Training the Gurkhas - Part 2 of 3

Heroes Remember

Training the Gurkhas - Part 2 of 3

Transcript

During that week we became, I particularly became friends with one of their Gurkha Officers. The regimental officers were really young British chaps who had learned Gurkhali language, but they also had Gurkha Officers, and they, because they had Viceregal Commissions rather than Royal Commissions, they had titles such as Jemadar, Subadar and their weapon was a khukuri, I have one in the den. And the khukuri is about a fifteen inch knife, extremely hard metal, extremely sharp, it had, it has a handle and then a curved blade. It's like a, it's not like machete, because a machete is straight but this thing is, it's specially balanced and the Gurkha Officers told me that when they were fighting the Japs in the jungle, the Gurkhas didn't like their bayonets and rifles. They would throw those down and go swinging with their khukuris. One Gurkha, one British Officer told me, he said we'd bivouacked at night, and we'd all bed down, post our guards around the bivouac, and the Japs would be bivouacked a little distance off, for the night. He said we never took roll call at night because there would be a bunch of Gurkhas missing. They'd sneak into the Jap bivouac and just lop off heads with their khukuris. He says by night, by dawn, they were all back in their bivouac. He said they, he thinks that the Japs have a joke which says, "Well, we lived through another night," says one Jap to another. The other fella says, "Shake your head."

Description

Mr. Romanow talks about his experiences with the Gurkhas.

Joseph Romanow

Mr. Romanow was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1921, to parents who immigrated to Canada in 1911. Mr. Romanow grew up in a Ukranian community and he learned to speak English from his playmates. He joined the Air Force from a youth group, was a mechanic for two years and then trained in Canada and England. He was able to fly in India and Europe, flying many different types of planes. After his university education he returned to the Air Force and worked with the Avro Arrow team.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:28
Person Interviewed:: Joseph Romanow
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Burma
Battle/Campaign:: Burma
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 62, 435, 437 Squadron
Occupation:: Bomber Pilot

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Training the Gurkhas - Part 2 of 3

Heroes Remember