News of the successful outcome of the Gurkhas' campaign to settle in the UK brought particular pleasure to one old Monmouth soldier (writes Mary Hughes)
Captain Tom Moran, who lives at Elstob Way, has no doubt that it is thanks to the Gurkhas that he is alive today.
"They saved my life on two occasions," he says.
Tom, who is now 86, was serving with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War when he was seconded to serve with the Royal Indian Engineers in the Far East.
The company he was based with was an organisation called CRE456 Forward Airfield Airstrips whose task was to create forward airstrips for RAF fighters to use in the Arakan area of Burma.
Then a Lieutenant, Tom was leading a detachment engaged in creating an airstrip called "George" on a beach.
"We were in the process of creating the airstrip when the Japanese came over the Arakan Mountains and got to the sea behind us, so we were cut off.
"Then the Gurkhas came and they attacked the Japanese as they came across the sea," said Tom. "It was known as the The Battle of the Admin Box. The Gurkhas came and relieved us. They broke into the Japanese lines and defeated the Japanese and we got away with it. "
The second occasion that Tom had cause to be grateful to the Gurkhas came immediately after the war ended when his company was posted to Northern Malaya, where the Chinese Communists were endeavouring to take over the country.