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anti-tank weapon and crawled forward. Despite a broken wrist and two other serious wounds to his right leg and left hand he then moved forward, succeeded in bringing the weapon into action within 30 yards of the enemy tanks, knocking out two of them (a third was taken out by an anti-tank gun). He
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period, sons of the
Shangdarpa clan were expected to serve as monks. He enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1942 at the age of seventeen, as a rifleman in the 1st battalion, 7th Gurkha rifles. The Gurkha regiments were in dire need of manpower and would accept anyone who closely resembled a
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continued forward and used grenades on the tank crews who were trying to escape. Not until he "had killed or wounded them all did he allow himself to be taken back to the
Regimental Aid Post" to have his wounds dressed.
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subject. At that time, however, Gurkha regiments were prepared to accept any recruit who closely resembled a Gurkha and lived near the border of Nepal. Ganju Lama's tribe lived in the kingdom of Sikkim. His name was
323:, on 22 July 1924. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 at the age of seventeen. His parents were both of Sikkimese Bhutia descent and lived in Sikkim, which made him unusual, as he was neither an ethnic Gurkha nor a
401:, retiring in 1968, to become a farmer in Sikkim. He was appointed honorary ADC to the President of India for life. He died at Gangtok following a battle with cancer on 1 July 2000, aged 75.
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A month earlier, during operations on the Tiddim Road, Ganju Lama's yeshggb regiment had surprised a party of
Japanese and killed several of them. He was awarded the
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A memorial in his memory (Ganju Lama War Museum) has been constructed at
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591:"Finally, a statue & museum to honour Sikkim's war hero Ganju Lama"
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The
Gurkhas: The Inside Story of the World's Most Feared Soldiers
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for his part in that action. This award was announced in the
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Obituary of Ganju Lama, VC, The Daily
Telegraph, 3 July 2000
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List of
Brigade of Gurkhas recipients of the Victoria Cross
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After India gained its independence, he joined the Indian
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Indian World War II recipients of the
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295:Gurkha. He is the only Bhutia recipient of the
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557:Press Information Bureau of India - Archive
512:(Supplement). 3 October 1944. p. 4572.
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348:Ganju Lama was nineteen years old, and a
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528:The Daily Telegraph
131:British Indian Army
662:Captain Ganju Lama
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399:11th Gorkha Rifles
330:Gyamtso Shangderpa
258:Gyamtso Shangdarpa
190:11th Gorkha Rifles
43:Gyamtso Shangderpa
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613:References
563:7 February
534:11 January
410:Winchester
393:Later life
311:Enlistment
276:Ganju Lama
84:Allegiance
40:Birth name
25:Ganju Lama
356:, in the
288:etymology
156:1942–1968
600:28 March
595:EastMojo
419:See also
350:rifleman
325:Nepalese
307:forces.
188:India -
114:Service/
707:Gurkhas
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301:British
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602:2021
565:2020
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