A rare courage: Celebrating the three Victoria Cross winners in World War II | The Indian Express

A rare courage: Celebrating the three Victoria Cross winners in World War II | The Indian Express

Written by Ashok K Mehta |Updated: November 9, 2019 9:10:23 am

The writer is an Indian Army Gorkha regiment officer and has known Nepal since 1959

A rare courage: Celebrating the three Victoria Cross winners in World War II

Gorkhas have a flair for risk taking as many are not familiar with danger. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw once famously said: “Anyone who says he does not know fear is either lying or a Gorkha”.

In World War II, the Indian army saw action on fronts ranging from Italy and North Africa to East Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. (Express Archives/Representational photo)

Winning a Victoria Cross — the highest gallantry award an Indian soldier could get before Independence, like the Param Vir Chakra today — is a rarest of rare events. It is born out of a conjugation of stars when audacity, temerity and daredevilry combine with luck to make ordinary mortals perform feats of battle-madness in the face of extreme risk, and the enemy. Gorkhas have a flair for risk taking as many are not familiar with danger. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw once famously said: “Anyone who says he does not know fear is either lying or a Gorkha”.