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.

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

Major Harminder Pal Singh, Saurya Chakra

A TRUE SOLDIER OF KHALSA

Major Harminder Pal Singh proved to be a true follower of Sikh gurus, when in a heroic act he laid down his life for the defence of his motherland on the very day the nation was celebrating tercentenary celebrations of the founding of Khalsa. He hailed from Ropar, in the vicinity of which Anandpur Sahib is located.

In very few armies of the world, it is the officers who lead even minor operations. Indian army is one such army. In the expanding counter-insurgency operations, there is not much disparity in the casualties suffered by the officers and the ranks. Our army officers inspire ranks by personal heroism. While the country's politicians have been messing up the problem connected with security and squandering the initiatives gained through the valour of our security forces, the men-in-uniform have been delivering successful blow to the enemy.
In a daredevil operation in a congested locality of Sadar kootballa village in the vicinity of Manasbal area of Kashmir valley, Major HP Singh was leading the commando platoon of his battalion. He was an officer who ate with his men and played cards with them. He boosted the morale of his soldiers by leading always from the front, whenever situation warranted.

On the morning of April 13, Major HP Singh received information about the presence of four Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists hiding in the locality of Sader koot bala. He started with his 32 men and surrounded 12 houses ataround1 PM in the Khan Mohalla. In the low visibility that prevailed due to an intense dust-storm earlier, Major Singh was the first to enter the houses. The operation was difficult as the soldiers had to expose themselves in the built-up area to prevent any collateral damage to civilians or their property. A search of five houses revealed no militants.

Commandos then approached the next set of houses through an alley. Terrorists hiding in these houses opened fire with automatic weapons through a window in ground floor, from a close range. The bullets struck Major HP Singh in the left arm. He fell down but quickly regained his composure and took cover behind a rock. Major shot a militant through the head, when he sneaked through a window on the second floor of the house. The terrorist came tumbling down.

Undeterred by his injury, Major Singh went after the other kill. He managed to lob a grenade through the ground-floor window and followed it, up with a burst from his automatic rifle. Major's next task was to cut off the escape route of the third militant. Unfortunately, Major Singh's bullet-proof helmet slipped off. The surviving militant shot him dead with a bullet that pierced through his temple.

In a befitting tribute to this sant-sipahi (saint soldier), Lt Gen Krishan Pal, Commander 15 Coprs, said 'Maj Singh's action is significant on this occasion of the tercentenary celebrations. He upheld the spirit of Guru Gobind Singh and rose to fight evil'. Punjab government has announced that it will grant a job to his wife and build a suitable memorial in his honour. But Major Singh did not die for Punjab alone. He died for the entire nation.

"Apne liye to sabhi jeeten hain, aadmi to woh hai jo auron ke liye jiye, auron ke liye mare," said Rupinder Pal Kaur, late major's wife. She had given birth to a boy, Navteshwar, three months before the death of her husband.

Lt Col Sachin Kumar Kanderiya

Lt Col Sachin Kumar Kanderiya was killed when a shell fired by the Pakistani troops exploded near his post on the glacier.

Pak troops fired 411 shells from artillery and other weapons, forcing Indian troops to retaliate. However, the casualty suffered by Pakistani troops in the retaliatory action was not known, the spokesman said.

He said Pakistani troops also fired on Indian positions at Kargil sector on Saturday. While the Indian side suffered no casualty, a Pakistani bunker was destroyed in the retaliatory action, the spokesman added.