The nonagenarian former British army soldier Bhaktapir Senchyuri of Panchakanya VDC -7 said it was a miracle that he came home alive from the battlefield. Senchyuri is one of the very few living eye witnesses to loss of millions of lives and the destruction that took place during the World War II that lasted for six years starting 1939.
Over 60 million people died in the war. Senchyuri thanks the god for saving his life. [break]
Senchyuri was on a visit to Darjeeling where the British army had been recruiting soldiers. ´I was on a Darjeeling tour. Unexpectedly, I was selected and was recruited in the British army. I could not even inform my family about my recruitment in the British forces,´ he said he. ´I had written to them one-and-a-half months after reaching Lucknow in India,´ he added.
In 1944, he fought in Burma against the Axis powers. He informed that in the course of the battle in Burma, his team had fought for three days even without drinking water. ´The incessant gunfire and explosions had almost turned us deaf. But, we did not lose hope,´ said Senchyuri. The living soldiers along with Senchyuri were then air lifted to Chittagong. ´This is one of my most memorable incidents in the battlefield,´ he said.
The British government also conferred on Senchyuri a medal for his bravery during the war.
Senchyuri said his salary when he served with the British forces was IRs 39, which was increased to IRs 200 rupees after the end of the war. He left the British army to return home after the war ended. However, after spending 10 years in home, he once again decided to join army. This time he joined Indian Army in 1956. He now lives a retired life in his home village.
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