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Gurkha who took on an Afghan insurgent in hand-to-hand combat after being shot in the helmet will be recognised in the latest round of military honours today.
Acting Lance Corporal Tuljung Gurung, from The Royal Gurkha Rifles, fell three metres from a watch tower during the fight but said he had wanted to stay alive so he could save his colleagues.
He is among some 117 servicemen and women recognised in the Operational Honours list, who will be honoured at an Investiture ceremony in Buckingham Palace later this year.
Others include Corporal Josh Griffiths, from The Mercian Regiment, who receives the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross after taking on insurgents as they tore through the wall of his ISAF base and insisted on fighting on despite later discovering he had a broken back.
Rifleman Ben Taylor, 21, an army reserve with the Mercian Regiment, is awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
He was on his first tour of Afghanistan when he was catapulted out of a Mastiff armoured vehicle, which landed in a canal, and was forced to swim back to it and help his comrades who were trapped underwater.
Then a 28-year-old Rifleman, ALCpl Gurung was on guard at a patrol base near Lashkar Gah when the Afghan, along with another insurgent, attacked.
When the two men were challenged, they opened fire, and ALCpl Gurung was hit by a bullet on his helmet, knocking him to the ground.
Still dazed from the blast, he saw a grenade bounce off the ceiling of the guard tower he was in but managed to pick it up and throw it out just before it detonated, knocking him over again.
He said: "I realised that if I ran away it would explode. I realised that I needed to do something, so I rolled it away.
"I fell down on the floor, there was dust everywhere, it was like a storm."
As he climbed to his feet after the explosion, he saw one of the attackers climbing into the tower and drew his kukri - the traditional Nepalese knife used by Gurkhas - to take him on in hand-to-hand combat.
"He was quite a bit bigger than me and was wearing quite thick clothes," ALCpl Gurung from Nepal said. "I just hit him in the hand, body, I just started to hit him.
"He tried to push me inside. During the fight I was screaming so my next colleague could hear me and send somebody."
The men fell three metres from the tower as they fought, landing on the ground outside the base, and ALCpl Gurung continued his assault, forcing the insurgent to flee.
"I just thought, ' I don't want to die. If I am alive I can save my colleagues'," he said.
"I thought, 'Before he does something I have to do something'. I was like a madman."
The Gurkha, who was left with a sore neck and swelling to his back after the incident in the early hours of the morning in March., will receive the Military Cross for his gallantry and courage.
Gurkha fought off Afghan insurgent in hand-to-hand combat - Telegraph
Acting Lance Corporal Tuljung Gurung, from The Royal Gurkha Rifles, fell three metres from a watch tower during the fight but said he had wanted to stay alive so he could save his colleagues.
He is among some 117 servicemen and women recognised in the Operational Honours list, who will be honoured at an Investiture ceremony in Buckingham Palace later this year.
Others include Corporal Josh Griffiths, from The Mercian Regiment, who receives the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross after taking on insurgents as they tore through the wall of his ISAF base and insisted on fighting on despite later discovering he had a broken back.
Rifleman Ben Taylor, 21, an army reserve with the Mercian Regiment, is awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
He was on his first tour of Afghanistan when he was catapulted out of a Mastiff armoured vehicle, which landed in a canal, and was forced to swim back to it and help his comrades who were trapped underwater.
Then a 28-year-old Rifleman, ALCpl Gurung was on guard at a patrol base near Lashkar Gah when the Afghan, along with another insurgent, attacked.
When the two men were challenged, they opened fire, and ALCpl Gurung was hit by a bullet on his helmet, knocking him to the ground.
Still dazed from the blast, he saw a grenade bounce off the ceiling of the guard tower he was in but managed to pick it up and throw it out just before it detonated, knocking him over again.
He said: "I realised that if I ran away it would explode. I realised that I needed to do something, so I rolled it away.
"I fell down on the floor, there was dust everywhere, it was like a storm."
As he climbed to his feet after the explosion, he saw one of the attackers climbing into the tower and drew his kukri - the traditional Nepalese knife used by Gurkhas - to take him on in hand-to-hand combat.
"He was quite a bit bigger than me and was wearing quite thick clothes," ALCpl Gurung from Nepal said. "I just hit him in the hand, body, I just started to hit him.
"He tried to push me inside. During the fight I was screaming so my next colleague could hear me and send somebody."
The men fell three metres from the tower as they fought, landing on the ground outside the base, and ALCpl Gurung continued his assault, forcing the insurgent to flee.
"I just thought, ' I don't want to die. If I am alive I can save my colleagues'," he said.
"I thought, 'Before he does something I have to do something'. I was like a madman."
The Gurkha, who was left with a sore neck and swelling to his back after the incident in the early hours of the morning in March., will receive the Military Cross for his gallantry and courage.
Gurkha fought off Afghan insurgent in hand-to-hand combat - Telegraph
