332 lines
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332 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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obituaries
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military-obituaries
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gurkha-obituaries
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8199764
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-----
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# Havildar Lachhiman Gurung, VC
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## Havildar Lachhiman Gurung, who died on December 12 aged 92, won the
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Victoria Cross while serving with the Gurkha Rifles in Burma in 1945; in
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recent years he had been a prominent figure in the campaign led by the actress
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Joanna Lumley to allow former Gurkhas to settle in Britain.
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![Lachhiman Gurung ][1]
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Lachhiman Gurung Photo: GETTY
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7:07PM GMT 13 Dec 2010
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[Comments][2]
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At the end of April 1945, the 89th Indian Brigade of 7th Division was ordered
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to cross the Irrawaddy and destroy the enemy north of the Prome-Taungup road.
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By May 9 the Japanese, after a series of desperate attacks, had broken off
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contact and were withdrawing towards the Taungdaw Valley. "B" and "C"
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companies of the 4th/8th Gurkha Rifles were positioned to block their route at
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the village of Taungdaw, on the west bank of the river.
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When the Japanese arrived, the two Gurkha companies were surrounded and their
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lines of communication cut. On the night of May 12, Rifleman Gurung was
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manning the forward post of his platoon almost 100 yards ahead of the main
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company.
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At 1.20am, more than 200 Japanese attacked the company position. The brunt of
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the assault fell on Gurung's section and, in particular, on his post, which
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dominated a jungle track leading up to his platoon's position. Had the enemy
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been able to overrun it and occupy Gurung's trench, they would have secured
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control over the whole of the field before them.
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One grenade fell on the lip of Gurung's trench. He quickly grabbed it and
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hurled it back at the enemy. Almost immediately another grenade came over.
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This one fell directly inside the trench. Again Gurung snatched it up and
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threw it back.
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A third grenade landed just in front of the trench. Gurung attempted to throw
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it back, but it exploded in his hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his
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right arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two
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comrades were also badly wounded and lay helpless in the bottom of the trench.
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The enemy, screaming and yelling, now formed up shoulder to shoulder and
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attempted to rush the position by sheer weight of numbers. Gurung, regardless
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of his wounds, loaded and fired his rifle with his left hand and kept up a
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steady rate of fire.
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The attacks came in wave after wave, but the Japanese were beaten back with
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heavy losses. For four hours Gurung remained alone at his post, calmly waiting
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for each new onslaught, firing into his attackers at point blank range,
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determined not to yield an inch of ground. His comrades could hear him
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shouting: "Come and fight a Gurkha!"
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The following morning, of the 87 enemy dead found in the company's immediate
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locality, 31 lay in front of Gurung's section. The Japanese made repeated
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attempts to break through, but the 4th/8th held out until May 15, when they
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were relieved.
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Gurung later said: "I had to fight because there was no other way. I felt I
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was going to die anyway, so I might as well die standing on my feet. All I
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knew was that I had to go on and hold them back. I am glad that helped the
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other soldiers in my platoon, but they would have all done the same thing."
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Gurung was invested with the Victoria Cross by Lord Louis Mountbatten at a
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parade at the Red Fort in Delhi on December 19 1945. The citation declared:
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"This Rifleman, by his magnificent example, so inspired his comrades to resist
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the enemy to the last that, although surrounded and cut off for three days and
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two nights, they held and smashed every attack. His outstanding gallantry and
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extreme devotion to duty, in the face of almost overwhelming odds, were the
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main factors in the defeat of the enemy." Partiman Gurung, Lachhiman's father,
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then aged about 74, was carried for 11 days from his village in Nepal to
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witness his son being decorated.
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Lachhiman Gurung was born on December 30 1917 at Dakhani village in the Tanhu
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district of Nepal. He enlisted in December 1940 and after completing basic
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training was recruited into the 8th Gurkha Rifles. Of small build (he stood
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just 4ft 11in tall), he was under the minimum height and would not have been
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accepted in peacetime.
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After the action in which he won the Victoria Cross, Gurung was evacuated to
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hospital, but lost his right hand and the use of his right eye. He continued
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to serve with the 8th Gurkha Rifles but transferred to the Indian Army after
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Independence in 1947. He retired in the rank of havildar (the equivalent of
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sergeant) in the same year.
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Gurung married soon afterwards and had two sons and a daughter. Later, after
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the death of his wife, he had two sons from a second marriage.
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He farmed a two-acre plot and owned several buffalo, oxen, goats and cows. In
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1995 the VC and GC Association provided the Gurkha Welfare Trust with £2,000
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donated by the Armourers and Brasiers' Livery Company, and these funds were
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used to build a new house for Gurung and his family near the Gurkha Welfare
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Centre at Chitwan.
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In August 1995 Gurung was received at 10 Downing Street by the Prime Minister,
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John Major, who presented him with a cheque for £100,500 for the Gurkha
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Welfare Trust.
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In 2008 Gurung became closely involved in the campaign to allow Gurkhas to
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settle in Britain. The British government had refused entry to the 2,000
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Gurkhas who had retired before July 1997, the date when their base was moved
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to the UK from Hong Kong.
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Five claimants -- including a Falklands veteran, Lance-Corporal Gyanendra Rai;
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a Gulf War veteran, Birendra Man; and a Gurkha widow -- launched a legal
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challenge, supported by Lachhiman Gurung and a fellow winner of the VC,
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Honorary Lieutenant Tul Bahadur Pun, then aged 87. Both men had been told that
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they would not be allowed to settle here because they had failed to
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"demonstrate strong ties" to the UK.
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In the High Court in September 2008, however, Mr Justice Blake said that the
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policy should be reviewed, referring to the "Military Covenant undertaken by
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every British soldier by which, in return for their pledge to make the
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ultimate sacrifice, they are promised value and respect". He added: "Rewarding
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distinguished service by the grant of residence in the country for which the
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service was performed would be a vindication of this covenant." As the judge
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rose after his ruling, Gurkhas and their supporters shouted their battle cry
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"Ayo gorkhali".
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In May 2009 the government announced that all Gurkha veterans who retired
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before 1997 with at least four years' service would be allowed to settle in
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Britain. Even as this victory was secured, however, Gurung was appealing to
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the Queen and the Prime Minister for his 20-year-old granddaughter, Amrita,
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who had been facing deportation, to be allowed to stay in Britain to care for
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him.
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"I have paid a great price for Britain," Gurung said, "but I do not complain
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as I love this country as much as I love my family. However, in my last days I
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ask Her Majesty the Queen to help by allowing my granddaughter to be with me
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and at my side." The Home Office relented, and granted her permission to stay.
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In 2008 Gurung had settled at Hounslow, to which he was formally welcomed at a
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ceremony led by the mayor and the council; he was later made a Freeman of the
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Borough. He attended many functions of the Nepalese communities in Hounslow
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and elsewhere, and was honorary vice-president of the Chiswick branch of the
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Royal British Legion. He had recently moved into the Chiswick War Memorial
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Homes.
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Lachhiman Gurung attended this year's Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the
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Centotaph, and was also present at last month's VC and GC Association reunion
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in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
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One of Gurung's sons subsequently became an officer in the 8th Gurkha Rifles.
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His second wife, Manmaya, survives him with his five children.
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Telegraph
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## [Gurkha Obituaries][8]
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* ### [Obituaries »][9]
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* ### [Military Obituaries »][10]
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* ### [Army Obituaries »][11]
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In news
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[![Lachhiman Gurung ][12] ][13]
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### [Havildar Lachhiman Gurung, VC][13]
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[![Bhanubhakta VC][14] ][15]
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### [Bhanubhakta Gurung, VC][15]
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[![Agansing Rai][16] ][17]
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### [Agansing Rai, VC][17]
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[![Gaje Ghale][18] ][19]
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### [Captain Gaje Ghale, VC][19]
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[![Ganju Lama][20] ][21]
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### [Ganju Lama, VC][21]
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