'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎8r] (15/118)

- 7 -
111 h is head,
live weeks away we sioent ten days in thp ■‘-•ra-in
entertained in both cities, and put up by local hos * it * b }?
the
f Q Sug-^er
platoon
wallah,
ne 7 never
1 soldier
:o Murree
I. cart,
Z^J ^ B “Ufe.T^T
D n ,H fk n T u 2 l h November ' 32 we marched out from Pindi down the Grand Trunk
Soad for Jhelum, carrying out Bn. and Brigade training en -outs aid “
d it was
70 sea
+2 miles
culminating m the Jhelum area in tha ° - ou ^e, and
,, , n area ^.n the Ghenab manoeuvres m a "battle”
between the troops from the Pindi and Lahore Districts. DurinTthat time
three^avs f , mileS ^ ° ne ° n ° Ur flat ^et, and over fhunLed in
^ Mee Pow^r'andlis^Iato 0 " 3 "hf tl ? Sn in between * the final stages
at tea and - + i/ i ? Captursd tne opposing General and his staff
: h I shared
nt of
r daj one
ir as the
med as
; least
ess t
at tea and i took hall a battery of guns. After this victory the Bn
marcned bacK no Lala Musa, some twenty miles from Jhelum, a^d then thankfully
entramed for Rawalpindi. The last ten days had been so^n? entirely in ^
the open, with no tents, so it was a luxury to get back to a hot Nath -nd
left for^h again ‘ later ° G December 22 ^ d John Morton and"l
1 ^ , x0r Lanore oy car, which had come to fetch us, to spend Christmas
,-n n his people. Having just walked down the Grand Trunk, at over 20 mi 1 es
a day, it seemed odd to cov^r ton timoo j • 4 . . ’ mnes
nearer
iess,
. to
J, uuu 1,0 cover ten times txiat distance in a few hours ond
reach our destination in time for lunch.
h . n Lano ^ 9 w as a gay place art Christmas time with racing, polo and balls
but on one day we were driven across to Amritsar, forty miles away, to have
le weeks
gh their
d
o Murree
a0rae blkh -fiends 01 uonn's stepfather. Afterwards we were
given a very detailed tour of the Golden Temple and told something of its
istory. It was a very interesting day; and three years later, when I
was stationed with a company of the Pnd/lst Gurkhas in Amritsar Fort I
was glad to have had this earlier introduction to the place.
Murree
on
V/e ? ot back to p indi just in time for rehearsals for the 1st January
arade, which was held each year throughout India to commemorate Queen
'icuoria's assumption of the title of Emnress of India nn
ee
low,
mned
iQryrj m, coo ux ixiuia on one 1 st January
'' * was passed by the British Parliament by May 1876 but
proclamation Day was always celebrated in India on the 1st January, or the
xoliowmg day, as happened in 1933 when the 1 st came on a dnnHav
; he
were roughly 10,000 troops in or near Pindi at that time and most of’them
were on tne parade. My platoon paraded at 7 a.m. that morning and did not
get back to Jest Pidge Barracks until 3.30 p.m. It was a long day but a
very memorable occasion and T am ciari -f-ha-f- t inori +-u^ ^ .
order
ious
ent
Match,
c
cuxu x am giaa unau i naa tne opportunity oi takin 0 *
small part in it. Soon after this I heard, to my relief, that I had &
passed my Higher Standard Urdu examination. This meant a lump sum award
and going on to Indian Army rates of pay. It also meant that I could
concentrate on learning Gurkhali when I joined my Regiment.
■^7" tnis time X was beginnins? to be rntfapn nn'nr , eir’'»'ia,-3 , i • i
ir
o j-cloiicj. cuncernea. aoout which