THE grandson of a Bradford war veteran has shared his poignant message that "in war there is no winner" on the 75th anniversary of VE Day and 25th anniversary of his death.
Thornton's Aamir Mahmood visited his grandfather Afsar Khan's grave yesterday and remembered the war time stories he would tell him as a 10-year-old boy.
Mr Khan served in the British Indian Army during the second world war, fighting against the Japanese in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, and Myanmar, or Burma.
Remembering the tales he shared, Aamir told the Telegraph & Argus: "I remember asking him about the war when I was really young and he said 'In war there's no winner or loser, people die, people lose loved ones'.
"I remember he used to say it was really horrendous times.
"One night they were heavily under attack by their enemies, they lost most of their colleagues in their battalion and only a few of them survived. They fought back bravely for weeks on very little or no ammunition, resisted back and survived on merely dry chickpeas and a canister of water until the back up arrived."
"During that time granddad couldn't communicate with his family back home for months and there were rumours in his village that he may have got martyred in the war.
"His only hope according to him was the Holy Quraan which he had sewn inside his uniform and would regularly recite it whenever he used to get the opportunity.
"He had lived for the Quraan. He was engaged to my grandma. He had his dreams and ambitions. He was looking forward to it but he thought if I die in a battlefield he would have no regrets."
In one incident, the battallion had to retreat and disperse in small groups to make it out of the Burma jungle alive.
"They had to eat leaves and whatever they could get", Aamir said.
When the war finally ended the troops were sent to Japan to be picked up, the home of the people he had been fighting for six years.
They shared meals together and talked instead of shooting one another.
"It was really moving", his grandson recalled.
After the second world war he spent time in the Pakistan army post-partition, later retiring from duty in the early 50s.
He earnt The Burma Star, a medal for his services in British Army in North West Frontier Regiment between 1937 - 1939 and a Pakistan army medal.
Despite the years he spent fighting on the frontline, his grandfather's "dreams and ambitions" did come true.
Mr Khan married his wife and had three sons and three daughters.
The family moved to Bradford in the early 60s when the British government put out a call for labour workers.
After showing his war medals to a potential employer at one of the district's bustling mills, he was told to start work the next day.
He worked in Lister Mill and Drummonds Mill before becoming a textile engineer.
And, Aamir says, if his grandfather was here today he would be "preaching for peace".
"There was no hope for years and years", he added.
"He would be preaching for peace and encouraging the world to become a peaceful place and for everyone."
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