Jun 2, 2011
Sergeant Dipprasad Pun, 31, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles holds his Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, after it was presented to him by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in central London. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - A NEPALESE soldier in the British army was given a top bravery award by Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday for his heroics in Afghanistan, where he single-handedly saw off more than 30 Taleban fighters.
Corporal Dipprasad Pun, 31, said he thought he was going to die and so had nothing to lose in taking on the attackers who overran his checkpoint. He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC), which is given in recognition of acts of conspicuous gallantry during active operations against the enemy.
Corporal Pun fired more than 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine to repel the Taleban assault on his checkpoint near Babaji in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, last September. Surrounded, the enemy opened fired from all sides and for 15 minutes Corporal Pun remained under continuous attack, including from rocket-propelled grenades and AK47 guns.
At one point, unable to shoot, he used his machine gun tripod to knock down a militant who was climbing the walls of the compound. Two insurgents were still attacking by the time he ran out of ammunition, but he set off a Claymore mine to repel them.
Corporal Pun was given his medal in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. The CGC is second only to the Victoria Cross - the highest honour for bravery in the face of the enemy.
'There wasn't any choice but to fight. The Taleban were all around the checkpoint. I was alone,' he said. 'I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I'd kill as many of them as I could before they killed me. 'After that I thought nobody can kill us now - when we met the enemy I wasn't scared.' -- AFP
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