In 1963 fifteen-year-old Pati Ram Gurung enrolled himself in the Gurkha Rifles. When war broke out between India and Pakistan in 1971, he was a Rifleman and stationed in the eastern front.

Rifleman Gurung and a company of the Gurkha Rifles were ordered to advance and capture Uthali, a strongly defended Pakistani position. Halfway towards its objective, the company came under heavy Pakistani fire from a machine gun and could not proceed.

Seeing a number of Pakistani soldiers coming up the hill in search of weapons, he hurled hand grenades at them and drove them back.

Seeing his companions fall to the enemy's bullets, Rifleman Gurung knew he had to silence the machine gun at any cost.

He was posthumously honoured with the Mahavir Chakra for his sacrifice and supreme courage.