Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba

Daily Mail - He was fighting a secret and brutal war in a dusty land far from home. But while the 1972 clash between British forces and Communist rebels in Oman has long passed into history, the actions of Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba have not. Instead, the Fijian soldier's exemplary courage under fire places him high on the pantheon of SAS heroes. ......The sergeant and his nine-strong SAS unit were part of a clandestine mission to protect the Sultan of Oman from the People's Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf. By July 1972, they had been in the country for a year and the assignment - codenamed Operation Jaguar - appeared to be going well.



But then the rebels stuck back. On the morning of July 19, around 250 elite fighters stormed MIrbat, a small town on the Arabian sea, leaving the SAS pinned down inside a fort. As his comrades fought an increasingly desperate battle to hold off 250 insurgents, it dawned on Labalaba, 30, that they were about to be overrun. With no cover and facing certain death, he sprinted across 800 metres of exposed ground to reach a 25-pound field-gun. It was a brave - but apparently futile manouevre - as the huge weapon took three men to operate. That, however, did not deter Labalaba.

Nor did facial injuries which would have rendered a lesser man helpless. As British forces watched in astonishment, Labalaba turned the cumbersome gun on the enemy and opened fire at near point blank range. He went on for six hours, decimating the rebels and ultimately paying for his courage with his life. His comrades found him slumped face down by the massive gun. His selfless actions undoubtedly saved many of the British soldiers holed up inside the fort and won him a posthumous Mention in Despatches.

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