Gurkhas’ Final Fight For Britain

Five Gurkha soldiers are waiting to find out whether or not they have won the right to remain in the UK.

If they win, they and many of their comrades will be allowed to take up residency in the country they adopted and fought for over so many years.

“Better to die than be a coward”. It’s with that motto that more than 200,000 men from Nepal have fought alongside and as part of the British Army for almost 200 years.

And it is with the same determined nature that they have fought in the courts to win the right to remain in the UK after they retire.

Historically, all Gurkha soldiers were forced to return to Nepal when they retired. They were given a pension but it was a fraction of that other ‘normal’ soldiers received.

But last year the Government gave in to pressure and allowed all those who retired after 1997 to remain in the UK on a full Army pension.

However, all those who retired before 1997 were forced to return to Nepal. A victory in the courts will change that.

Ironically it was another victory, of sorts, against the British which first brought these men from Nepal into the fold of the British Army.

They are known for being fierce warriors. But what is now also clear is their fierce patriotism too – even to an adopted country that appears not to want them.