Gurkhas awarded Freedom of Kent honour

The British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas has been granted the Freedom of Kent.

The fighting forcereceived the civic honour at a special meeting of Kent County Council (KCC) on Thursday in recognition of "the distinguished service" it had given the UK over its 216-year history.

One of its battalions, the 2nd Royal Gurkha Rifles, an air assault infantry unit, is based at Shornecliffe Barracks in Folkestone, while The Queen's Gurkha Engineers are at Maidstone's Invicta Park Barracks.

Campaigner Peter Carroll, who fought for five years alongside Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley to win rights for ex-Gurkhas to settle in the UK, said the honour was "richly deserved".

Recruited mainly from the mountain dwellers of Nepal, only the best and toughest rookie Gurkhas make it through selection and training.

Many of the Kent-based ones are stationed in Brunei, where they train and act as a military presence for the sultanate.

Other units in the UK are located in areas such as Aldershot, Belfast, Catterick and Brecon.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the award from KCC is purely an honorary one and does not confer any special privileges, allowances or payment.

The proposal was put forward by the KCC leader Linden Kemkaran, whose son is in the military, and it needed the support of two-thirds of council members to be adopted.

Carrol added that bestowing the honour to the Gurkhas celebrated "not only their exemplary service to this country, but also what they have brought to its cultural, social and economic fabric".

Describing it as "one of the highest honours the county can bestow", KCC chairman, Jeremy Eustace said it acknowledged the brigade's "sacrifice and commitment", as well as its "strong, longstanding relationship with the people of Kent".

"Soldiers and their families are an important part of our communities, and I am delighted we are able to recognise them in this way," he added.

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