Seeing as I have right of UK abode and can get citizenship based on where the folks were born, you can file this under “it’s about time”:
Gurkhas who have served in the British Army are to be allowed to apply to settle in the UK and gain British citizenship. The announcement made by Tony Blair follows a government review and a campaign by the Nepalese soldiers. The prime minister said the Gurkhas had made an “enormous contribution” and it was important that their commitment and sacrifice were recognised. Gurkhas have fought as part of the British Army for almost 200 years.
The Gurkhas are still part of the British army and, though they come from a small country have done more than the share of many larger nations:
During World War I some 100,000 Gurkhas enlisted in regiments of the Gurkha Brigade. They fought (and died) in France, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine and Salonika. They won two Victoria Crosses. In World War II there were no fewer than forty Gurkha battalions some 112,000 men. Gurkhas fought side-by-side with British and Commonwealth troops in Syria, the Western Desert, Italy and Greece from North Malaya to Singapore and from the Siamese border back through Burma to Imphal then forward again to Rangoon. A total of ten Victoria Crosses were awarded to Gurkhas during World War II.
My father has a number of childhood stories shared from family members who fought in WWII and describe the skill with the knife of the Gurkhas and their way of dealing with Nazis. Recently they have publicly been in East Timor and Bosnia and when I hear of goings on on the Afghan-Pakistan border, I can’t imagine they are not there, too. Once at the CNE when I was a kid, we saw the tatoo and the Gurkhas marched – double time for the entire drill. Bagpipers, too.