AN honorary Gurkha who served alongside the crack unit in the steaming jungles of South East Asia has called for better treatment for his former comrades in arms.

Ken Duncan, aged 74, of St John’s, in Worcester, donated two pints of blood to a Gurkha soldier injured in an ambush during the Malayan Emergency of the 1950s.

His life-saving effort was recognised and he was later presented with a kukri – the Gurkha’s signature curved bladed weapon.

Mr Duncan, of St Clement’s Close, has now lent his voice to a national campaign against what he called the “disgraceful” treatment of retired Gurkha soldiers by the Government.

He said: “These guys who have served, some for years in the British Army, have not been allowed to stay in the country when so many others are allowed citizenship. Which other former colony has been more loyal to this country?”

Actress Joanna Lumley is heading the high-profile Gurkha Justice movement for better rights for retired servicemen who served and continue to serve in the British Army.

In September the campaigners celebrated a High Court ruling against the Government’s unlawful treatment of retired Gurkhas and continues to fight for full UK settlement rights for all the unit’s former troops.

Mr Duncan served as a National Serviceman with the 11th Hussars during the jungle fight against communist insurgents in what is now modern day Malaysia.

When his unit came across a seriously injured Gurkha soldier on a jungle road, they took him and another wounded comrade to the nearest hospital and Mr Duncan’s uncommon B positive blood type was the only match in the area.

He said: “In Malaya, the communists used to say the British soldiers were slow and noisy, the Fijians fast and noisy and the Gurkhas fast and silent.

“On a training exercise they slipped in through our lines and when we turned around they were behind us, just grinning.”

The Gurkhas, hailing from Nepal, in Asia, have served the British Army for more than 200 years, establishing a reputation as loyal and highly effective soldiers.

Mr Duncan, who later worked in the textiles industries in Africa, had the kukri stolen 36 years later in South Africa when he moved house.

For more information about the campaign visit gurkhajustice.org.uk or e-mail info@gurkhajustice. org.uk