76 year old gent seeking remote village of Garigaon near Okhaldhunga. All possible information please
I am an ex Royal Marine Commando. I have travelled to Nepal in 2004/2007/2009 to keep a promise. While in IRAQ in 2003 I saw the name RIT BAHADUR RAI on a memorial. He was 16 years of age when he was killed in 1941. I promised that one day I would travel to Nepal and play my pipes in tribue to what was a forgotten soldier. After years of research I have now got his record recofnised by The british Ministry OfDefense who 'could find no record of him'. I am connected with no organisation and my tribute will not be to glorify war but to bear witness to the futility of it. ANY INFORMATION ON GARIGAON, the RAI family or OKHALDHUNGA.
Reply to this Hello Bill 😊
When you make progress with this, would you post here about it. Tell us what you found and how, if you have time.
Mel
Reply to this I have one suggestion that might help. You could check out the blogs that have recently been posted here on TravelBlog, for the area where the forgotten soldier is. Maybe those travelling there would help with searching. You could leave a comment on their blogs or maybe send a private message.
Reply to this Hi
If you send me a private message with above details I may be able to pass you on to a friend of mine who worked in Nepal for the Gurkha Welfare Trust and may be able to provde more information.
Regards
Nick
Picture of Gurkha Memorial in Darjeeling - India
Reply to this Hi,
I am afraid I have had to turn away from British/Indian Gurkha sources as it appears that what I want to do is 'politically incorrect' in view of the prevailing Gurkha recruitments situation. I am going it alone. I think I have pinned my destination down to the RUMJATAR area in Okhaldunga. I have a trekker guide who says he knows the family I am looking for ???????. Any information on the area may help but I will prevail.
Owing to a certain amount of apathy I was about to give up when my mind spoke these words to me. "Unless I fight on the day will come when tired and frustrated I will give up my fight to keep the promise I made to Rit Bahadur Rai, and by giving up that fight I will have failed to honor the sacrifices made by thousands of forgotten Gurkhas.
So it is back to the fight - a 76 year old marine and the ghost of a 16 year old Gurkha trekking off into the hills of East Nepal. ..................................
Bill Jenkins. Liverpool. UK
Reply to this Hi,
Mission completed. Found village and went to play pipes in honour at Dharan British Gurkhas Cemetery. RIT BAHADUR RAI's record has now been entered into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission sarch engingine under simply RIT.
I gave since travelled to Sri Lanka on a similar mission and am now plannine ti return to Indian and later The Channel Islands,
Best Regards
Bill Jenkins
Reply to this that's great - glad you completed what you set out to do.
Reply to this RIT BAHADUR RAI's record has now been entered into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission sarch engingine under simply RIT.
I did wonder how this was going, but didnt ask because I wasnt sure there was much chance of finding him, because the chaos of war would probably have caused a lot of information to get lost.
...a similar mission ...
Keep us up to date on who or what you are looking for. Who knows, maybe a traveller will some time be able to help. 😊
Reply to this Bill,
You are an honorable man. The world needs more people like you. I hope our paths will cross some day. We would love to hear you play the bag pipes.
Merry Jo and Dave
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