From whatever tribe they came they proved themselves worthy to
fight in any army of Europe, as the “V. C.’s” awarded to the
members of the Indian army show. The photograph shows the second
line advancing amid shell fire to the reinforcement of the first
line at captured German trench.]
“Undoubtedly, oh son of a most high excellence,” replied the little
brown orderly respectfully, in Hindustanie. And it was so. For the king
had given him the highest military honor of Great Britain, the V. C.,
the first ever bestowed upon a member of the Indian Army. What he had
done to win it sounds like many another brave deed recounted of the men
in the Great War. There is a similarity even in brave deeds. He had
remained in a trench, firing a Maxim, after his British captain and all
the men with him were killed or wounded, holding back the Germans until
he, too, fell, severely wounded, and they passed on over his body. But
the Germans had been held back, and that was the important point.