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 During my election duty in Sikkim on the very last day of my stay I was fortunate to meet Ganju Lama. The counting of votes was over and the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front party headed by the present sitting Chief Minister had been victorious. The house of the chief minister of Sikkim was only a stone's throw from the counting centre and I was taken by the District Officers to call on him. Mr. Pavan Cahmling and his wife received us most graciously. There I met Ganju Lama, another celebrated figure about whom I had heard and read a lot after arriving in Sikkim. Ganju Lama the winner of the Victoria Cross is one of the three survivors of the thousands who won the Victoria Cross from 1856 to 1978 from fourteen Commonwealth countries.
Ganju Lama was unwell and on his way to his
doctor, so he made an appointment to meet me within half an hour
in the Bazaar in a certain Marwadi merchant's shop. In the Bazaar
a small crowd gathered as I was listening to the legendary man.
Ganju Lama had joined the 7th Gorka Battalion at the age of
eighteen in the year 1942. At that time Mr.RV Octon was the
commanding officer and the Battalion was stationed at Palampur in
Himachal Pradesh. Belonging to the Butia Community, the Lama was
born in Sangmo Bhasti in Rawangala. He was only two when his
mother passed away. His father was a mandal (village Headman). His
ancestors had settled in that part of Sikkim hundreds of years ago
even before Chogyals (ruling family) arrived in Sikkim. They were
farmers and grew vegetable and rice.
During the second world war between 1939-1945,
large scale army recruitment took place in Sikkim. It is said that
nearly 10,000 young men from Sikkim were recruited to the army.
Ganju Lama also joined along with the others. Normally Gorkhas (Nepalis)
joined the army but it was rather rare for a Bhutia to want to get
enlisted. He was a rare exception and was recruited after some
hesitation on the part of the British recruitment officer. Before
being despatched to fight the Japanese at the Burmese border he
was sent on a six months training. Within a year he was awarded
the Victoria Cross in the year 1943 for outstanding bravery for
personally destroying five Japanese tanks.
I was told that warfare was quiet different at
that time. Each soldier had to carry one quintal of weight on his
back including rations and ammunitions. At that time the projector
infantry anti tank gun was being used by them. Each grenade (gola)
weighed about 6 kilograms. One had to go as close to the tank as
30 yards to be able to destroy it which was extremely risky. On
the 17th may 1994, Ganju Lama fought at Tedim Road (33 milestones
from Imphal) and destroyed three enemy tanks. On 12th June 1944,
he participated in the Bishanpur counter attack. According to him
he, along with his companions, started at 6 a.m. and after walking
for six miles reached Bishanpur at 12 noon. At Bishanpur the enemy
was present in a very big force. However, the infantry was
reinforced by gun fire and air-raid. They got held up there. His
company was stuck with the enemy on all sides. However, they kept
pursuing their objective which was to stop the advancement of the
enemy towards Imphal. He describes the operation thus:
" I was the sepoy of the No.1 gunner. I
crawled on my belly through the dense snake infested jungle, while
firing was going on all the sides and destroyed three Japanese
tanks from a distance of 30 yards. We had twelve casualties while
the enemy lost three hundred and thirty personnel in the battle.
The enemy were fully destroyed. Our unit occupied the enemy's
post. The whole of India was shocked. Kohima was taken up and cut
up and the Indian army advanced 150 miles into the upper Burma. I
became a casualty. I was invalid and hospitalised for 22
months." For his outstanding bravery, in October, 1944,
during the reign of King George V, he was awarded the Victoria
Cross. He went to receive the award in a wheel chair from Lord
Wavell, the Viceroy of India, at a ceremonial parade held at the
Red Fort, Delhi.
In 1964, he was selected to be the AD camp to
the then president of India, Sarvapalli Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. He
served the president till 1972. The President had specially asked
for him to be his ADC. The other two persons who were decorated
with the Victoria Cross and are till surviving are Omrav Singh of
Jat Regiment from Haryana and Bhandari Ram Dogra of Dogra
Regiment. It is interesting to note that the highest number of
Victoria Crosses have been awarded to the Gorkha Regiments. In
all, Gorkha Regiments alone have obtained more than 26 Victoria
Crosses. After Independence the 10th Gorkha regiment, one of the
top ranking regiments of India, was selected to go to UK and
become part of the British army. But Ganju Lama declined the offer
to go to UK and stayed in India and continued to serve in India
till he retired in 1972 with the rank of Captain.
He is now settled in his native place where he
cultivates his 100 acres of land growing potatoes and cardamom. He
is involved in the welfare of ex-servicemen and the general public
and takes up their causes at different forums by writing to
authorities or by personally representing them. He has two wives
and nine children (5 boys and 4 girls), many of whom have settled
abroad.
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