Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
My Late Brother 205375 Trooper Purshotma Dass of C Squadron, 2nd Recce Regiment (1st Year in Memoriam - 16th July 2021)
Saturday, July 16, 2022
He answered the call during the Indonesian Confrontation,
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
My Dad was an amazing person, a doer. We reared chicken, ducks, pigeons, goats and cows. Mum churned her own butter. We had a large vegetable garden maintained by a gardener complete with a cowherd.
My Dad, BVP David
During World War 2 my dad was with the Malayan People’s Anti Japanese Army (MPAJA), he used to smuggle medical supplies along with his friend, a Mr Pathy, his bosom buddy.
Both these champions were caught and tortured by the Japanese Kempetai, He experienced water torture, water was forced down into his stomach, where one has to constantly gulp the water until to the point of drowning, where water used to come out through the nose.
When they used cigarette butts to burn them, the Japanese smiled as they scorched the skin of my dad. They were real sadistic bastards. Fortunately for his lineage, us, he survived. Mr Pathy came out of that incident suffering permanent damage to his hearing. They were tortured and starved.
They were released without the Japanese getting anything out of them. My dad had personally seen what the MPAJA, did to traitors, collaborators and betrayers. They used the big cauldrons with boiling oil or water used for pigs, to cook or fry them alive.
That is one of the reasons why my dad and Mr Pathy did not break when the Japanese tortured them. When he came home he was like a skeleton, my mum was terrified looking at him. The people placed him in a goat shed. Mum used to place food in a coconut shell and pushed the food towards him, that’s how frightening my dad looked, physical scarred and starved.
My mum was only a kid, they fell in love, he married her when she was 14 years old. If he did that nowadays, he would probably have ended up being given hard strokes of the rattan. We had a happy and colorful life with our friends and relatives.
Of course, we had our normal ups and downs, on an average we were a happy and contented family. My eldest brother joined the Army when the neighboring country, Indonesia attacked us, he served with the 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment, he saw action in Sabah. At Pulau Sebatik with some Green Jackets. He served for 12 years.
