Param Vir Chakra

Listen the stories of 21 Param Veer Chakra awardees.

Major Somnath Sharma was the first person to receive the Param Vir Chakra Award. Major Sharma, with a broken arm, staved off enemy attacking on Badgam aerodrome and Srinagar. He was personally filling magazines and issuing them to the light machine gunners. His death inspired the fellow soldiers to fight the enemy 7:1 for six hours. 

Naik Singh was commanding a forward post when the enemy attacked. We suffered heavy losses. Eventually, Singh somehow saved his troops but fell to bullets.

Lance Naik Singh commanded a post when the enemy launched eight strikes. The Sikhs repulsed each wave but Karam Singh was wounded. When 2 enemy soldiers came too close, he bayoneted the intruders to death.

Havildar Major Singh single-handedly occupied an enemy post and moved to attack another when a grenade hit him. He still lobbed grenades and managed to destroy another bunker before succumbing to death.

Rane braved machine gun fire, cleared mines and roadblocks as he laid a path for tanks. His diligence over days, despite being wounded, facilitated the advance on Rajouri. He drove to a roadblock in a tank, crouched under it, and cleared the mines. 

Capt. Gurbachan Singh Salaria was part of the UN Force. He and his Gorkhas charged a roadblock, killing 40 and knocking out two enemy cars. The rest fled. Salaria died of heavy bullet wounds.  

Holding a position in Tongpeng La area, Subedar Singh took on 2 waves of attacks and later charged the advancing third wave of the Chinese. Despite a wound in the thigh, he refused evacuation. He manned a light machine gun and killed a large number of enemies. 

Major Thapas post in Ladakh came under Chinese attack. He killed many in hand-to-hand combat before he was overpowered. He was presumed dead, but it came to light that he'd been taken PoW. Major Thapa was later freed.  

While commanding an infantry battalion at Razang La , he came under attack from Chinese forces . He moved from one platoon post to the other to encourage his men. After he got seriously wounded, he ordered his men to leave.    

Havildar Abdul Hameed took on the Pakistani soldiers with a gun mounted on his jeep, under intense enemy shelling and tank fire.He knocked out several army tanks.

Told to deliver the armoured thrust to capture Phillora, Lt.Col. Tarapore was at the helm of the tank battle of 1965 Indo-Pak war. He led assault on Jassoran & Butur-Dograndi. He was mortally wounded.

Lance Naik Albert Ekka was part of a company given the charge to capture Gangasagar on the Eastern Front from the enemy. During the operation, he indulged in hand to hand fight with the enemy and crawled to the army location and destroyed their guns to save his fellow soldiers. 

Srinagar airfield was attacked by a wave of 6 Sabre aircraft. Flying officer Sekhon engaged a pair of the attacking Sabres, succeeded in damaging two of the enemy aircraft before his plane crashed.

Second Lt. Arun Khetarpal physically over ran the enemy , capturing their infantry and weapon crews at pistol point. He went on to personally destroy four enemy tanks

Facing a wave of counter attacks, Major Singh, while he was injured, rushed to a machine-gun pit and manned the gun himself till the enemy retreated. Singh refused to be evacuated till the ceasefire.

Naib Subedar Bana Singh volunteered to be a member of a task force to clear an intrusion in the Siachen Glacier. Moving from trench to trench and lobbing hand grenades, he cleared the posts of all intruders.

Parameswarams column was ambushed. He encircled the enemy and charged. Despite getting shot in the chest, he snatched the rifle from a militant and shot him in the head. He gave orders till his last breath.

Lt.Pandey was a part of series of attacks during Operation Vijay , forcing back the intruders with heavy losses.   

Tasked to capture 3 Tiger Hill bunkers, Grenadier Yadav, after being hit by three bullets, climbed the remaining 60 feet to an enemy bunker at the top and lobbed a grenade, killing 4 and neutralising enemy fire.

During an Operatiom to captre a point in the Mushkoh Valley, he indulged in hand to hand combat and even chased the enemy using their machine gun .   

In an Operation as part of Operation Vijay, Capt. Batra killed 5 enemy soldiers in a hand to hand fight at point blank range