JALANDHAR: His courage and valor took him places that he could not even have dreamed of when he joined the British Indian Army in 1938. But the only living Victoria Cross recipient in north India today, Captain Gian Singh now battles for life in a comatose condition in Jalandhar Military Hospital. In fact, the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital has been his home since July, 1995 when he suffered a severe para lytic attack after the death of his wife. The love and care of his family and brothers-in-arms did help Gian Singh regain his mental faculties and partial movement but on September 12, he suffered a massive attack and the once formidable ‘Mad Naik Gian Singh’, a legend in the annals of valor is now reduced to shadow of his former self.
On the night of March 2, 1945, when a Punjab platoon was ordered to assault a village with the in Japanese positions, it came under heavy fire. Firing his Tommy gun and hurling grenades, Naik Gian Singh of 4/15 Punjab Regiment, a Jat Sikh of Sahabpur village, Jalandhar district, Punjab, made two lone charges against the Japanese astride the Kamye Myingyan road in Burma. He captured an antitank gun single handedly and repelled the enemy. He was awarded the Victoria Cross at an investiture ceremony in Buckingham Palace on October 16, 1945. His host in Birmingham in October 1945 was Major Fowler (his company commander), an unprecedented honor and relationship between a British India native soldier and a British officer.
The Japanese antitank gun, with a brass plate giving details of the action and the award is now the property of 12th Battalion, The Punjab, Regiment (previously 4/15 Punjab Regiment). The Victoria Cross is on display at the Sikh Regimental Center, Ramgarh (Bihar).
Only 50 or so of 1,348 Victoria Cross winners are still alive. They had reunions on regular basis and from these celebrations grew an association now known as Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Earlier, when there were up to 11 V€s in India, a Royal Air Force air craft used to take them form Delhi to London to attend there unions but now they are entitled to two first class air tickets every alternate year. The last reunion that Capt. Gian Singh, VC, attended was in 1993, with his wife and he has an album full of nostalgia having been photographed with the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Thatcher apart from the other. VC winners, whose deeds had established them as military monarchs. The Victoria Cross continues to retain its mystique as we send up a prayer for Capt. Gian Singh an inspiration for valor.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1996
