Shahamad Khan

Shahamad Khan (1 July 1879 – 28 July 1947) was a Pakistani soldier who was a recipient of the Victorian Cross during the era of the British Raj. He was 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 Janjua Rajput from Rawalpindi District in the then British India, he was 36 years old, and a Naik in the 89th Punjabis, British Indian Army (now 1st Battalion the Baloch Regiment, Pakistan 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 died in 1947 is buried in his ancestral village of Takhti, Pakistan.