How far we have fallen as exemplified in our method(s) of response to our enemies who seek to destroy our way of life.
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| Hamidullah Khan Burki, Royal Indian Army Volunteer Reserve, 1941 |
Hamidullah Khan Burki, Royal Indian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RINVR), Feb 1943
The voluntary sacrifices of my father's generation during WWII are faded memories for most. Like many of his peers, my father, Hamidullah Khan Burki (November 10, 1920-September 27, 2003), cognizant of the global threat, signed up in the Indian sub-continent to join the Royal Indian Army Volunteer Reserve in '41 right out of Government College. He transferred to the Royal Indian Navy Volunteer Reserve in February of 1943 when it sought volunteers from the Army (officers and ratings) for their new landing craft flotillas.
Having never visited a coast before the war, he served in Burma, where he would later command a flotilla of Landing Craft Mechanized (LCMs) during the Arakan Campaign. He did not know when the war would end, but like his fellow officers had signed up for "the duration." He resigned his commission in 1946 once the war was over and took the uniform off for good. He did not care much for the khakis in peace time. And, it was time to get back to his three passions: hockey, photography and writing.
My father epitomized "the greatest generation" who quietly did their duty, shunned publicity, sought no accolades and certainly no freebies. Like fellow veterans, he just wanted a fair shake at working hard and being rewarded based solely on merit. The example of this fading generation offers us much wisdom from their own sacrifices and suffering. Will we/do we pay heed?
The Burma theater was the "forgotten war" of WWII.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Campaign_1944
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1168185/Revealed-The-terrible-suffering-extraordinary-courage-British-WW2-soldiers-fighting-Japanese-Burmese-jungle.html
Below: Hamidullah Khan Burki (Abba) accepting the trophy for the Hockey World Cup in Barcelona in 1950 when he captained the Pakistan team for the first, and last, time before he moved to London to work as a journalist for the Civil and Military Gazette, played hockey, and finessed his photography skills. RIP.
