Lake Phewa near Pokhara, Nepal, where John Cross made his home after retirement.
john cross, born 1925
SOLDIER & AUTHOR
Lieutenant Colonel John Cross served in the Army for just over 39 years of which nearly 38 years were in Asia without a European (including UK) posting. He spent ten years in the jungle during his service. As a linguist, he is fluent in Urdu, Cantonese, Malay, Temiar, Thai, Vietnamese, Lao and Iban. He carried out a number of special tasks, one being to make contact with the Communist Terrorist Leader, Chin Peng, at the end of the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s by waiting in a small jungle clearing for several months. He commanded the Jungle Warfare School in Malaya, and was Defence Adviser in Laos. He has written several books and has lived for many years in Pokhara, Nepal, where he has adopted a Nepali family.
Click below to view his life story:
Source: A re-formatted transcript of an interview by Prof. Alan Macfarlane, reproduced with the permission of John Cross and Prof. Macfarlane in 2020.