But for the Ghurka's I probably would not exist.
In 1945 my mother, 2 brothers and sister were in a Japanese prison camp at Banju Biru near Ambarawa in Java. The war had ended and the Indonesian fight for freedom had started. The camps, full of women and children in bad condition after 3 years of Imperial Japanese hospitality (read starvation and brutality), were fired upon by the Nationalists with machine guns, mortars and artillery (illegally supplied to them by the Japanese)
There were just 14 Ghurka's to protect a couple of thousands Europeans. After another session of bullets and grenades, 10 of the Ghurka's left and returned after some hours. No more fire was recieved from a couple of "kampongs" (villages) and things were very quit for the next 14 days or so.......... After that the camps were succesfully evacuated to Semarang during a running battle including the use of tanks and air support by P 47's. What happened in the Semarang - Ambarawa area is an amazing story, where loyal Japanese batallions fought ALONGSIDE the British against the Indonesians. Thousands were killed, yes, after the war had ended . The Ghurka's played an important role.
My mother always had the highest respect for the Ghurka's and firmly believed she would have been killed without their protection... ...
As for the action in Afghanistan: probably not the smartest thing to do, but I fully understand it. !!!!
Hou doe,
Derk