganisations and deployments in the Far East, that had seen 26 Gurkha Infantry Brigade Signal Squadron under the lead of Captain Dhan Bahadur Gurung in conjunction with Major Glanvill and Captain Dexter took this squadron to Hong Kong in October 1954. Hong Kong was to be the location from which major reorganisations of the Gurkha Signals (and other Gurkha components of the British Army) that eventually led to relocating to the United Kingdom. Across 1955 the Gurkha Signals squadron in Hong Kong was known as the Independent Gurkha Infantry Brigade Signal Squadron, and its members in this formative period were put through new training for new types of warfare preparedness. On this, Ben White, Regimental Historian, Bramcote, in his seminal History of the Queens Gurkha Signals (2009) – kindly loaned by Captain Robin Rai to the UKNFS for our study and awareness – noted that Major Glanvill received this particular (and very characteristic of Gurkhas past and present tenacity and mastering to the highest degree techniques and practices) that the Brigade Commander had noted of an important study exercise, that:
It was noted of the Independent Squadron (Gurkha Signals) in the 1956 Regimental Newsletter:
“they have reached a standard of training in European type Signals warfare in which they can more than hold their own with any British Signals here”
It cannot be doubted that this report showing the illustrious nature of Gurkha mastery of new techniques that presaged their later transfer to the UK/West, which was eventually to become home to the Queens Gurkha Signals when it was eventually formed, indicated the assiduity of this particular group of Gurkha soldiers and their officer, developed through many years of frontline service in Malaya, Borneo and Brunei.
Interestingly, this communication concludes with another, very different dimension of the Gurkha story: namely passion for and prowess in sport, particularly football:
“They have not neglected sport in their efforts to improve technically and the Squadron reached the final of the Royal Signals Cup (Hong Kong) in the soccer competition.”
On 20th April 1977, the year of Her Majesty The Queen’s ‘Silver Jubilee’ an historic event in the history of the Gurkha Signals and broader Gurkha presence in the British Army, occurred. Her Majesty authorised the title of the regiment to the ‘Queens Gurkha Signals’ (QGS). A further ‘red letter day’ in the history of the regiment took place on the 30th April 1983, when HRH Princess Anne made a formal visit to the regiment at its headquarters in Hong Kong. On a cultural note, the visit highlight featured HRH making a tour of a Nepali – Gurkha village that had been created for the occasion: a Nepali ‘Rote Ping’ (children’s ride) was also demonstrated, and on HRH’s departure Major Shyamlal Gurung MVO presented Princess Anne with a Nepali rum jar (a Puchai). In the June to August 1996 QGS (250 Squadron) made its first public duty debut under the Royal Signals Public Duties commitment through providing the guard for the Tower of London.
The year 1984 was important for members of the regiment taking part in Operation Lionheart’ in Germany: meanwhile at Catterick in the UK in the same year saw the first Gurkha instructor deployed to 8 Signal Regiment. This was an important event in demonstrating the quality of Gurkha tradesman from the QGS. Holding in mind and planning, the transfer of Hong Kong back to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, in 1988 the Regiment converted its tradesmen to the trades that at this time had been introduced at the Royal Corps of Signals; enabling unifying of talent for future transfer and deployment of the QGS after the end of British rule in Hong Kong.
As a result, with the transfer of skills, in 1990 the formation of 250 Gurkha Signal Squadron in the UK, at Blandford to be a component of 30 Signal Regiment at Blandford Camp. On 1st June 1990 a symbolically important parade was carried out at Blandford with a synthesis of the Brigade of Gurkhas and the 30 Signal Regiment in the march paces used. Initially there were just 58 soldiers of the squadron, and their role was to provide aspects of key communication and HQ facilities to the UKMF Rear Maintenance Area. Just two months (October 1990) after Sergeant Padam Bahadur Rai earned the honour of being the first Gurkha to be deployed to the Gulf as part of Operation Granby, initiated in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
The move of the Regiment’s HQ from the Prince of Wales Barracks on Hong Kong Island to Bramcote in the UK on 1st April 1996 marked a considerable downsizing of QGS to 250 Gurkha Signal Squadron, three Gurkha Infantry Battalion Signal Troops (approximately 1600+), and the Brunei and Nepal Signal Troops, all under 30 Signal Regiment (covering in this period the main part of the British Army’s satellite communications).
QGS saw service in Brazzaville (Zaire) in 1997 at the same time as Hong Kong was being handed over to the Peoples Republic of China: in the Brazzaville operation (March) to evacuate UK residents, Lieutenant Hitman Gurung led 12 soldiers as part of Operation Determinant, with Lieutenant Gurung’s troops providing key strategic support communications to the spearhead battalion involved in evacuating British nationals from Zaire. There were a number of other operations involving the QGS at this time of the final years of the century and the early years of the first decade of the 21st Century, including Operation Grapple – in Bosnia — (seeing a Commanders Commendation for Cpl Tulsi Raj Rai), Operation Jural (Saudi Arabia), Operations Resolute and Operation Palatine (in the area of the former Republic of Yugoslavia), Operations Resinate North and South (Turkey and Kuwait), and Operation Chantress in Angola.
In 1999, through Operation Agricola as part of the NATO mission to Kosovo, QGS 250 Gurkha Squadron returned to the Balkans contributing important services in this very important operation: on this the UKNFS learned whilst on a visit to Nepal in January 2018, on the occasion of the inauguration of a school being re-founded in Sindupalchok, of experiences of Gurkha soldiery in Kosovo on the occasion of the armistice.
The British Army presence in the operation saw the Gurkhas selected for the highly sensitive duty of finding and removing major concealed (hidden without marking, in the ground) enemy arms dumps in plain sight of the enemy. Heroic service, that few in the broader British general public are aware of, but characteristic of the British Army at strategic command’s level of the regard for the courage and technical expertise of the Gurkhas! In this particular activity engagement diplomatic prowess and capability of the Gurkhas matched their technical expertise brilliance – no ‘flair up’ in this trigger-sensitive situation took place, nor were Gurkha/British lives lost in the removal of the concealed ammunition.
A good example of the strategic interrelationship of the QGS and RGS (Royal Gurkha Rifles) in the field, was evidenced also in 1999 with activity in Macedonia (under Operation Agricola): a strategic location. The Kacanik Defile was cleared through the combined endeavour of the 526 Rear Link Detachment (1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles) with their provision of the critically important link back to this operation’s Commanding Officer. This involved major coordination and deployment of data and Rapid Reaction Corps Information System, to SATCOM systems and switchboard telephone system. Similar RGS engagement combined with QGS technical support, took place in East Timor in the same year.
The geographical scale of QGS deployment was further demonstrated in September 2011 where the 22 Regiment celebrated their birthday at the Southern Italian Gioia del Colle base. They have along with the Queens Gurkha Engineers been providing important services and support in Afghanistan, with the RGS being to the fore in this long-term deployment in regard to containing and fighting the Taliban. HRH Prince Harry in fact served with the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles in Afghanistan in 2007, with it in 2008 being recorded that the prince helped RGR troops repel a major attack by Taliban insurgents. This further cemented the direct Gurkha Brigade links with the British Royal Family; something honoured in the special presence of the RGR and other components of the Brigade at Prince Harry’s wedding on 19th May 2018.
On public duty fronts in this period extensive service was undertaken, including 248 Squadron following in the footsteps of 250 Squadron ten years earlier, mounting the Guard at the Tower of London, and on 23rd August 2007 the Squadron delivered their first Queens Guard on parade at Buckingham Palace. We provide more information on the QGS and the broader Brigade of Gurkhas in our Royalty and the Gurkhas section. However, here we conclude on a ceremonial topic – the ‘Pipe and Drums Band’ (part of the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas) of the QGS – as this represents so well a synthesis of Nepali and British, especially Scottish British cultures.
In particular interlinking between Scottish culture and QGS and to some extent the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas, not only through Scotland classic songs and marches related musical pieces in the repertoires of the QGS Corps of Pipe and Drums and the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas at major, ceremonial, and minor performance events (and available on CDs), but also through QGS Corps of Pipes and Drums slouch hat badge (created around 1955 which is when the Corps formed). This badge’s background is red tartan of the Grant Clan; specifically, Red Grant Tartan Number 15.
This arose because of affinities between Nepal (particularly the areas of country where most recruits are drawn from) and Scotland as mountainous lands, and specifically because of Scotland and the Gurkhas regimental affiliations. The hat badge background was envisaged as early as 1952 by 17 Gurkha Division Signal Regiment commanded by Major L.H.M. Gregory BEM.
TheGurkha Signals were officially constituted on the 16th October 1953 as 17 Gurkha Division Signal Regiment and was commanded by Major L.H.M. Gregory BEM. This unit had emerged from the embryo 48th Gurkha Brigade Signal Squadron which was launched on 18th December 1950.
As early as 1952 Major Gregory had proposed that the Regiment should have a pipe band as other Gurkha Regiments had. Help was forthcoming from the Royal Scottish Fusiliers and 51st Highland Division Signal Regiment (Now 32 (Scottish) Signal Regiment (Volunteers) and a Corps of Pipes and Drums was formed.
Due to their affiliation with 32 (Scottish) Signals Regiment (V) the Gurkha Signals Corps of Pipes and Drums when wearing their slouch hat (Terai Hat) are permitted to wear a Grant Tartan with the Gurkha Signals badge attached. The wearing of the Grant Tartan was authorised by Lord Strathspey, Clan Chief of the Clan Grant.
Source: http://www.signalsbadges.co.uk/Asia/qe2gs_pipesanddrums_slouch_c1955.htm