Indo-Tibetan Border Police deputy commandant Joy Lall, who was killed in Kashmir Sunday was cremated amid poignant scenes at the cremation ground in Panchkula.
Lall, 36, was among the three ITBP personnel killed at Gund in Jammu and Kashmir in a powerful landmine blast triggered by terrorists on May 30. His eight-year-old son Kartikaye, helped by his uncle Amit Lall, lit the pyre amid chanting of vedic hymns. A contingent of ITBP jawans fired three volleys in the air and reversed arms as buglers sounded the last post. ITBP Director General Gautam Kaul, who came specially from Delhi, expressed condolences to Lall's father H G Lall, a retired IAS officer of Haryana, his mother Shashi Lall, widow Geeta Lall and children. Kaul assured the bereaved family of every possible help by the ITBP in the education of Lall's children.
Kaul told reporters that in the death of Lall, the ITBP had lost a valiant officer. Lall's supreme sacrifice should inspire the younger generation, he added. Besides having served in the prime minister's security, Joy Lall had also been with the peace keeping force in Bosnia.
The body was brought to Panchkula by a special plane last night. It was taken in a flower-bedecked truck from his residence in sector six to the cremation ground in sector 20. A large number of family friends and officers of the Haryana government were present at the cremation.
Courtesy : http://www.kashmir-information.com/Heroes/joy.html
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Dy Commandant Joy Lall (ITBP)
Monday, December 1, 2008
Capt Haneef-Uddin, Veer Chakra (P)
CAPTAIN HANEEF UDDIN, 2411 Rajputana RiflesSinger SoldierMission: Attacked by intruders and bombarded by artillery, he and his unit, equipped only with small arms, fought to the end.
Ek pal mein hai sach saari zindagi ka; Is pal mein ji lo yaaron, yahan kal hai kisne dekha (The truth of our lives is encapsulated in one moment; Live this moment, who knows what tomorrow holds).
It is difficult to miss the irony, in these lyrics of a song from an album cut by a remarkable singer-soldier, Captain Haneef Uddin. Haneef lived these lyrics -- written by his younger brother Sameer -- and even sang them to his troops. His impromptu "Jazz Band" spread his zest for life and music in the mountains, welcome relief for troops cut off from civilisation and television, fighting tedium and tension. "Whether up in the hills or down here with us, his music system remained his constant companion," says elder brother Nafees, 26, a physics teacher.
Fun, cheer, song and courage. Those values, his family and colleagues say, describe the young captain who died fighting on a craggy mountainside in Turtuk, Kargil, on the same day that he was commissioned into the army two years ago. The strapping young man -- he was crowned Mr Shivaji in Delhi's Shivaji College -- was multifaceted, training in computers before joining the Indian Military Academy in 1996.
He was commissioned into the army on June 7, 1997.Cutting across the snowy peaks to push for the enemy-held heights, Haneef soldiered on despite artillery bombardment. Outgunned and outnumbered, he and his unit fought to the end.
Haneef's father died when he was only seven years old. His mother, Hema Aziz, a classical singer, displays the stoicism of grieving families nationwide: "As a soldier Haneef served his country with pride and dedication. There cannot be a greater statement on his valour than his death which came fighting the enemy." The memories flood into Hema Aziz's east Delhi apartment: of the times when Haneef would come humming back after a busy day at Kerala School, his alma mater; of the times when the brothers would grapple wildly like pit wrestlers and then calm down with music; of his last call home saying he would be back for his birthday in September after collaring the enemy.
Memories -- they are all that remain.
Mother Hema Aziz and elder brother Nafees recall how Haneef could bring any gathering to life with his music.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Major Sonam Wangchuk, Maha Veer Chakra
Note: This hero is still alive, so technically not part of Amar-Jawaan, but I think he deserves this spot since his saga of heroism is Amar.
A soft-spoken Buddhist soldier gives India one of its major footholds in the icy mountains.
Somewhere in the freezing mountains of Kargil is a warrior and his men. At 18,000 ft where the thin air makes breathing ragged, every step an ordeal, Major Sonam Wangchuk, 35, and his band of 30-odd soldiers from the Ladakh Scouts are entering the realm of legend. In the close-knit society of Ladakh to which he belongs, they talk in hushed tones of their son. And in his army, they talk in awe of his battle prowess.
On one of the world's most brutal battlefields, his colleagues and officers say, Wangchuk has captured a vital mountain ridge in the Chorbat La sub-sector near Batalik, giving the army a foothold that it desperately needed. They've gone over the mountain tops and now directly face the Pakistani side of the loc. "Thanks to his heroic action, we are sitting bang on the LoC in Chorbat La," says a Ladakh Scouts officer. For over a week now Wangchuk and his men -- cut off from the world except for their wireless and living off survival rations -- have snapped shut a crucial infiltration point.
On 30 May 1999, Major Sonam Wangchuk of Indus Wing, Ladakh Scouts was leading a column for occupation of the Ridge Line on the Line of Control (LoC) in a glaciated area at 18,000 feet to preempt enemy occupation and any subsequent infiltration. While moving towards the LoC, the enemy ambushed the column by firing from a vantage position. In the process one NCO of the Ladakh Scouts was killed. Major Sonam Wangchuk held his column together and led a raid on the enemy position from a flank, supported by artillery fire, killing two enemy personnel.
The officer also recovered one HMG (Heavy Machine Gun), one UMG (Universal Machine Gun), ammunition, controlled stores as well as three dead bodies of the enemy personnel. Thereafter, he took stock of all forces in the Chorbatla axis in the Batalik sector and cleared the axis up to the LoC of all enemy intrusions at a great risk to his life. For conspicuous gallantry, Major Sonam Wangchuk was honoured with the Maha Vir Chakra. Jai Hind!! Jai Jawan!!
Wangchuk was recommended for the Maha Vir Chakra, his fellow JCO and six other jawans, gallantry medals.
On May 26, when Wangchuk got his orders, he promised his son he would return for his birthday on June 11. Given his battle experience in the Siachen glacier, Wangchuk was the obvious choice for the assault. Two days later he was asked to capture an 18,000-ft high ridge just inside the Indian side of the loc. Glacial and rocky, with days warming to minus 6 degrees Celsius, the mountain with its 80 degree gradient was a test even for skilled mountaineers. Information filtering in over wireless dispatches from the LoC describe how while leading a platoon (36 men) and supported by artillery fire from the rear positions, Wangchuk was negotiating an ice wall in the dead of night on May 31 when he heard sounds of picks and hammers on the other side of the ridge facing Pakistan. He quickly flashed a wireless message to the rear. Wangchuk and his men made it to the ridge top in three hours under heavy fire by Pakistani troops from the flanks. The mountains rang with the Ladakh Scouts' war cry, "Ki Ki So So Lhargyalo" (The gods will triumph), as the superbly fit Wangchuk -- he was a top athlete at Delhi's Modern School -- led his men towards the brutal enemy-held cliffs. From there they spotted a group of intruders trying to scale the ridge from the Pakistan side.
Wangchuk told his men to hold on till the enemy came within firing range. Four intruders were killed in the gun-battle. Wangchuk and his column had foiled a major infiltration attempt. The soldiers then retrieved the bodies of the intruders who turned out to be Pakistani Army regulars. Next day, Wangchuk led the charge to clear the heights and return to India the commanding positions that the intruders wanted so desperately to occupy. The Ladakh Scouts are particularly being used for the battle in Kargil because of their natural acclimatisation to a frigid desert of a war zone where plainspeople with their lower blood-oxygen levels find it difficult to breathe.
By all accounts, Wangchuk is an extraordinary soldier, a contradiction even. "We could never imagine he could even hurt a fly," recalls Pintoo Norbu, hotel owner in Leh who knows him. The son of a paramilitary soldier, Wangchuk is a deeply religious Buddhist -- before going to battle he and some of his men went to the Dalai Lama, who was visiting Leh, to seek his blessings -- soft spoken and scrupulously polite. But that gentleman's exterior hides the tough interior of an officer the army is proud to showcase.
For now his family is secondary. On June 8, Wangchuk's wife requested his unit to allow him three days' leave to attend his son's birthday. But the army commander reluctantly told her that her husband was "required elsewhere" -- up there in the mountains, where Wangchuk's war isn't done yet.
A soft-spoken Buddhist soldier gives India one of its major footholds in the icy mountains.
Somewhere in the freezing mountains of Kargil is a warrior and his men. At 18,000 ft where the thin air makes breathing ragged, every step an ordeal, Major Sonam Wangchuk, 35, and his band of 30-odd soldiers from the Ladakh Scouts are entering the realm of legend. In the close-knit society of Ladakh to which he belongs, they talk in hushed tones of their son. And in his army, they talk in awe of his battle prowess.
On one of the world's most brutal battlefields, his colleagues and officers say, Wangchuk has captured a vital mountain ridge in the Chorbat La sub-sector near Batalik, giving the army a foothold that it desperately needed. They've gone over the mountain tops and now directly face the Pakistani side of the loc. "Thanks to his heroic action, we are sitting bang on the LoC in Chorbat La," says a Ladakh Scouts officer. For over a week now Wangchuk and his men -- cut off from the world except for their wireless and living off survival rations -- have snapped shut a crucial infiltration point.
On 30 May 1999, Major Sonam Wangchuk of Indus Wing, Ladakh Scouts was leading a column for occupation of the Ridge Line on the Line of Control (LoC) in a glaciated area at 18,000 feet to preempt enemy occupation and any subsequent infiltration. While moving towards the LoC, the enemy ambushed the column by firing from a vantage position. In the process one NCO of the Ladakh Scouts was killed. Major Sonam Wangchuk held his column together and led a raid on the enemy position from a flank, supported by artillery fire, killing two enemy personnel.
The officer also recovered one HMG (Heavy Machine Gun), one UMG (Universal Machine Gun), ammunition, controlled stores as well as three dead bodies of the enemy personnel. Thereafter, he took stock of all forces in the Chorbatla axis in the Batalik sector and cleared the axis up to the LoC of all enemy intrusions at a great risk to his life. For conspicuous gallantry, Major Sonam Wangchuk was honoured with the Maha Vir Chakra. Jai Hind!! Jai Jawan!!
Wangchuk was recommended for the Maha Vir Chakra, his fellow JCO and six other jawans, gallantry medals.
On May 26, when Wangchuk got his orders, he promised his son he would return for his birthday on June 11. Given his battle experience in the Siachen glacier, Wangchuk was the obvious choice for the assault. Two days later he was asked to capture an 18,000-ft high ridge just inside the Indian side of the loc. Glacial and rocky, with days warming to minus 6 degrees Celsius, the mountain with its 80 degree gradient was a test even for skilled mountaineers. Information filtering in over wireless dispatches from the LoC describe how while leading a platoon (36 men) and supported by artillery fire from the rear positions, Wangchuk was negotiating an ice wall in the dead of night on May 31 when he heard sounds of picks and hammers on the other side of the ridge facing Pakistan. He quickly flashed a wireless message to the rear. Wangchuk and his men made it to the ridge top in three hours under heavy fire by Pakistani troops from the flanks. The mountains rang with the Ladakh Scouts' war cry, "Ki Ki So So Lhargyalo" (The gods will triumph), as the superbly fit Wangchuk -- he was a top athlete at Delhi's Modern School -- led his men towards the brutal enemy-held cliffs. From there they spotted a group of intruders trying to scale the ridge from the Pakistan side.
Wangchuk told his men to hold on till the enemy came within firing range. Four intruders were killed in the gun-battle. Wangchuk and his column had foiled a major infiltration attempt. The soldiers then retrieved the bodies of the intruders who turned out to be Pakistani Army regulars. Next day, Wangchuk led the charge to clear the heights and return to India the commanding positions that the intruders wanted so desperately to occupy. The Ladakh Scouts are particularly being used for the battle in Kargil because of their natural acclimatisation to a frigid desert of a war zone where plainspeople with their lower blood-oxygen levels find it difficult to breathe.
By all accounts, Wangchuk is an extraordinary soldier, a contradiction even. "We could never imagine he could even hurt a fly," recalls Pintoo Norbu, hotel owner in Leh who knows him. The son of a paramilitary soldier, Wangchuk is a deeply religious Buddhist -- before going to battle he and some of his men went to the Dalai Lama, who was visiting Leh, to seek his blessings -- soft spoken and scrupulously polite. But that gentleman's exterior hides the tough interior of an officer the army is proud to showcase.
For now his family is secondary. On June 8, Wangchuk's wife requested his unit to allow him three days' leave to attend his son's birthday. But the army commander reluctantly told her that her husband was "required elsewhere" -- up there in the mountains, where Wangchuk's war isn't done yet.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Major Mariappan Saravanan, Veer Chakra (P)
Maj Sarvanan had led a platoon up the Jubar Hills on May 29. While he was able to take back two bunkers the rest of Jubar Hills was under enemy control. One of the platoon members accompanying Maj Sarvanan and the only one to survive the attack, was Naik Shatrughan. He was hit on his legs three times and it took him ten days to crawl back to base. He gave the unit the information of how Maj Sarvanan died after killing at least four of the enemy in hand-to -hand combat. Naik Shatrughan later died in the field hospital because of gangrene.
Major M Sarvanan, the hero of Batalik, was finally among friends. Martyred on May 29 after wresting two bunkers from the enemy, Maj Sarvanan’s mortal remains lay out of the reach of his men until July 3.
All this while members of 1 Bihar, his unit, fought valiantly and desperately, having taken an oath to not only recover his body but also the Indian heights from the infiltrators. Success was theirs on July 3 when they brought the hero home.
Maj Sarvanan is possibly the first officer to fall in the Kargil conflict. The attack led by him came in the early stages of the conflict when adequate information was not available.
There was little artillery support and no aircraft cover. The men in 1 Bihar took an oath after Maj Sarvanan’s death to fight to the finish and recover the heights. to the battle cry of ‘Bajrang Bali ki Jai’, they launched subsequent offensives and now the unit has not only taken the heights but is sitting atop the LoC. Finally, they captured Point 4058.
Major Kamlesh Pathak
A Rashtriya Rifles platoon led by Major Kamlesh Pathak was on routine patrol at Sukhamali in Dessa area, when they were ambushed by the militants. The jawans returned the fire but Major Kamlesh Pathak received critical bullet injuries. Rushed to a hospital, he succumbed on the way.
A hawaldar was injured in the encounter, the sources said.
The militants managed to flee taking advantage of the difficult terrain. A massive search operation was launched to nab the militants, the sources said.
There's still some pain, but the injury is healing fast," wrote Major Kamlesh Pathak. He was writing to his family in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh about the bullet wounds he sustained earlier. Yet he insisted on rejoining his unit and fell to enemy bullets. For countless families the country's recent victories have been at the expense of their dear ones' lives. The saga continues.
Courtsey : http://www.kashmir-information.com/Heroes/kamlesh.html
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