Shahamad Khan

Shahamad Khan was a subject of the British Empire and one of the first people from the Indian Subcontinent to receive the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Military career

A Punjabi Muslim Rajput from District Rawalpindi in the then British India, he was 36 years old, and a Naik in the 89th Punjabis, British Indian Army during the First World War. He served first on the Western Front from May to December 1915 and then on the Tigris Front in Mesopotamia, when the following deed took place, for which he was awarded the VC:
He later achieved the rank of Subedar. He is buried in his ancestral village of Takhti, Pakistan.