Khudadad Khan

Wounded, he kept firing while his comrades fell at Hollebeke

Khudadad Khan was born in 1888 at Dab in the Punjab, then part of British India and now in Pakistan. He joined the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis and served as a sepoy in its machine-gun detachment. At the outbreak of the First World War, his regiment was mobilised for overseas service. It travelled through Egypt to France with the Indian Expeditionary Force, joining the struggle to hold the Allied line in Flanders.

On 31 October 1914, during the First Battle of Ypres, the Baluchis faced a German assault near Hollebeke, Belgium. Their two machine guns helped resist the attack. A shell disabled one gun, and the British officer commanding the detachment was wounded. Although wounded himself, Khan continued working the remaining gun as the other five men of his crew were killed. When the position was overrun, he survived by lying still among the dead and later crawled back to his regiment under cover of darkness. His resistance formed part of the Baluchis' costly stand against the German advance.

The London Gazette announced his Victoria Cross on 7 December 1914. His action was the earliest for which an Indian soldier received the award after eligibility had been extended to Indian officers and men in 1911. Evacuated to Britain, he underwent treatment and convalescence, including at New Milton in Hampshire. Too ill for the earlier intended presentation, he received the Victoria Cross from King George V on 26 January 1915.

Khan continued his military career after recovering. His later service included the North-West Frontier campaign of 1919, and he rose through the Indian officer ranks to Subedar. He eventually retired to the Punjab and farmed land in the Mandi Bahauddin area. His family life included two marriages and children, while his Victoria Cross kept him connected with former comrades and other recipients.

He returned to London for the Victoria Cross centenary celebrations in June 1956 and attended the first Victoria Cross Association reunion at the Cafe Royal in July 1958. He also served as a committee member of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Khan died in Pakistan on 8 March 1971, aged 82, and was buried at Rukhan in the Punjab.

Official Victoria Cross citation London Gazette, 7 December 1914, page 10425

4050, Sepoy Khudadad, 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis.

On 31st October, 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, the British Officer in charge of the detachment having been wounded, and the other gun put out of action by a shell, Sepoy Khudadad, though himself wounded, remained working his gun until all the other five men of the gun detachment had been killed.