Agansing Rai (24 April 1920 – 27 May 2000) was a
Nepalese Gurkha
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India.
The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Go ...
recipient of the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
Commonwealth forces.
Background
He was born in village development Diyale ward no 3 Aapashwara Toll, in the Okhaldhunga district of Nepal.
Victoria Cross
Agansing Rai was a 24-year-old
Naik in the 2nd Battalion,
5th Royal Gurkha Rifles
5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), also abbreviated as 5 GR(FF) is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. It was formed in 1858 as part of the British Indian Army.
The regiment's battalions serve ...
, in the
Indian Army during World War II
The Indian Army during World War II, a British force also referred to as the British Indian Army, began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men.Sumner, p.25 By the end of the war, it had become the largest volunteer army in history, ...
, when he led his section in an attack on one of two posts which had been taken by the enemy and were threatening the British forces' communications on 26 June 1944 near the town of
Bishenpur in the state of
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
Under withering fire Agansing Rai and his party charged a machine-gun. Agansing Rai killed three of the crew. When the first position had been taken, he then led a dash on a machine-gun firing from the jungle, where he killed three of the crew, his men accounting for the rest. He subsequently tackled an isolated bunker single-handed, killing all four occupants. The enemy became so demoralised that they fled and the second post was recaptured.
Further information
He later achieved the rank of
Hon. Captain after serving in the
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
and died in
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
. Agansing Rai's VC group were sold at auction in 2004 and now form part of the
Lord Ashcroft
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, (born 4 March 1946) is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is ...
VC collection in the
Imperial War Museum in London.
News Item
"Agansing Rai's Victoria Cross sold at auction"
See also
*List of Brigade of Gurkhas recipients of the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is a military decoration bestowed on members of the British or Commonwealth armed forces for acts of valour or gallantry performed in the face of the enemy. In the British honours system and those of many Commonwealth n ...
References
External links
Obituary of Agansing Rai, VC, The Daily Telegraph, 30 May 2000''Agansing Rai, VC''
The Times, 30 May 2000. Retrieved on 10 October 2009.
"Nepal"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Agansing
Nepalese World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross
Gurkhas
British Indian Army soldiers
1920 births
2000 deaths
People from Okhaldhunga District
Indian Army officers
Indian Army personnel of World War II
Nepalese expatriates in India
Rai people