Sergeant Dipprasad Pun got through more than 400 rounds of ammunition and an assortment of grenades during his extraordinary one-man stand on the roof of an isolated sentry-post.
At one point, when his gun could no longer fire, he resorted to battering one Taliban fighter, who was trying to scale the wall to attack him, over the head with the tripod of his machine gun.
The 31-year-old from Bima in western Nepal, has been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.
He is the third generation of his family to be decorated for bravery after his father Purna, an Indian Gurkha, and his grandfather.
He is among more than 130 soldiers, marines and airmen being honoured for their bravery during a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan 2014.Sgt Pun told yesterday how he was on guard duty at the base near Rahim Kalay in Helmand Province on September 10 last year when he heard a digging sound in the darkness in front of him.Grabbing two radios, a GPMG (general purpose machine gun), his SA80 rifle, a grenade launcher and an arsenal of hand-held grenades he climbed onto the rooftop and opened fire.
With rocket propelled grenades and gun fire flying over his head from all directions he defended the position for more than 15 minutes, killing three Taliban and forcing the others to flee.


At one point the diminutive soldier turned around to see a “huge” Taliban fighter approaching him on the rooftop, a few feet away, having silently scaled the wall, and shot him.