One famous incident still talked about in Kohima is the ‘Japanese sniper in the Cherry tree’. The original tree is still standing in the outskirts of Kohima while a tree grown from the shoot of the mother tree is preserved inside the war memorial.

The Japanese sniper had killed dozens of Gurkhas and British soldiers on that fateful day. Sensing more casualties and in order to save the life of his comrades and officers, Rifleman Bhanbhagta Gurung exposed himself defiantly in the open ground and thus spotted the Japanese sniper who was eventually shot down from the tree.