Author: AFP
Publication: Channelnewsasia.com
Date: June 2, 2011
URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1132687/1/.html
A Nepalese soldier in the British army was
given a top bravery award by Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday for his heroics
in Afghanistan, where he single-handedly saw off more than 30 Taliban fighters.
Corporal Dipprasad Pun, 31, said he thought
he was going to die and so had nothing to lose in taking on the attackers
who overran his checkpoint.
He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
(CGC), which is given in recognition of acts of conspicuous gallantry during
active operations against the enemy.
Pun fired more than 400 rounds, launched 17
grenades and detonated a mine to repel the Taliban assault on his checkpoint
near Babaji in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, last September.
Surrounded, the enemy opened fired from all
sides and for 15 minutes Pun remained under continuous attack, including from
rocket-propelled grenades and AK47 guns.
At one point, unable to shoot, he used his
machine gun tripod to knock down a militant who was climbing the walls of
the compound.
Two insurgents were still attacking by the
time he ran out of ammunition, but he set off a Claymore mine to repel them.
Pun was given his medal in a ceremony at Buckingham
Palace in London.
The CGC is second only to the Victoria Cross
- the highest honour for bravery in the face of the enemy.
"There wasn't any choice but to fight.
The Taliban were all around the checkpoint. I was alone," he said.
"I had so many of them around me that
I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I'd kill as many of them
as I could before they killed me.
"After that I thought nobody can kill
us now - when we met the enemy I wasn't scared."
Britain's Major General Nicholas Carter, who
was commander of allied forces in southern Afghanistan during Pun's deployment,
praised his efforts.
"The CGC does not get handed out lightly.
It was a most remarkable achievement," he said.
