Khudadad Khan VC

Name: Khudadad Khan

Conflict: First World War

Gazetted: December 7, 1914

Service: Indian Army

Place/date of birth: Dab Tehsil, Chakwal District, Jhelum, Punjab, India (now Pakistan)/October 26, 1888

Rank when awarded VC (and later highest rank): Sepoy (later Subadar)

Date of bravery: October 31, 1914

London Gazette citation:

On 31st October, 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, the British Officer in charge of the detachment having been wounded, and the other gun put out of action by a shell, Sepoy Khudadad, though himself wounded, remained working his gun until all the other five men of the gun detachment had been killed.

Click here to see full Gazette entry.

Other decorations: N/A

Place/date of death: Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Cantt, Pakistan/March 8, 1971

Grave/memorials: Rukhan Tehsil, Malakwal District, Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Pakistan (unmarked grave)/Name at the Memorial Gates, Hyde Park Corner, London, and statue at the Army Museum, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Origin of VC to the Lord Ashcroft collection: Purchased privately, 2016

Current location of VC: Displayed on rotation at The Lord Ashcroft Gallery: Extraordinary Heroes exhibition, Imperial War Museum