Lachhiman Gurung

He loaded and fired one-handed, while his wounded post held.

Lachhiman Gurung was born in Nepal in 1917. He enlisted in 1940 and joined the 8th Gurkha Rifles, serving with its 4th Battalion during the Burma campaign.

On the night of 12–13 May 1945 at Taungdaw, his forward trench guarded a path into the company's position. A large Japanese force attacked, throwing grenades ahead of its assault. Gurung threw two back. A third exploded as he tried to return it, destroying the fingers of his right hand and wounding his arm, face, body and leg. His two companions were also disabled.

He continued loading and firing his rifle with his left hand. For four hours, repeated attacks failed to take the trench. The position remained part of a company defence that held until relief reached it several days later. The bodies counted in front of his section demonstrated the intensity of the fighting, although they cannot all be attributed to his rifle alone.

He received his Victoria Cross at Delhi's Red Fort in December 1945. Gurung lost his right hand and the use of an eye. After further service and the transfer of his regiment to the Indian Army, he returned to farming in Nepal and raised a family.

He later took part in the campaign for Gurkha veterans' settlement rights in Britain. Moving to Hounslow in 2008, he became a freeman of the borough and remained active in the Nepalese and veterans' communities. He died in December 2010 and was buried in Chiswick.

Official Victoria Cross citation At Taungdaw, in Burma, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, on the night of 12th/13th May, 1945, Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung was manning the most forward post of his platoon. At 0120 hours at least 200 enemy assaulted his Company position. The brunt of the attack was borne by Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung's section and by his own post in particular. This post dominated a jungle path leading up into his platoon locality. Before assaulting, the enemy hurled innumerable grenades at the position from close range. One grenade fell on the lip of Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung's trench; he at once grasped it and hurled it back at the enemy. Almost immediately another grenade fell directly inside the trench. Again this Rifleman snatched it up and threw it back. A third grenade then fell just in front of the trench. He attempted to throw it back, but it exploded in his hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his right arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two comrades were also badly wounded and lay helpless in the bottom of the trench. The enemy, screaming and shouting, now formed up shoulder to shoulder and attempted to rush the position by sheer weight of numbers. Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung, regardless of his wounds, fired and loaded his rifle with his left hand, maintaining a continuous and steady rate of fire. Wave after wave of fanatical attacks were thrown in by the enemy and all were repulsed with heavy casualties. For four hours after being severely wounded Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung remained alone at his post, waiting with perfect calm for each attack, which he met with fire at point-blank range from his rifle, determined not to give one inch of ground. Of the 87 enemy dead counted in the immediate vicinity of the Company locality, 31 lay in front of this Rifleman's section, the key to the whole position. Had the enemy succeeded in over-running and occupying Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung's trench, the whole of the reverse slope position would have been completely dominated and turned. This Rifleman, by his magnificent example, so inspired his comrades to resist the enemy to the last, that, although surrounded and cut off for three days and two nights, they held and smashed every attack. His outstanding gallantry and extreme devotion to duty, in the face of almost overwhelming odds, were the main factors in the defeat of the enemy.