GURKHAS AT TUMBLEDOWN

Falklands veteran Mike Seear discusses his experience serving with the 7th Gurkha Rifles

It is an extremely cold night on a barren, snow-covered hill in the South Atlantic. Artillery shells explode among riflemen as they climb upwards, but these are no ordinary troops. Although they hail from a small country in the Himalayas, they are the British Army’s crack warriors – the Gurkhas. Armed with rifles and fabled kukri knives, they are about to take the hill’s northeast spur from Argentine forces during the remote but bloody Falklands War. Afterwards, they will line up to take another occupied hill before overall victory is secured. The question is – will the enemy continue to resist these fearless soldiers?

The Gurkhas’ story during the conflict has been relatively forgotten but their very presence spread fear among the enemy. Accompanying them all the way in 1982 was a 35-year-old British officer – Major Mike Seear. Seconded to the 1st Battalion, 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles, Seear deployed with these elite troops on East Falkland and describes a campaign of intense bombardments, low supplies, advancing uphill to battle and the extraordinary soldiers he served with.

Joining the Gurkhas

Seear spent part of his childhood (1954-57) in Kuala Lumpur during the twelve-year long Malayan Emergency. His father was an RAF Wing Commander and WWII Malta veteran who had seconded to the Special Branch of the Malayan Police.

This became his son’s introduction to the Gurkhas, “Father would go into ambushes with the Gurkhas and his job was to interrogate captured Communist Terrorists. I remember him telling me one day, ‘Well my son, I’m going out into the jungle today for an ambush’. He showed me his Browning 9mm pistol with an ammunition clip.”

Seear subsequently attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned as an officer in 1968. During the 1970s, he joined The Light Infantry and served for a total of 22 months in Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’. He was also stationed in Hong Kong during 1976 where he came into closer contact with the Gurkhas, “That’s where I thought a secondment with the Brigade of Gurkhas would be worthwhile and decided to apply in 1981.”

Seear succeeded and was seconded to

1st Battalion, 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles as their Operations and Training Officer, “The appointment was essentially the right-hand staff officer of the battalion’s

Major Mike Seear pictured onboard QE2, 12 May 1982. His shoulder epaulette reads ‘7GR’ for the 7th Gurkha Rifles A view of both Tumbledown and Mount William. Two battles were planned to be fought on both hills although the Gurkhas’ reputation ensured that only one had to be fought on Tumbledown