A NELSON man proudly stepped forward on Monday afternoon to be presented with his grandfather's newly-identified military medals by the Mayor of Nelson, Coun. George Adam.

And behind the dignified ceremony in the Mayor's Parlour in Nelson Town Hall was a trail of detective work that started last year soon after Mustansir Bashir brought the medals to this country from his parent's home in Pakistan.

Mr Michael Sutcliff, welfare officer for the Royal British Legion, Nelson, said: "It was at last year's Remembrance Day parade when this gentleman approached me and asked whether we could find out something about them.

"I didn't know what they were and sent them away to a specialist, to be told they were the African General Service Medal with Somaliland 1902 clasp, the 1914 Star, commonly referred to as the Mons Star, but the one that took precedence and stirred the most interest was the Indian Order of Merit, the oldest gallantry award in the British Empire, which was the highest decoration for bravery for Indian troops and pre-dated the Victoria Cross by 19 years."

The medal is an eight-point silver star with a deep blue enamelled centre, enclosing crossed sabres, surrounded by the legend "Reward Of Valor" and then a silver laurel wreath forming the outer circle. The ribbon is royal blue with a crimson border either side.

Nelson military historian Mr Fred Stringer tracked down Mr Bashir's grandfather's military career to the end of the First World War and told his grandson: "Your grandfather got around a bit."

Allah Rukka Khan enrolled in the Army in December, 1897, and three years later was made a jemadar, the lowest rank of commissioned officer in the British Indian Army, equivalent to a lieutenant.

He served in East Africa between 1902/04 with a company of the Bombay Sappers and Miners and then in France between 1914/5, and was appointed to the Signal Service in 1915.

Gallantry
He was awarded the IOM in February, 1916, while serving with the Lahore Divisional Signal Company, but unfortunately the citation told Mr Stringer no more than it was for "gallantry and devotion to duty while serving with the Indian Army Corps in France and Flanders".

In the whole of the First World War only three awards of the IOM, second class, were made to members of a signal company. Allah Rukka Khan was made up to a subadar (or captain) in January, 1917.

The announcement of the IOM might well have been made while he was in Mesopotamia in 1916/7 - in a place called Basra! Originally regarded as the Indian equivalent of the Victoria Cross, after 1912 and into the 1920s Indian troops could be awarded either the IOM or the Victoria Cross.

The Mayor, who is president of the Nelson branch of the Legion, said: "The Royal British Legion has had the medals cleaned, fitted with new ribbons and mounted. It is my honour and privilege to present them to you in the hope that you will wear them with pride at future Armistice Day ceremonies."

Mr Bashir attended the ceremony with his wife, Dr Yasara Naheed, a general practitioner, and their daughter Isha (6) and son Ariyaan (18 months), together with his nephew, Talha Faisal (5).

Mr Bashir, whose parents live near Gujrat, spoke of his pride in his grandfather's military honours and said he would wear them to future Remembrance Day services and hoped that his children would also do so one day.

There was one riddle that needed solving.

Surely, Allah Rukka Khan must have been his great-grandfather, not his grandfather?

Mr Bashir said: "He was my grandfather. My father, Bashir Ahmed, married twice. I am from his second family and today he is nearly 100 years old. My mother kept the medals, paperwork, and photographs of Allah Rukka Khan in uniform wearing them for all these years."

The Royal British Legion is asking other Pendle Pakistani, Kashmiri and Indian heritage families, whose forefathers served with the Allies in two world wars, to contact Mr Sutcliff on Nelson 618751.

Also at the ceremony were the chairman of the Nelson Royal British Legion, Mr Robert Savage, branch secretary and treasurer Janice Taylor, members Mr Arthur Bell and Coun. Tony Beckett, and Mr Sutcliff's wife, Christine.

14 July 2006

Source: Nelson Leader,   UK