Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)
  • Can I have Him on My Side?
  • peteimpreza
    Full Member
    petrieboy
    Full Member

    Saw this earlier – 400 rounds, 17 grenades a mine and the tripod from his gun – he’s like some sort of computergame character made real! Chuck Norris should watch out!!

    “”I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I’d kill as many of them as I could before they killed me,” he said

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Third generation as well.

    *raises glass*

    bigbloke
    Free Member

    Proper brave man , well deserved medal.

    phiiiiil
    Full Member

    Him and the other chap who singlehandedly fought off that group of train hijackers a while back could defeat THE WORLD…

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    Proper brave man , well deserved medal.

    Indeed, what a true hero.

    codybrennan
    Free Member

    Makes you wonder what you’d need to do to get a VC, though.

    chewkw
    Free Member

    Well done to the Gurkha.

    Wonder what sort of gun that jammed when he needed it most … hmmmm … bet the AK-47 didn’t.

    Also he should have lopped off few of those talib heads whilst at it with his Kukri.

    p/s: damn lousy SA80 …

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Coming over here, taking our medals.

    peteimpreza
    Full Member

    “Pun could never know how many enemies were attempting to overcome his position, but he sought them out from all angles despite the danger, consistently moving towards them to reach the best position of attack,”

    edhornby
    Full Member

    I’ve heard it alleged that one of the reasons that the argies started to retreat from the falklands was that the british let it slip they were about to bus a load of ghurkas in

    I lived in Fleet when I was a kid very close to the Ghurka barracks – to serve in the british army is a high honour for the nepalese, when they get here they have squaddie rank and yet their behaviour is exemplary, a world away from their british peers it’s sad to say

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    Makes you wonder what you’d need to do to get a VC, though.

    Speak English without a funny accent whilst wearing a whiter skin

    cranberry
    Free Member

    His medal citation said he saved the lives of three comrades at the checkpoint and prevented the position being overrun.

    “Pun could never know how many enemies were attempting to overcome his position, but he sought them out from all angles despite the danger, consistently moving towards them to reach the best position of attack,” it read.

    Bloody fine man.

    Think of him next time someone uses the word heroic about a footballer.

    grantway
    Free Member

    Why only give him the Second highest Medal? Because he is not English Cxck in my eyes
    Then again they did try to screw them over there pensions.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Think of him next time someone uses the word heroic about a footballer.

    Hear hear!

    Lifer
    Free Member

    grantway – Member

    Why only give him the Second highest Medal? Because he is not English Cxck in my eyes

    Far be it from me to tell you what you should and should not be putting in your eyes but I don’t think this is the best place for that request…

    cranberry
    Free Member

    Grantway – the VC is *very* hard to achieve.

    The Victoria Cross is awarded for

    … most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.[1]

    A recommendation for the VC is normally issued by an officer at regimental level, or equivalent, and has to be supported by three witnesses, although this has been waived on occasion.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross#Award_process

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    Oh do shut up, CM.

    Only one Nepalese has received the VC since the end of WW2 ? ……. that doesn’t sound very encouraging 😕

    And not least because they have done a fair amount of fighting since then and are apparently noted for their exceptional bravery.

    cranberry
    Free Member

    Ernie – have some dignity and troll on another thread.

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I’d kill as many of them as I could before they killed me

    Yeah, typical bloody Nepali, looking after Number 1

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    How the **** is that a “troll” cranberry ?

    intode_void
    Free Member

    Speak English without a funny accent whilst wearing a whiter skin

    Why only give him the Second highest Medal? Because he is not English Cxck in my eyes

    Because Johnson Beharry is a classic white anglo saxon protestant English boy from Surrey isn’t he…nice one, try and make a point but instead make yourselves out as total arses incapable of letting the truth get in the way of your own prejudices. Jog on

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    Maybe they’re too modest to get the VC?

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    True Johnson Beharry is not white, but then again, he did have to perform 2 acts of heroism.

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    Makes you wonder what you’d need to do to get a VC, though

    I remember something about this from the Clarkson program (just about the best thing he’s ever done btw if it ever gets repeated)

    It seems the VC is usually awarded when someone actually puts themselves in danger in order to save / preserve others – which is why so many awards are either posthumous (Colonel H Jones / Sgt Ian Mackay on the Falklands) or seriously injured (Pte Johnson Beharry in Iraq). Harsh as it sounds, in his own words “I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I’d kill as many of them as I could before they killed me” – so it was self preservation as well as incredible courage. He didn’t put himself in danger, he found himself in that position.

    Not my rules, but that’s the kind of logic behind it.

    cf Pte Beharry:

    “On 1 May 2004, Beharry was driving a Warrior Tracked Armoured Vehicle that had been called to the assistance of a foot patrol caught in a series of ambushes. The Warrior was hit by multiple rocket propelled grenades, causing damage and resulting in the loss of radio communications. The platoon commander, the vehicle’s gunner and a number of other soldiers in the vehicle were injured. Due to damage to his periscope optics, Pte. Beharry was forced to open his hatch to steer his vehicle, exposing his face and head to withering small arms fire. Beharry drove the crippled Warrior through the ambush, taking his own crew and leading five other Warriors to safety. [/u]He then extracted his wounded comrades from the vehicle, all the time exposed to further enemy fire. He was cited on this occasion for “valour of the highest order”

    intode_void
    Free Member

    CharlieMungus, you’re wrong, not mistaken not misguided just wrong, it wasn’t 2 events it was a single prolonged event, please free to speak with his Boss (at the time) Justin Featherstone MC, as I have, (since I worked for him for a short while). If you think its about race, creed, religion or belief systems you’re a bigot and a fool or maybe both. If you want to fight a racial injustice there are many causes which would benefit from your support, this isn’t one of them. Excuse my partial rant but such infantile anti-locution really pisses me off

    CountZero
    Full Member

    My late father served with the RAF in Singapore, just before it fell to the Japanese. (He ended up in Changi). When I was young he told me one or two stories, among them he told how at night the Ghurka’s would slip out of the camp, and in the morning there would be fresh ears decorating the barbed wire around their part of the camp. Perhaps Charlie might like to donate his. I have a Kukri, it’s sixty-odd years old and very, very sharp, perhaps I could test it on Charlie’s ears. One Ghurka’s worth a thousand Charlies.

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    I guess the citation was wrong then.

    Private Beharry carried out two individual acts of great heroism by which he saved the lives of his comrades

    perhaps I should indeed take the word of MC Justin Featherstone and his subordinates

    Woody
    Free Member

    I know who’s word I’d rather believe and it isn’t the keyboard hero from STW!

    Oxboy
    Free Member

    and to think the Labour party didnt think they were worthy enough to become British Citizens, oh sorry got that wrong they were TOO worthy.

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    My late father served with the RAF in Singapore, just before it fell to the Japanese. (He ended up in Changi). When I was young he told me one or two stories, among them he told how at night the Ghurka’s would slip out of the camp, and in the morning there would be fresh ears decorating the barbed wire around their part of the camp. Perhaps Charlie might like to donate his. I have a Kukri, it’s sixty-odd years old and very, very sharp, perhaps I could test it on Charlie’s ears. One Ghurka’s worth a thousand Charlies.

    Perhaps so, Even more of a wonder more of them don’t have VCs.
    Interesting to hear your Father was in ‘Fortress’ Singapore i too had family there at the same time, and after the British abandoned it and its people. Luckily the British came back and rescued them from the occupying Imperialist oppressors.

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    I know who’s word I’d rather believe and it isn’t the keyboard hero from STW!

    He is right I have to say. There were two events. The first was a prolonged event involving first the extrication of the APC from the ambush, and then once out of the ambush but still under fire extracting his colleagues from the burning vehicle.

    6 weeks later after returning to service he was then ambushed and hit in the head by a RPG but before losing consciousness and unable to see due to the blood he managed to reverse his APC out of the ambush zone to an area where they could be rescued.

    The truth: here

    http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/57587/supplements/3369

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    I know who’s word I’d rather believe and it isn’t the keyboard hero from STW!

    He is right I have to say.

    I’m not a keyboard hero, I’m just an ordinary guy, anybody else would have done the same in my position

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    He made his own luck against bad odds though self belief, skill and professionalism. An example (a hero) to behold. We are privileged to have Gurkha warriors in our army.

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    Oxboy – Member

    to think the Labour party didnt think they were worthy enough to become British Citizens

    The irony of a BNP voter coming out with that comment isn’t lost on me Oxboy. I’m sure life under your BNP government would be a barrel of laughs for the Nepalese guys.

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    We are privileged to have Gurkha warriors in our army

    Hear hear. My grandfather fought in the far east with the Gurkhas and said he owed his life to them many times over. He had the scar on his neck from a close brush with a Japanese bayonet – the wielder of which then promptly had a closer shave with a kukri – as one souvenir.

    He’d be mortified by the way they were treated recently if he was alive today.

    intode_void
    Free Member

    perhaps I should indeed take the word of MC Justin Featherstone and his subordinates

    Thank you Charlie but I wasn’t his subordinate, I worked for him in the sense that his post title was senior to mine (he was the training Major whilst I was the Liaison Officer (also a Major) additionally he is J Featherstone MC (now he’s a civvie) as opposed to MC J Featherstone which is probably a title more suited to a club DJ than a heroic leader of men, but I digress.

    He is right I have to say

    Your research is laudable however the copy of the citation states two individual acts, not two events, it was part of one event, if you had access to the full medal citation you would see it was authored by a chap by the name of Justin Featherstone (he’d yet to receive his MC) and he calls it one event; Incidentally, although crucially, Justin was there at the time where as the London Gazette Court Reporter wasn’t. But Hey Ho its bed time for me so I’ll leave you eminently qualified pseudo heroes to debate whilst I snore (which, by huge coincidence, I also do through a lot of the knee jerk posts I see on here)

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    So, to clarify. two acts separated by 6 weeks as a part of the same event?

    But yeah, we should leave those keyboard warriors to argue it out, after all, at least we both know it was 2 acts. I dunno why they didn’t believe me when i first said it. Thanks into_de_void, for coming in on my side and supporting my point. I don’t think they would have believed me otherwise.

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    OK, I stand corrected in my misinterpretation of the terminology of ‘acts’ vs ‘events’. I was interested in the circumstances of his VC 7 years ago, being interested in the subject matter myself anyway; it’s not new research, just refreshing what i knew anyway. I wasn’t trying to prove you wrong and didn’t mean to create that impression, just making the point that there were two distinct incidents. I have no interest in making Charlie look good (god forbid), just stating the facts as I think they would be interpreted if we don’t argue the toss about the terminology.

    Incidentally, although crucially, Justin was there at the time where as the London Gazette Court Reporter wasn’t

    The London Gazette is the official newspaper of record where the citations for acts of gallantry are reported. So the linked ‘article’ is the official (Justin’s) citation.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)

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