Khudadad Khan
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Khudadad Khan VC (20 October 1888 - 8 March 1971) was the first Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the first native-born Indian to win the VC. Khan later achieved the rank of subedar. Khudadad Khan hailed from village Dub in Chakwal District of the Punjab Province of present day Pakistan. He belonged to the famous Mair-Minhas, Muslim Rajput tribe of Punjab.
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He was a 26-year old Sepoy in the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, Indian Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 31 October 1914 at Hollebeke, Belgium, Sepoy Khudadad Khan was in the machine-gun section of his battalion and was working one of the two guns. The British officer in charge of the detachment was wounded and the other gun was put out of action by a shell. Sepoy Khudadad Khan, although himself wounded, continued working his gun after all the other five men of the detachment had been killed. He was left by the enemy for dead, but later managed to crawl away and rejoin his unit.
[edit] References
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- VCs of the First World War - 1914 (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)
[edit] See also
- Darwan Sing Negi, another Indian VC recipient
