23
Gurkha colonel fires noon day gun
Lieutenant Colonel Bijaykumar Rawat, the Commanding Officer of the last Gurkha Infantry Battalion in Hong Kong and the first Nepalese ever to command a British Gurkha Infantry Battalion is to have a surprise opportunity to fire the famous Noon Day Gun today (Friday).
As the last Gurkha Infantry Battalion to be based in Hong Kong, 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles (1RGR) departs the territory tomorrow, firing the Noon Day Gun is an appropriate farewell gesture.
The firing of the Noon Day Gun is an abiding Hong Kong tradition which was initiated by a former Senior Naval Officer Hong Kong. As a punishment, he ordered Jardines to fire a daily gun as a time-check for the ships in port after they had upset him by firing a salute to their own Taipan, who was entering the harbour aboard his yacht.
The original Noon Day Gun was lost during the war and the one now used was a gift to Jardines from the Royal Navy. A three-pounder Hotchkiss manufactured before World War I, it is identical to the three saluting guns mounted for many years at the former Royal Navy base at HMS Tamar in Central (now the Prince of Wales Barracks).
The last known examples of their type, the three Royal Navy guns have been returned to Britain as museum pieces, leaving the Jardines gun as the only known operational weapon of its kind anywhere in the world.
Lt Col Bijaykumar Rawat was born in 1955. He enlisted into the Brigade of Gurkhas in October 1972. He was commissioned in 1981 from the Royal Academy Sandhurst and was awarded the Sword of Honour. He spent some time in the United Kingdom and returned to regimental duty in Hong Kong in March 1972 as a company commander and served with the 10 Gurkha Rifles. He was appointed Second-in- Command of the 1st Battalion in August 1994 to September 1995 and returned as Commanding Officer on December 8, 1995.
End
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.