Major Rutoo Mody RIP

Kyt · Oct 2, 2008

Obituary: Rutoo Mody | From the Guardian | The Guardian

My grand-uncle, Major Rutoo Mody, has died aged 89. His death was first announced in 1944, when he was an officer in the 6th Rajputana Rifles ("Raj Rif" for short), a regiment of the British Indian army. During the second world war Raj Rif fought gallantly at Monte Cassino in central Italy, and in Burma and north Africa.

During the assault on Hangman Hill at Monte Cassino on March 18-19 1944, thousands of troops were killed, many of whom were Gurkhas and Indians. The battles were ferocious, on terrain that was unforgiving and in conditions that have been likened to those of the western front during the first world war. Despite his later claim that he had "never caught a cricket ball in his life", Rutoo caught a grenade that was thrown at his battalion. As he hurled it back, the grenade exploded. His compatriots were saved but many of his fingers were severed.

Rutoo's senior officer then fell in the charge, so he took over. When a soldier close by stepped on a land-mine, shrapnel flew into Rutoo's face and head. He fell to the ground, unconscious and dreadfully wounded. When allied command ordered the regiment to retreat, Rutoo was left where he had fallen.

The British commanding officer wrote home to inform our family in Bombay that he was "missing, believed killed in action" and that his last known act had been one of bravery. Prayers were said and death rites conducted at the Parsi Towers of Silence in Bombay, despite the absence of a body over which to grieve.

Some years later, the doorbell rang at my grandparents' home and in walked Rutoo, to everyone's shock and surprise. My grandmother recalled that his first words to her were: "Now tell me, which of the pretty girls cried at my funeral?" His face was badly disfigured, his hands were maimed, he had lost an eye and his hearing was badly impaired.

He spoke only rarely about what happened to him after the regiment withdrew. It transpired that he was well cared for initially, but as he was taken further behind enemy lines, the treatment got worse. However, he lived his life bearing no grudges.

In later years, we would often see his handsome figure striding down Colaba Causeway in Bombay (now Mumbai), in his crisply starched white cotton shirt and knife-edge creased white trousers, drawing sharply on a cigarette clutched between his thumb and index finger. He never married, though we believe he was in love with my grandmother's younger sister, as she was in love with him. She had stayed unmarried and waited for his return. Why this union never happened we will never know.
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Antipodean Andy · Oct 2, 2008

A survivor if ever there was one. RIP.

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Major Rutoo Mody RIP

Kyt Άρης

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