The following is an eye witness account of the savagery and bravery of Lt. George A. Grains during his last moments as he fought off the Japanese with one arm, in Burma, on March, 19, 1944.
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“We clashed in an area of about 50 square yards on the hilltop and the air was filled with the sound of steel crashing against steel, the screams and curses of wounded men, the sharp crack of revolver and rifle shots, the eerie whine of stray bullets and the sickening crunch of breaking bones.
Everybody slashed and bashed at the enemy with any weapon that came to hand. The Japanese officers wielding their huge swords and the Gurkhas doing sterling work with the kukri.
In front of me I saw a young Staffords subaltern, Lieutenant Cairns, attacked by a Japanese officer who viciously hacked off his arm with a sword.
Cairns shot the Jap point-blank, flung away his revolver and picked up the sword that had maimed him before leading his men on, slashing fiercely at any Jap within his reach.
Finally, he dropped to the ground mortally wounded, but that gallant youngster refused to die until the battle was over. I was able to speak to him before he closed his eyes for the last time. ‘Have we won, sir? Was it all right? Did we do our stuff? Don’t worry about me.’ There is glory in a fight like this. But there is horror in it, too, as young lives are brought abruptly and brutally to an end and young bodies maimed and made useless. Later Cairns was awarded the Victoria Cross; but he never knew it." #hardfuck #ww2 #chindits #uk #stayzero