Sir, My father, Frederick Arnell, who died 30 years ago this October, served in the Royal Artillery in Burma during the Second World War (“Gurkhas protest over right to settle in the UK”, Sept 16). He was decorated with the Burma Star, as were all those in the regiments sent there, in recognition of the outstanding sense of duty the men must have shown faced with that terrible conflict.

Not a man given to rhetoric or fancifulness, he rarely talked about the war, except to recall happy moments with his comrades and to remember their passing. Nearly everyone he joined up with never returned, so fierce was the conflict out there. He was enormously grateful to the Gurkhas who fought alongside him, and often said he owed them his life. He would have been terribly ashamed that the Government could mistreat Gurkhas in this discriminatory way.

As a free British nation we owe a great debt to these courageous, loyal and deserving people. It is not right or just that we should reject our friends and bring dishonour to their great name.

Paula Arnell

London N3

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