"In Italy on 10 November 1944 a Company of the 1st battalion 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) was ordered to send a fighting patrol on
to Monte San Bartolo, an objective of a future attack. In this patrol
were two scouts, one of whom was Rifleman Thaman Gurung. By skillful stalking both scouts succeeded in reaching the base
of the position undetected. Rifleman Thaman Gurung then started to work
his way to the summit; the second scout attracted his attention to
Germans in a slit trench just below the crest, who were preparing to
fire with a machine gun at the leading section. Realizing that if the
enemy succeeded in opening fire, the section would certainly sustain
heavy casualties, Rifleman Thaman Gurung leapt to his feet and charged
them. Completely taken by surprise, the Germans surrendered without
opening fire. Rifleman Thaman Gurung then crept forward to the summit of the
position, from which he saw a party of Germans, well dug in on reverse
slopes, preparing to throw grenades over the crest at the leading
section. Although the sky-line was devoid of cover and under accurate
machine gun fire at close range, Rifleman Thaman Gurung immediately
crossed it, firing on the German position with his Tommy gun, thus
allowing the forward section to reach the summit, but due to heavy fire
from the enemy machine guns, the platoon was ordered to withdraw. Rifleman Thaman Gurung then again crossed the sky-line alone and
although in full view of the enemy and constantly exposed to heavy fire
at short range, he methodically put burst after burst of Tommy gun
fire into the German slit trenches, until his ammunition ran out. He
then threw two grenades he had with him and rejoining his section,
collected two more grenades and again doubled over the bullet-swept
crest of the hill top and hurled them at the remaining Germans. This
diversion enabled both rear sections to withdraw without further loss. Meanwhile, the leading section, which had remained behind to assist the
withdrawal of the remainder of the platoon, was still on the summit, so
Rifleman Thaman Gurung, shouting to the section to withdraw, seized a Bren gun
and a number of magazines. He then, yet again, ran to the top of the
hill and, although he well knew that his action meant almost certain
death, stood up on the bullet-swept summit, in full view of the enemy,
and opened fire at the nearest enemy positions. It was not until he had
emptied two complete magazines, and the remaining section was well on
its way to safety, that Rifleman Thaman Gurung was killed.
It was undoubtedly due to his superb gallantry that his platoon was able
to withdraw from an extremely difficult position without many more
casualties than were in fact incurred and that some very valuable
information was obtained which resulted in the capture of the feature
three days later. The rifleman's bravery cost him his life."
From Rifleman Gurung's Victoria Cross citation, awarded on February 20, 1945.
May you be at peace,
Brian & Mel
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