Major (QGO) Bahasur Rana MBE IDSM
In November 1955 the Gurkha Major of the 2nd Battalion, Major (QGO) Bahasur Rana, retired from the Army. He had enlisted in 1926 and earned the Indian Distinguished Service Medal for an action in Waziristan on 21 July 1940 described in the Regimental History:
‘On 21st July, while a brigade column was returning from Razani to Razmak, the 2nd Battalion was detailed as left flank guard. While ejecting the enemy from the scrub, two riflemen were killed by hostile snipers. In the course of this operation the Lakki Charai crests above Razmak were seized during a heavy hailstorm in the face of determined resistance. Only the wretched marksmanship of the tribesmen prevented serious casualties. Covering fire by artillery and machine guns extricated the leading companies from serious involvement and for the effective use of a Vickers-Berthier [medium machine gun] Naik Bahasur Rana received the IDSM).
Commissioned the same year, he went with the 2nd Battalion to Malaya in 1941. He was captured at Tanjong Malim and remained in Japanese captivity until the end of the war, spending most of the time separated from other members of the Battalion.
Promoted Subedar in 1946, he returned to Malaya with the Battalion in 1948. In 1953 he accompanied the Coronation contingent to the UK and was present when the Queen’s Truncheon was presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 4 June that year.