Military Cross for hero Gurkha who was shot and hit by a grenade... then took on Taliban gunmen armed with only his ceremonial Kukri
- Tuljung Gurung fought desperately to protect his comrades
- He used traditional knife to slash attacker, forcing him to flee
- Other soldiers were decorated for extraordinary bravery
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Heroic: Rifleman Tuljung Gurung, of the Royal
Gurkha Rifles, who has been awarded a military cross after fighting off a
Taliban terrorist with his kukri, a traditional Gurkha knife
Rifleman Tuljung Gurung tackled the gun-wielding insurgents armed only with his razor-sharp traditional Nepalese blade and forced them to flee.
Incredibly, the soldier - now an acting Lance Corporal - battled them despite being dazed after a bullet smashed directly into his helmet and he was knocked down by shockwaves from an enemy hand grenade which he threw to safety when it landed next to him.
Now the modest 28-year-old has won the third highest gallantry award for his courage in Afghanistan.
Acting L/Cpl Gurung received the Military Cross for stopping the extremists from reaching sleeping British soldiers in the Helmand compound.
Top brass said his selfless bravery had prevented a ‘potentially catastrophic loss of life’.
He is among 117 servicemen and women who received awards in the operational honours list, published today.
Most of the honours go to troops who served with 4 Mechanized Brigade in Helmand between October last year and April.
Acting L/Cpl Gurung, who serves with the Royal Gurkha Rifles, was on duty at Patrol Base Sparta, in Nahr-e Seraj, at 4am on March 22 when he spotted two Afghans running towards his sangar, or watchtower.
When he challenged them to stop, the insurgents opened fire with an AK47 assault rifle.
One of the rounds struck him on the helmet, knocking him to the ground. Groggily getting to his feet, he saw a grenade bounce into the tower.
Fearing it would explode, the married Gurkha picked it up and hurled it away a split-second before it detonated, the force of the blast throwing him to the floor.
But as the dust and debris settled, Acting L/Cpl Gurung came face-to-face with one of the Taliban who was climbing into the 3 metre high sangar.
L/Cpl Gurung drew his 18inch kukri and tenaciously took on the insurgent in hand-to-hand combat
Lacking room to aim his rifle, the soldier drew his 18inch kukri and tenaciously took on the insurgent in hand-to-hand combat.
During the fight, the pair plunged to the ground outside the base. In a life-or-death struggle, Acting L/Cpl Gurung continued to lash out with the blade.
He said: ‘He was quite a bit bigger than me. I just hit him in the hand, body, I just started to hit him.
‘I just thought, “I don’t want to die. If I am alive I can save my colleagues”.
‘I thought, “Before he does something I have to do something”. I was like a madman.’
Faced with his ferocity, the Taliban turned and fled. Acting L/Cpl Gurung’s citation said he had displayed the ‘highest levels of gallantry and courage’.
Cpl Josh Griffiths of the Mercian Regiment,
left, was given the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for saving his comrades
despite having a broken back and Marine Craig Buchanan, right, won a
Military Cross for 'inspirational bravery' when two comrades were
murdered in cold-blood by two rogue Afghan policemen
Corporal Josh Griffiths ‘saved the lives of his wounded comrades’ when he repelled a Taliban suicide mission on March 25 - despite having a broken back.
The 24-year-old, of the 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment (Cheshire), suffered the injury when an insurgent drove a truck packed with explosives at Patrol Base Folad in Nad-e Ali, blasting a 40-metre hole in the perimeter wall.
Cpl Griffiths, from the Wirral, Merseyside, was about to tuck into his evening meal, when the enemy struck.
‘The next thing I remember it was dark, I was on my back and one of the lads was screaming,’ he said.
Despite wearing no body armour, Cpl Griffiths grabbed a light machine gun, charged forward and opened fire on the insurgents who were less than 50metres away.
He also suffered an eye injury during the battle. But his heroism stopped the 30 Taliban and allowed casualties to be evacuated.
Flight Lieutenant Chris Gent, 31, from Swanage,
Dorset, risked his life by flying a Chinook through fog so thick
visibility was only 30metres to save a severely-wounded Afghan soldier.
File picture
Cpl Griffiths, awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross - one level below the Victoria Cross - said: ‘It is a great honour to be recognised but we lost someone that day and I’d rather him be alive and not have the medal.’
Royal Marine Craig Buchanan, 26, won a Military Cross for ‘inspirational bravery’ when two comrades were murdered in cold-blood by two rogue Afghan policemen.
He was part of an eight-man patrol in Nahr-e Saraj last October when the traitors opened fire, killing Corporal Channing Day, 25, and Corporal David O’Connor, 27.
Unsighted because of the swirling dust, Marine Buchanan, who lives in Exmouth, Somerset, restrained from firing for fear of mistakenly hitting a comrade. ‘That is the ultimate soldier’s nightmare,’ he said.
But displaying nerveless bravery, he manoeuvred to stand in the line of fire between the remaining gunman and the stricken troops. He then shot the gunman dead.
His citation reads: ‘Buchanan’s quick thinking and bravery saved lives and prevented a difficult situation from escalating.’
RAF Flt Lt Christopher Gent received a Queen's Commendation for Bravery in the Air
Warrant Officer Class One Andy Peat won a George Medal for risking his life by covering a booby-trap bomb with his body to try to save a wounded comrade.
The 39-year-old bomb disposal expert, from 33 Engineer Regiment, bravely used himself as a human shield to protect rescuers from triggering the improvised explosive device (IED).
He braced himself just a foot above the explosive so stretcher-bearers could evacuate the Danish casualty without accidentally treading on it.
Flight Lieutenant Chris Gent, 31, from Swanage, Dorset, risked his life by flying through fog so thick visibility was only 30metres to save a severely-wounded Afghan soldier.
The married airman receives a Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Air for piloting the Chinook helicopter in ‘abysmal’ weather last December.
The conditions were so atrocious that all other flights to and from Camp Bastion had been grounded.
But the pilot, of 27 Squadron, said it would ‘not have been right’ to leave the stricken soldier to die on the battlefield in Helmand’s Upper Gereshk Valley.
Fearlessly flying the aircraft just 20ft from the grounded, often at walking speed, he avoided perilous obstacles including trees, observation balloons and insurgents on the ground.
Flt Lt Gent’s citation commended his ‘skill, courage, calmness and exemplary leadership under significant pressure’.
He said: ‘As we were flying, I was thinking, “It doesn’t get worse than this.” But it was balancing the risk to the crew with that of the life of the casualty.’
SOLIDER GIVEN MC AFTER SAVING WOUNDED COMRADE IN BOMB ATTACK
Cpl Oliver Bainbridge has been awarded the Military Cross
Corporal Oliver Bainbridge has been awarded the Military Cross for a 'display of personal courage, selfless commitment and inspired leadership'.
But the 25-year-old, from the Royal Dragoon Guards, confessed that some of his colleagues have joked that they might not like to stand too close to him in the future, because of his tendency to get blown up.
Cpl Bainbridge was the commander of an armoured Jackal vehicle in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when it was blown up by a IED.
He dragged the driver of the vehicle into a crater made by the bomb when insurgents began firing.
He said: 'I laid on top of him to protect him, he was helpless and couldn't do anything.
'We couldn't even get our heads up out of the crater, the firing was that accurate, it was really close.'
Once other soldiers started returning fire, Cpl Bainbridge organised moving his injured colleague to the relative safety of another vehicle.
He later returned to the Jackal to recover any sensitive equipment, while still being shot at.
The incident, last November, was the third time he has been blown up by an IED - similar incidents happened while he was in vehicles during a previous tour.
'It's inevitable you're going to think "what if?" when you have these near misses but you just have to stop yourself from doing it, because if I carried on thinking like that I wouldn't be able to go out and do my job.'
Cpl Bainbridge, from Retford, Nottinghamshire, said although he shared some of his near misses with girlfriend Georgina James, he had kept his mother sheltered from some of his more dangerous situations.
'When I first told my mum (about the Military Cross) she was angry - she said, "It means you've done something dangerous". She is proud though, both her and my dad are really proud.
'My dad said he couldn't stop shaking for a few hours.'
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