The Uncrowned King of Cambodia

<p>[Lt Col Edward D (Moke) Murray]... an outstanding officer in the Indian Army and became a Gurkha commander in Malaya. In 1939 he fired the crucial shot that dispersed a strike that threatened the Raj. He became an outstanding leader in the fight against the Japanese in Assam and Burma. He suppressed the Viet Minh in Saigon in 1945 in what can be seen as the start of the Vietnam War. He was Allied Land Commander in Cambodia and supervised the surrender of the Japanese there. In 1953 he was cheered by millions along the eight-kilometre route of Elizabeth II's coronation parade as he marched at the head of the hugely popular Gurkha contingent. But when he died not a single obituary of him appeared apart from a short notice in the Gurkha gazette.</p><p>From Anthony Barnett's Introduction</p><p><br></p><p>What sort of man was 'Moke' Murray this forgotten Achilles of the dying British Empire? He served his King in wars from Waziristan to Burma and helped to shape the future of Indochina. But as this touching and fascinating biography recounts he ended his life in lonely poverty as the Empire itself dissolved and fell out of memory. </p><p>Neal Ascherson novelist reporter and historian</p>