Honorary Captain Gaje Ghale who had won his Victoria Cross at the age of 25 years died on March 28 last at the ripe age of 84 years. He was one of the 31 Victoria Cross winners of the Indian Army of World War II, which was shared by three British, 10 Gorkhas and 18 Indians. He belonged to a battalion of 2/5 Gorkhas, which had set a record of winning three VCs, within a span of one year. They were all won in Burma against the Japanese.

Capt Gaje Ghale's battalion was ordered on May 27, 1943 to take part in an assault which was a key enemy position in the Chin Hills. By now a Havildar, he commanded a platoon of 30 Gorkhas. The approach to the Japanese positions was over a knife-edge ridge with precipitous sides bereft of cover. The Japanese were covering this approach with their machine guns and mortars and were to hold it in their classical way of 'last man-last round'. So it was the clash of the Japanese determination against the Gorkha resolve.

The platoon moved to its forming up place. And it soon came under heavy mortar fire but Gaje rallied his men and led them forward. In the heavy fire Gaje was wounded in the arm, chest and legs by a grenade but regardless of these wounds and the intense fire, he led his men to close grips and bitter hand-to-hand fighting. Covered in blood, from his neglected wounds, he led assault after assault with the battle cry of 'Ayo Gorkhali'. Led so herocially by this young brave leader, his men stormed and inflicted heavy casualties to the Japanese. He further proved his mettle when he refused to be evacuated until ordered to the medical aid post by an officer.

As Gaje climbed up in promotion and rank, he volunteered to fight in all the wars that his battalion fought as part of the Indian Army.

As the Subedar Major, I saw him in the Congo exhorting his men against Tsombe's Gendarmes. The battalion again earned laurels there. By 1965, he had been superannuated from the service after a great career of over three decades of war and peace in the country and abroad. The Army, in appreciation of his contribution provided him a government quarter at Almora in Kumaon Hills where he spent most of his retired life. Here too, he took pride in looking after everyone who approached him for help.

The local Cantonment Board sought his services in the fading days of his life which he gladly rendered.

In 1996, the Congo Brigade celebrated its reunion at Chaubattia. Gaje was a VIP by right, as much as Maj Gen KAS Raja, the first Congo Brigade Commander. It was then I had long chat with him about his legendary life. In one of those moments he said most submissively, "Sahib, I am a small man who by God's grace and human kindness elevated to higher heights than I could ever imagine I would get at". Then he showed me his palms and said, " I had no luck and in all probability I should have died on the day of attack...." I looked at them more interestingly and was delighted to observe that he, in fact , had a crescent on the 'Mount of Jupiter' on his right palm. "You were destined to be great in both life and death," I remarked, with a smile.

As a humble man and one of the most gallant people I have known, Gaje leaves a niche in the annals of the history of the Indian Army. The stories of his courage will, of course, continue to resound even after the 'last post'.