NANDARAJ Rai spent nearly 20 years serving Queen and country. Born in Nepal, he joined the Gurkhas at 18. He served ten years in Hong Kong, providing vital communications support for British troops during the Gulf War, and saw duty with peacekeepers in the Balkans.

He earned the right to live in the UK, and in 2005 was granted British citizenship.

His reward for these decades of selfless service? Two years of racist bullying and abuse at the hands of Clifton yobs.

Mr Rai, an instructor at Imphal Barracks, has been subjected to racist taunts and has had stones and eggs thrown at his house by local youths.

What a stain such behaviour is on our city. As Ted Griffiths, president of the York branch of the Royal British Legion, says today, no human being should have to put up with the kind of abuse Mr Rai and his family have been subjected to.

It is all the worse when you consider that Mr Rai has spent his life defending the very freedoms the youths who now taunt him enjoy.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, the one day above all others when we should honour those who fought for Queen and country.

Mr Rai must wonder sometimes what his years of service were for.

Members of Gurkha units may be born far from these shores. But they have always been proud upholders of the very finest traditions of the British army.

The mindless thuggery and bigotry that Mr Rai’s abusers have demonstrated shames us all.

But we hope that this honourable and decent man knows that it is only a tiny minority who hold these views.

To the rest of us, he is as much a hero as anyone who has served in our Armed Forces.