On 26 June 1944, at Bishenpur, Burma, Naik Agansing Rai led his section in an attack on one of two positions that had been captured by the Japanese the previous day and were now threatening the communications of the 17th Indian Division. The enemy concentrated machine-gun fire at them as they charged forward. Agansing Rai himself killed three of the gun crew and the position, known as Mortar Bluff, was captured. He then led a dash to silence a 37mm artillery gun in the jungle, losing three men but killing the gun-crew of three, while his men killed others.
An isolated bunker was then targeted. Under cover of bren-gun fire, Agansing Rai advanced alone through a hail of bullets, armed with grenades and a sub-machine gun, and four enemy soldiers were killed. The second Japanese position, Water Piquet, was easier to capture from its demoralised occupants.
Agansing Rai was born in 1920 in Assora village, Okhaldunga district, Nepal. He enlisted in the 5th Gurkha Rifles and served in the 2nd Battalion. His act of bravery earned him the Victoria Cross, gazetted on 5 Oct 1944. He was presented with the medal on 23 Jan 1945, along with the widow of Netrabahadur Thapa VC, by Lord Wavell, Viceroy of India.
He remained at Abbottabad as an instructor, reaching the most senior rank, Subadar-Major. After partition in 1947 he stayed with the 5th Gurkha Rifles, serving in the Congo in 1962–63 as part of the UN force there. He retired with the rank of honorary lieutenant and died in Kathmandu on 27 May 2000.
