THE last surviving Gurkha recipient of a Victoria Cross has died aged 83.
Capt Rambahadur Limbu won the highest gallantry award in 1965 for crawling through enemy fire to rescue two wounded comrades.
His citation said he acted with “complete disregard for the hail of fire” in the Battle of Bau in Borneo after his battalion stormed a machine-gun nest.
It added: “His outstanding personal bravery, selfless conduct, complete contempt for the enemy and determination to save the lives of the men in his fire group set an incomparable example and inspired all who saw him.”
He was a 26-year-old Lance Corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles tasked with attacking a hill-top jungle position.
His team had removed their boots to make less noise as they cut their way through barbed wire defences and crept forward, “like leopards,” he later recalled.
The Queen presented him with the medal at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 1966.
He later said: “I didn’t think I was going to be shot.
“All I cared about was rescuing my friends.”
The Borneo Confrontation ran from 1963 to 1966 due to Indonesia’s opposition to the creation of Malaysia.
Rambahadur is survived by his second wife Punimaya and four sons, according to his granddaughter Ninamma Limbu.
