From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] GURKHA VC WHO KNOCKED OUT THREE ENEMY GUNS DIES, AGED 81 By Robert Hutton, PA News A courageous Gurkha who was awarded the Victoria Cross after charging down three enemy guns which were wiping out his troops has died, aged 81. Agansing Rai, who was praised for his "magnificent initiative, bravery and leadership" in battle against Japanese forces, died in hospital in Katmandu, the Nepalese capital, on Saturday, his family said. A spokeswoman for the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association said: "He was a very fine, wise man. He was very self-contained and quiet, but he had a wonderful sense of humour and enjoyed life greatly." Agansing Rai was aged 24 and an acting naik - corporal - when his regiment, the Fifth Royal Gurkha Rifles, was fighting to keep the Japanese from crossing from Burma into India during the Second World War. The jungle battles of 1944 involved some of the bitterest fighting of the war, with Japan desperate to punch through into India before the monsoon season began. Their failure is regarded as the turning point of the Burmese campaign. In the midst of this fighting, Rai's company was ordered to recapture two outposts that had been overrun by the Japanese. As they approached the first, they were pinned down by heavy machine gun and artillery fire, and began taking heavy casualties. Realising that the gun had to be taken out as quickly as possible, Rai led his men directly across 80 yards of ground to the machine gun, and killed three of the four soldiers manning it himself. With the first outpost overrun, Rai and his men charged at a .37 mm gun firing on them from the jungle. All but three were killed before they reached halfway, but they gained their target and wiped it out. Finally, as the battle culminated in an advance on the second outpost, Rai, with a grenade in one hand and a submachine gun in the other, single-handedly assaulted a bunker that was inflicting heavy casualties on his fellow soldiers, killing all four occupants. Rai's Victoria Cross citation described his "calm display of courage and complete contempt for danger" and added: "Rai's magnificent display of initiative, outstanding bravery and gallant leadership so inspired the rest of the company that, in spite of heavy casualties, the result of this important action was never in doubt." After the war Rai became a captain in the Indian Army. He had three daughters and two sons. He visited Britain regularly, most recently in April last year, to meet with other veterans. His eldest son, Lt Col Rewati Rai, said he died on Saturday in hospital in Katmandu, a few days after returning from New Delhi, where he had been receiving treatment. He said: "We brought him back to Nepal after the doctors in New Delhi suggested we discontinue radiotherapy and chemotherapy." The family is waiting for Rai's youngest son to arrive from Hong Kong for the funeral, which will be at their home in Dharan, 250 miles from Katmandu. Ten Gurkhas won Victoria Crosses - the British army's highest distinction for valour - during the Second World War. The Nepalese soldiers have served Britain for 200 years and have a fearsome reputation, helped by the 13-inch curved kukri knives they carry into battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It says quite a lot about the quality of today's journalist (present company excepted) that we see mistakes like Rai and his men charged at a .37 mm gun firing on them from the jungle so often. Kenneth Pantling Whatever happens they have got The Maxim Gun, and we have not. -------[Cybershooters contacts]-------- Editor: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website & subscription info: www.cybershooters.org
