Details
Bhandari Ram was born in 1919 at Village Serunia, which was part of Bilaspur State, now District Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh. He was 25 years old, and a sepoy in the 16th Battalion 10th Baluch Regiment, British Indian Army (now Baloch Regiment of Pakistan Army) and fighting against the Japanese Army in the Burmese Campaign during World War II, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:
On 22 November 1944, in East Mayu, Arakan, during a company attack on a strongly held Japanese bunkered position, No. 24782 Sepoy Bhandari Ram was in the leading section of one of the platoons. To reach its objective, his platoon had to climb a precipitous slope, by way of a narrow ridge with sheer sides. When fifty yards from the top, the platoon came under heavy and accurate machine-gun fire. Three men were wounded, amongst them Sepoy Bhandari Ram, who received a burst in his left shoulder and a wound in his leg. The platoon was pinned down by the intense enemy fire.
Bhandari Ram then crawled up to the Japanese machine-gun, whilst in full view of the enemy, and approached to within fifteen yards of the enemy, who hurled grenades at him, wounding him in the face and chest. Undeterred and severely wounded, this sepoy, with superhuman courage and determination, crawled up to within five yards of his objective. He then threw a grenade into the position, killing the enemy gunner and two other men, and continued his crawl to the post. Inspired by his example, the platoon rushed up and captured the position. It was only after the position had been taken that he lay down and allowed his wounds to be dressed. By his cool courage, determination to destroy the enemy at all cost and total disregard for his personal safety, this young sepoy enabled his platoon to capture what he knew to be the key to the whole enemy position. For his outstanding bravery, selflessness and qualities beyond the call of duty, Sepoy Bhandari Ram was awarded the Victoria Cross.
He continued to serve in the post-independence Indian Army from which he retired in 1969 with the rank of Honourary Captain. He died in 2002.
Read more about this topic: Bhandari Ram
Famous quotes containing the word details:
“There was a time when the average reader read a novel simply for the moral he could get out of it, and however naïve that may have been, it was a good deal less naïve than some of the limited objectives he has now. Today novels are considered to be entirely concerned with the social or economic or psychological forces that they will by necessity exhibit, or with those details of daily life that are for the good novelist only means to some deeper end.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“If my sons are to become the kind of men our daughters would be pleased to live among, attention to domestic details is critical. The hostilities that arise over housework...are crushing the daughters of my generation....Change takes time, but men’s continued obliviousness to home responsibilities is causing women everywhere to expire of trivialities.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Then he told the news media
the strange details of his death
and they hammered him up in the marketplace
and sold him and sold him and sold him.
My death the same.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)