Forgotten Heroes

It may have happened over 67 years back, but the fortitude shown by Indian troops during the initial reverses of the Burma campaign in 1942 shall remain etched in history. The episode described herein is completely true and serves to teach us what courage is all about.
It happened on Jan 31, 1942, during the evacuation of Moulmein, in Southern Burma. A British brigade was desperately withdrawing by river steamers full of wounded men, under fire from the Japanese who were by this time advancing on the jetties. On this day, the men of Number Two Section, 60 Fd Coy of the Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners, under Capt Alan Jardine, a British officer, and Jemadar Malligarjunan, carved their place in history. Having completed their demolition tasks in the face of the advancing Japanese, these intrepid Sappers were told their orders, “Keep those bloody Japanese off the jetty!” The Madras Sappers carried out the order to the last alphabet. As the last boat from Moulmein cast off, pursued by mortar and artillery fire, Capt Jardine and his men occupied defences on the water's edge. The defences were yet another tribute to the ingenuity of the Madras Sappers, consisting of a vulnerable breastwork of rolls of bedding! From behind these flimsy fortifications the Sappers kept up a withering fire on the advancing Japanese. During this battle Capt Jardine was badly wounded in the shoulder. But his section was not leaderless, for Jemadar Malligarjunan, displaying soldierly qualities that even he did not know he possessed, so inspired his Thambis that the Japanese were effectively prevented from reaching the jetty-the last boat from Moulmein owed its escape entirely to Malligarjunan and his gallant Sappers....
As the afternoon lengthened into evening, the last defenders of Moulmein realised that no boats were coming back for them. Equally obviously, they could not hold up the enemy indefinitely. Having nowhere else to go, they took refuge underneath the jetty. Above their heads, as they crouched in uncomfortable proximity to each other and the water, they heard the crash of Japanese boots, shouted orders and the roar of mortar bombs- the enemy had mounted their mortars right overhead on the jetty to fire on the retreating Brigade! Jemadar Malligarjunan did some quick thinking: the Thambis had done their share of fighting for the time being; now it was time for them to use some of their technical skill. He rapidly put his men to work on building a raft from petrol barrels and baulks of wood. Under the very noses of the Japanese, some swimming and some pushing, this gallant party escaped and reported back at Brigade HQ with their Capt Jardine, weapons and equipment intact. It was heroism in the truest sense, meriting the highest recognition. Unfortunately, this episode along with Jemadar Malligarjunan and his 24 men passed into the dusty pages of history. Let us remember them, over a half century later; and remember them well. For the ideal that they fought for and lived up so well to is the same ideal that remains the keystone of Sappers even today- “First in, Last out”.