India was one of the United Nations countries that sent troops to Congo to restore peace there in 1961 when the province of Katanga tried to break away the Congo. The hostile Katanga forces had occupied many vital points and set up roadblocks in Elizabethville.

On 6th December, a section of a platoon of Indian soldiers came under intense artillery fire while patrolling the city. Lance Naik Gururang who was second in command crawled almost300 metres to the enemy post and then getting to his feet charged forward , gun blazing. Nine enemy soldiers fell to his bullets before he himself was cut down by machine gun fire.

Lance Naik Gurung was posthumously awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his courage and gallantry.