Three Gurkha Signals units were involved in the Brunei Rebellion and Borneo Confrontation:
• 284 Gurkha Signal Squadron (Dec 62 – Oct 63).
• 247 Gurkha Signal Squadron (Feb 64 – 67).
• Gurkha Independent Parachute Company Signal Troop.
248 Gurkha Signal Squadron
OC – Maj Able Dacre
2IC – Capt Dereck Copeland / Capt Barry Burke
SQGO – Capt (QGO) Motilal Thapa
Tp Comd – Lt Kelvin Kent
Tp Comd – Lt Max Young
248 Gurkha Signal Squadron had to deploy at short notice from its base in Nee Soon in Singapore to Brunei because of the Rebellion in the country. At the time its OC, Maj Able Dacre was on leave in Australia and Captain Hamish Patterson flew in as a temporary replacement until Maj Able Dacre returned. The Foreman of Signals, Bob Stather went ahead with the advance party, the Squadron’s vehicles followed by sea whilst the men flew by RAF Avro Lancaster from RAF Changi. The Squadron’s role was to provide communications support for 99 Gurkha Infantry Brigade, which formed HQ West Brigade Sarawak, there were detachments in Limbang, Bangar, Sandakan, Seria and Kuching. The Squadron spent many months living in crowded and miserable accommodation, many soldiers living in tents before they were able to move into more comfortable huts which had been built by the Gurkha Engineers.
The Squadron provided the means for the Brigade Commander and his staff to communicate with all of their units, providing a route for orders, intelligence information and critical logical requests. These were achieved using radio links to all of the infantry battalion HQs in 99 Gurkha Infantry Brigade. They also manned a Communication Centre (COMCEN) which sent and received messages by teleprinter to a variety of destinations, including back to Singapore. Once received, the printed messages had to be delivered by Squadron personnel, often by road (or on tracks!) using the Signal Dispatch Service. The COMCEN was very much a joint organisation, manned by personnel from the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Signals (from 266 Signal Squadron), Gurkha Signals and the Royal Air Force. Initially the COMCEN used the RN procedure of giving a copy of every message received (known as a signal) to everyone, which meant delivering as many as 3,000 signals a day within the HQ! Up to 740 messages a day were typed up on teleprinters and sent out (probably by HF radio) to various COMCENS supporting other HQs, including in Singapore, Labuan and to the RN and RAF.
Communications to the units within 99 Gurkha Infantry Brigade was by radio on what was known as a Brigade Net, which had 10 outstations on it. As distances were so great to the outstations, these links were all initially by HF radio (on a C11 set) which typically required the use of morse code from early evening through to the next morning, to improve the quality of the links and to allow voice communications throughout the day, the Squadron worked hard to augment this with a VHF network. To do this they had to deploy rebroadcast stations onto mountain tops, manned by Gurkha Signals soldiers and resupplied with food, water, petrol for generators to charge radio batteries and anything else they needed all by helicopter.
247 Gurkha Signal Squadron
OC – Maj John Ridge / Maj Hamish Patterson
2IC – Capt Keith Allwright / Capt Terry Eamry
SQGO – Capt (QGO) Harkabir Gurung
Tp Comd – Lt Andrew Carter / Lt Martin Lance
Lt Comd – 2Lt Sam Cowan
Tp Comd – Lt (QGO) Purnabahadur Gurung / Lt (QGO) Tanghum Limbu
As the situation deteriorated, 247 Gurkha Signal Squadron was recalled from its tour at Tidworth in UK with 51 Gurkha Infantry Brigade and also sent to Borneo to cover the Central Brigade area, which included the eastern half of Brunei and much of Sabah. It was initially located mainly in Brunei Town (now Bandar Seri Begawan), supporting the Brigade HQ in a girls school and with detachments up to 100 miles away; the Squadron’s administrative area was in Seria in Brunei (what was initially the officers mess in Seria became the maternity ward for 2/6 GR!). For quite some time the Squadron provided communications not just for 51 Gurkha Infantry Brigade, but also for the Director of Operation Borneo; it also ran a COMCEN which started working from the girls school in Brunei Town until the Squadron move into Bolkiah Camp.
247 Gurkha Signal Squadron was able to provide radio communications within Brunei Town using VHF, but like their sister squadron they also relied on HF radio for links to their further away detachments. From 1965 they worked extremely hard to establish a VHF network, again by deploying rebroadcast stations onto mountain tops. This started with a trial for 2/6 GR and some clever antenna construction (for the technical, a 3 element yagi was found to be most successful), who wanted a VHF net to improve contact with their company bases. Access to hill tops to set up rebroadcast stations was not always easy or successful and on occasions required arduous treks over difficult terrain. The first high point they used was Murud which is 7,941 feet above sea level (Gunung Murud, the highest peak in the Kelabit Mountains of Sarawak). The next mountain used as a rebroadcast site was Lumutain (Bukit Lumutain, 3,055 feet above sea level, Sabah).
At the conclusion of hostilities, 247 Gurkha Signal Squadron was disbanded, only to be reformed in 1983 in Hong Kong.
Gurkha Signals
The Gurkha signal squadrons each had a British Foreman of Signals who ran a small technical workshop where he and his Gurkha technicians repaired all of the radio equipment for the many units in theatre, usually those within their own brigade. As an example, the 248 Gurkha Signal Squadron workshop is recorded as averaging 200 equipment repairs a month.
Both Gurkha signal squadrons were in relatively comfortable conditions when compared to the infantry and they were not rotated out after 6 months for a rest, Borneo became the permanent base eventually for the Squadrons (not before the Army tried to evict from their married quarters the wives of 248 Gurkha Signal Squadron who remained in Singapore for many months!).
After a while Gurkha Signals supported the Forces Broadcasting service in Sarawak, to do this it had to post in an officer full time (Captain David Jolly), who also ran a weekly programme himself called Pop Inn. Corporal B Stephen, a cipher operator in 247 Gurkha Signal Squadron also doubled as a disc jockey, recording technician and announcer on for the radio station (in the late 1980s the BFBS radio station was run on a voluntary basis by wives).
Gurkha Independent Parachute Company Signal Troop by MPW (Apr 09)
The Gurkha Independent Parachute Company was raised in Malaya on 1 January 1963 to operate in an infantry role to secure an airfield and was deployed in Sarawak to train indigenous tribesmen as Border Scouts. The importance of intelligence and a screen in remote forward areas on the border with Indonesia led to an urgent decision to re-role the company in long-range reconnaissance patrolling to augment the SAS squadrons and the Guards Independent Parachute Company. Radio Operators with high speed morse skills were needed to operate light weight radios on low power output over considerable distances from forward jungle locations for long periods on basic rations.
17th Gurkha Signal Regiment, in addition to providing a large operational deployment of two squadrons to Borneo, responded to the request in June 1964 for a British Officer, a QGO, 28 operators, 2 technicians, 1 technical storeman, 1 clerk and a GD. The company was divided into16 patrols each comprising a Comd, 2 x combat pioneers, 1x medical orderly and a radio operator. The company formed up at the Jungle Warfare School at Ulu Tiram in Johore. After a busy period of parachuting and training on the new radios the company deployed to the Third Division of Sarawak in Borneo in October 1964 for a six-month tour. Captain Paddy Verdon as OC Signal Troop set up the troop and ran communications from the company base in Sibu. Lieutenant Mike Walker deployed with the infantry subalterns as forward coordinator of helicopter support from 845 Naval Air Squadron and later took 6 patrols separately to operate in the Fifth Division. At the end of a successful first tour the company was awarded parachute wings and daily parachute pay. In March 1965 Captain Paddy Verdon handed over the signal troop to Captain Mike Walker who also took on pay and MT.
On return to Malaya Major J P Cross MBE took over command of the company based in Kluang. Under his inspired leadership the company was soon put on a more permanent footing. Stricter training was introduced on individual skills, with more emphasis on fitness and SAS standard selection procedures. Life in the company was exciting and purposeful. Hearing all the battalion dialects of Gurkhali was fascinating and fluency in speaking was essential in daily dialogue. The company returned to Borneo for a further tour in the Fifth Division that included cross border ‘Claret’ patrols.
In spring 1966, back in Kluang again, the company became firmly established by an affiliation to the Parachute Regiment. At a parade on 30 June 1966 the company adopted the Maroon Beret and the Parachute Regiment winged badge on cloth background of rifle green on Brigade of Gurkhas colours.
The company returned again to the Haunted House, former home of the SAS in Brunei, and in August 1966 Captain Mike Walker handed over to Captain Keith Ryding. The company had a direct involvement at the end of operations in Borneo Confrontation and later returned to Malaya to resume a conventional infantry role. Captain Johnny Fielding also commanded the signal troop until 1968 when Gurkha Signals operators were gradually phased out. On withdrawal of the Brigade of Gurkhas from Malaysia to Hong Kong the company finally disbanded on 31 October1971.
The response to an urgent requirement for skilled operators was typical of the proactive nature of the Gurkha Signal Regiment. All members of the troop were volunteers and as an integral part of the company, as parachutists and as individual operators on long range patrols deep in the jungle for long periods and across the border, took pride in becoming part of the history of Queen’s Gurkha Signals.
