This Day in History: 1976-10-07

In late 1943, Rifleman Indrajung Rai was hit in the head by a splinter from a Japanese grenade when serving in Burma with the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Goorkhas.  He went on pension in 1946 and little was known of him until 7th October 1976 when he came to the British Military Cantonment at Dharan in Eastern Nepal.  He complained that he was unable to carry heavy loads on his back because the straps hurt his head.  An X-ray at the British Military Hospital showed a quarter-inch grenade splinter lodged in his scalp.  It was removed by the surgeon and he could wear a ‘namlo’ (the head strap used for supporting a ‘doko’ or carrying basket) without pain for the first time in more than 30 years.