Lieutenant Colonel Lalbahadur Pun OBE MC
Lieutenant Colonel Lalbahadur Pun at the 2004 Durbar Parade in Nepal
Lalbahadur Pun is the son of Honorary Captain (Gurkha Commissioned Officer) Tikajit Pun MBE OBI IDSM, a famous Gurkha Officer of the Regiment. Born in 1937, he was educated at St Joseph’s School, Dehra Dun, and selected as one of the first Gurkhas to go to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Commissioned into the 2nd Goorkhas in December 1959 he joined the 1st Battalion in Malaya and from 1963-65 was ADC to Major General Sir Walter Walker, Commander of British Forces in Borneo. In March 1965 he became Officer Commanding D Company and won a Military Cross for a daring and successful attack on an Indonesian camp.
In late 1969 he left the Battalion to attend Staff College Camberley, the first Gurkha to do so. From January 1971 to February 1973 he was General Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2) Training/Air in Headquarters British Forces Hong Kong. In 1974 returned to the 1st Battalion in Brunei to command A Company, which found the Guard for the Queen’s Birthday Parade held in June that year in Brunei. From mid-1974 to mid-1975 he was Training Major of the Tutong Training Camp, the precursor to the Jungle Warfare School. On 20th April 1979 he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel, the first Gurkha with a Regular Army commission to achieve that rank, and was appointed to command the Training Depot of the Brigade of Gurkhas in Hong Kong, a post he held until 18 October 1981. He was appointed OBE in the 1981 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his work in this appointment.
After other staff jobs he retired from the Army in 1988 and joined the Sultan of Brunei’s Gurkha Reserve Unit, a paramilitary force, where he was a battalion commander. He retired from that role in 2000 and has since lived in Kathmandu.
He is married and has two sons.