Courageous warrior

i’M sad to have to report the death of Basil Luck, one of the last survivors of the Chindits who served under General Wingate in Burma in 1943-44. His was one of many heroic acts that went unreported in World War ii.

Basil was a corporal in an infantry regiment whose platoon was given the task of clearing a Japanese machinegun emplacement at the top of a hill which was covering an area of advance by Wingate’s forward troops.

By the time they’d reached the halfway mark, the commanding officer and most of the platoon were either dead or disabled. Corporal Luck, though wounded in one leg, was still able to carry on.

on reaching throwing distance, he stood and released the pin of a grenade, lobbing it at the gun emplacement while being shot twice more. the machine- gun post was completely taken out and Corporal Luck painfully reached the top to find all the Japanese gunners dead. He remained there, bleeding profusely, until relieved and evacuated to hospital.

the incident remained unreported officially and he received no acknowledgement of his act but was demobilised due to the severity of his wounds. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

in 1979, he, his wife and family emigrated to san Diego, California, where he passed away last Monday, a hero known only to his family and friends. He was 94.

LESLIE J. PHILIP, London N20.