An Incomparable Example
A total of 26 Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Gurkha soldiers and British o cers of Gurkha regiments, one to a Gurkha soldier during the Malayan Emergency.
In what is known as the Borneo Confrontation during the Malayan Emergency, Indonesian military forces clashed with Malaysian and British forces across the borders of Sabah and Sarawak as Indonesia aimed to take these territories from the Malaysian state, and thus control almost the entirety of Borneo.
British forces ran into the problem of limited ability to pursue Indonesian troops across the border. To do so, risked hugely escalating the conflict. To avoid this, approval was given in for clandestine operations where British forces crossed into Indonesian territory under limited circumstances to regain the initiative.
In this context, / Gurkha Rifles received orders in November to dominate a position about , yards within Indonesian territory at Bau.
Lance Corporal Rambahadur Limbu’s Company took the lead and he led the advance, reaching the nearest enemy trench, killing its sentry, and gaining a foothold for a further attack.
The enemy began directing fire onto the trench now held by Rambahadur who left the relative safety of the trench to reposition to a better location.
The noise of gunfire made communication with his platoon commander impossible, and so Rambahadur left his position to return and report his situation.
At this point, Riflemen Kharkabahadur Limbu and Bijuliparsad Rai,were wounded and Rambahadur attempted to rescue them, crawling under machine gun fire until almost able to reach the nearest wounded man.
He realised that only a quick rush would allow a chance to reach them. He rushed forward, reached the first wounded man and carried him back, returning to rescue the remaining soldier.
Through a hail of fire, Rambahadur moved out, firing a series of short bursts, and using what cover was available. After minutes, he reached the second man and ran back carrying him through continuous enemy fire.
Rambahadur returned to the attack, recovering a light machine gun that had been abandoned earlier and gave support for the the last part of the assault, personally killing four more enemy soldiers as they escaped.
Rambahadur’s own account of the action was always self-effacing, simply commenting that he considered it his lucky day when noting the extreme good fortune of his survival, unscathed, from such a dangerous situation.
For his actions, Rambahdur was awarded the VC, it being presented to him by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace on July .
Rambahdur remained in the Army and retired as a Captain in . He died in April , aged . He was the last living Gurkha recipient of the VC.