New film shows brave rescue of Melton First World War soldier

Gurkha: Beneath the Bravery tells the incredible story of Kulbir Thapa, who won the Victoria Cross (VC) – the highest bravery award for British service personnel – for his heroics in the Battle of Loos, in France, in September 1915.

Kulbir came to the aid of Private Bill Keightley, a 19-year-old Melton soldier serving with the Leicestershire Regiment, who had been shot in both legs after going over the top from the trenches.

The Gurkha stayed with Bill in ‘no-man’s land’ all day and through the night before dragging him through the German barbed wire and leaving him in a safer place.

After returning, under heavy fire from enemy guns, and saving two fellow Gurkhas, Kulbir went back for Bill and carried him to safety in broad daylight.

The movie depicts the incredible moment when the Germans stopped, held fire and applauded the selfless action.

Bill’s grandson, Niven Keightley (68), watched the film at a special London screening with wife, Sandra, and he was touched by seeing it all brought to life on the big screen.

Niven, who was close to his grandfather as a child growing up before his death in 1967, told the Melton Times: “It was very emotional watching the film.

“I thought it would just be a couple of minutes on my grandad but it was the whole film that was on about him and the Gurkha who saved him.

"The Keightleys are a very big family and none of us would be here if it wasn’t for him doing what he did.

"I would love to thank the Gurkha if he was still here.”

The film is being screened at Long Field Academy in Melton on Saturday October 8, with all the proceeds from the £10 tickets going to The Gurkha Welfare Trust, a charity which supports former Gurkha servicemen and their families.

Kulbir, who was a 26-year-old Rifleman in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, when he displayed his amazing bravery in the Great War, is played by British Nepalese actor Samir Gurung.

Talented young actor, Stuart Walker, plays Private Keightley, who had to have his legs amputated at the knees because of his wounds.

Surgeons then had to perform another amputation as gangrene set in.

Bill returned to Melton in an age where there was no social security so he had to find work despite his extreme disability.

He used to walk around the town on his hands and became a well known character.

Niven explained: “After the war, he was a cobbler and worked on the shoes in the cellar of his house.

"He was also a bookies runner and used to stand on the street corner selling the bets.

"The police sergeant used to come round and say ‘don’t collect the bets today Bill because there is going to be a raid’. The police would always warn him because they knew what a hero he was.”

Bill married Edith and the couple went on to have 10 children and countless grandchildren.

Niven recalled: “We lived in Queen Street and I used to push grandad in his chair up to the working men’s club.

"He went up there for a pint every dinner time and he was very popular.

“Before school I would go and get him a packet of Polo mints from the shop. I enjoyed spending time with him.”

Bill was born in Hays Cottage on Asfordby Road and his parents then moved into a house where Asfordby Hill School is now.

His father, Norris, moved to the area in the 1870s after taking up a job at Holwell Works after working on the building of the Welland Viaduct.

Bill went to school in King Street in Melton and left when he was 13 to find work. He was working as a crane driver at Holwell Works when he enlisted for war service as a teenager.

His father-in-law was killed in action and his brothers also served in the conflict. One was awarded the Military Cross and went on to become a Beefeater at the Tower of London while another was an RSM in India after the war.

Bill lived in Chapel Street and slept in the downstairs front room because he couldn’t get upstairs and the family later moved to Goodrich Street when the houses were pulled down.

Niven recalled: “I was 13 when grandad died and he didn’t really talk about the war.

“I always remember him sitting on the sofa and everything stopping at 7pm because he always had to listen to The Archers on the radio."

He hopes the new film will eventually be available to much bigger audiences via streaming services such as Netflix.

“I watched Warhorse in the West End and that was brilliant – this film also brings it home to you what soldiers like my grandad went through in that war,” added Niven, whose father, Harold (Bill’s son), passed away in June this year, aged 95.

“It shows the trenches and the fighting and the Gurkha’s bravery and as the credits roll it tells you what happened to the main characters.

"I learned a lot about that terrible war and It was so moving to watch it.”

Kulbir Thapa rejoined his battalion in Egypt early in 1916.

He survived the war and went on to live until the age of 67, passing away in 1956.

His Victoria Cross medal is proudly displayed at the Gurkha Museum in Winchester.