Iconic Gorkha Rifles set to complete 200 years of service

The much famed and now iconic Gorkha regiment is set to complete 200 years as a force who have served India and the British-ruled Indian forces prior to independence on April 24.According to a report in The Indian Express, the first battalion of the regiment took up arms for the British East India Company at Subathu in Himachal Pradesh on April 24, 1815. The battalion still serves with the Indian army and is now called the First Battalion, the First Gorkha rifles or abbreviated to 1/1 GR.With the event coming up later this week, celebrations are due at Pathankot in Punjab where the regiment is currently stationed according to the report. Bigger celebrations have been reportedly planned later in the year when the entire regiment meets in October. Chief of Army Staffe General Dalbir Singh, once a Gorkha regiment officer himself, will also attend the function.Invitations for the event have also been extended to former Indian and British soldiers who served in the regiment.The Gorkha regiment started out as one but now comprises seven regiments. Of those, the Indian army takes services from the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and the 11th regiments and Gorkha troops also serve in the Rashtriya rifles, Artillery and the Territorial Army units. Read more at: The Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army to turn 200