George Cross and Military Medal recipient. Abdul Rahman was the son of Nek Muhammad and the husband of Bismillah of Chak, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. He volunteered for the Indian Army and was allotted service number 12788 and by 1944 was a naik (corporal) acting havildar (sergeant). In July 1944 he was awarded the Military Medal probably for gallantry in the defence of Imphal on the Burma/Indian frontier the previous April. After the war ended his unit, the 3/9th Jat Regiment, was sent to Java in what is now Indonesia. On February 22, 1946, Havildar Abdul Rahman with five other ranks was travelling by jeep from their company headquarters to battalion headquarters at Waroe, when their jeep struck a mine, was thrown into a ditch and burst into flames. Abdul Rahman was thrown clear, and, in spite of explosions from the ammunition carried in the jeep, he succeeded in extricating two of the three men who were caught beneath the vehicle. As he took hold of the third man, the petrol tank exploded, and its flaming contents poured over him. Even then he continued his efforts till an ambulance party approached before he fell dead over the jeep. Eight months later the London Gazette announced the posthumous award of the George Cross to Abdul Rahman, the last awarded to a member of the Indian Army prior to the Independence of India and Pakistan in 1947.
George Cross and Military Medal recipient. Abdul Rahman was the son of Nek Muhammad and the husband of Bismillah of Chak, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. He volunteered for the Indian Army and was allotted service number 12788 and by 1944 was a naik (corporal) acting havildar (sergeant). In July 1944 he was awarded the Military Medal probably for gallantry in the defence of Imphal on the Burma/Indian frontier the previous April. After the war ended his unit, the 3/9th Jat Regiment, was sent to Java in what is now Indonesia. On February 22, 1946, Havildar Abdul Rahman with five other ranks was travelling by jeep from their company headquarters to battalion headquarters at Waroe, when their jeep struck a mine, was thrown into a ditch and burst into flames. Abdul Rahman was thrown clear, and, in spite of explosions from the ammunition carried in the jeep, he succeeded in extricating two of the three men who were caught beneath the vehicle. As he took hold of the third man, the petrol tank exploded, and its flaming contents poured over him. Even then he continued his efforts till an ambulance party approached before he fell dead over the jeep. Eight months later the London Gazette announced the posthumous award of the George Cross to Abdul Rahman, the last awarded to a member of the Indian Army prior to the Independence of India and Pakistan in 1947.
Gravesite Details
Havildar, 9th Jat Regiment. Age: 24.
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