Kukri knife presented to Petty Officer J A Draper by Lance Corporal R Limbu, VC, 2/10 Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles

Traditional Gurkha kukri knife with heavy inwardly curved single-fullered steel blade with the traditional kauda notch at the base. The formed horn handle has a simple raised band design cut into the middle and finishes in a flared butt - the whole handle is coloured black. It is finished with a brass ferrule at the blade end and a brass bolster at the butt end, with the end of the blade visible in the centre.

The blade is stored in a black sewn goatskin scabbard with a pointed brass end cap. It also stores two smaller blades - the karda (a small knife) and the chakmak (a blade burnisher and flint striker), both fitted with simple hardwood handles. The scabbard is fitted with a separate belt frog with adjustable belt loops secured by traditional British brass posts.

Gurkha kukri presented by Lance Corporal Ram Bahadur Limbu, a Victoria Cross winner, to Petty Officer John Alfred Draper in the early 1980s. Draper volunteered for service with the Royal Navy on 11 May 1940 under service number PMX501806, and saw service in Combined Operations off the French coast and in Asian waters.

After training, Draper appears to have spent a deal of time with HMS Quebec at Inveraray, Scotland which was the site of the newly-established No 1 Combined Training Centre (1 CTC). The Centre was founded in October 1940 to develop training and procedures for a combined operations amphibious landing which eventually became Operation Overlord. HMS Quebec was actually located a few kilometres south of Inveraray and provided vessels for training and the crew to operate them.

The centre began to be closed down in July 1944 after the successful D-Day landings. Training was provided for commandos, assault groups to brigade level, formation training, beach signals, inter-service communications, port operating companies and the myriad of details which could only be realised through practical experience. While no documentary evidence has yet been presented, it appears Draper trained here as a commando

Draper was then transferred to South East Asian Command (SEAC) where, it was hoped, experience of amphibious operations would prove to be vital. Little is known of his service in this capacity, although he was a member of the Burma Star Association, implying he saw service in the Bay of Bengal or on the mainland. His daughter mentions a green beret, commando missions on the Irrawaddy River and associations with Chindits, Draper was released from service on 27 March 1946 and subsequently emigrated to NSW, Australia.

In 1983 he met Lance Corporal Ram Bahadur Limbu, a Gurkha who had won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Bau during the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation of 1962-66. Limbu, a member of 2 Battalion, 10 Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles and aged 26 when the action occurred on 21 November 1965, rushed an entrenched Indonesian position held by over 30 troops at the head of his platoon of 15 men. He killed the sentry but return fire seriously wounded two fellow Gurkhas. Limbu dragged each man to safety under fire over the space of 20 minutes, and returned for the Bren gun which he then used to charge the position, killing many of the enemy.

Limbu often visited Australia in the 1980s and 1990s in his capacity as one of the youngest living Victoria Cross recipient, and was often seen in the company of Australian VC winner, Keith Payne. During their meeting in 1983, Draper was presented with this kukri knife by Limbu, who received Draper's green beret in exchange. Draper died in 1997.