The Brave

The Brave

Param Vir Chakra Stories by Rachna Bisht Rawat

(Book Review 9/2015)

The book is very good. Good enough to instil the gratitude we owe to these brave soldiers of Mother India and we are highly obliged to them for our security and the freedom we enjoy as our birthright. Without these brave soldiers we would be in the total darkness without a single star of hope. I salute all the brave sons of India.

I have been always fascinated by the idea of joining army but I couldn’t due to certain restraints and still I hope to join them one day if not this time maybe next time. What army guarantees is not a glorious life but a life which can have a very glorious death and that’s the greatest gift anyone can have having fully served our motherland. To die a brave death is a big enough trophy for me to join the forces. How many people you remember who have died a very glorious death? Perhaps a few lucky people most of them in the uniforms.

The book starts with “For all those brave soldiers whose sacrifices went unrecognized – you were as brave as the ones we honoured” Truly realistic isn’t it?

 

1.       The Indo-Pak war of 1947-48
Somnath Sharma                                             Badgam, Jammu & Kashmir 3^rd November 1947
Karam Singh                                                   Richhmar Gali, Kashmir 13^th October 1948
Rama Raghoba Rane                                       Jammu & Kashmir April 1948
Jadunath Singh                                                Tain Dhar, Kashmir 6^th February 1948
Piru Singh Shekhawat                                      The battle of Darapari 18^th July 1948

2.       Congo 1961
Gurbachan Singh Salaria                                  Elizabethville, Katanga 5^th December 1961, 1.12 PM

3.       The Indo-Chinese war of 1962
Dhan Singh Thapa                                            Battle For Sirijap 1, Ladakh Region 20^th October 1962
Joginder Singh                                                  The battle of Tongpen La, 23^rd October 1962, 5.30 AM
Shaitan Singh                                                    Rezang La October 1962

4.       Second Kashmir war of 1965
Abdul Hamid                                                     Khem Karan Sector 8^th September 1965
Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore                                Buttar Dograndi 16^th September 1965

5.       The Indo-Pak war of 1971
Albert Ekka                                                       Gangasagar, Bangladesh 3^rd December 1971
Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon                                     Srinagar 14^th December 1971
Arun Khetarpal                                                  Basantar, Shakargarh Sector 16^th December 1971
Hoshiar Singh                                                    Basantar, Shakargarh, Pakistan 15-16 December 1971

6.       Siachen 1987
Bana Singh                                                         Quaid Post, 26^th June 1987

7.       Operation Pawan 1987-90
Ramaswamy Parameshwaran                              North Jaffna 24^th November 1987

8.       The Kargil War 1999
Manoj Kumar Pandey                                        Baltik sector, Kargil 2-3 July 1999
Yogender Singh Yadav                                       Tiger Hill 5^th June 1999
Sanjay Kumar                                                   Area flat Top, Point 4875 4^th July 1999, 1 PM
Vikram Batra                                                     Pt 4875 7^th July 1999

You will fight till the last man and the last bullet.

Really great to know Lest we forget. It’s very important to know for a soldier dies two deaths one when he actually dies and second when he is forgotten.

So I say every Indian should know about these sacrifices and this book truly does the justice by adept research and lots of hard work of meeting everyone connected with these brave stories so a must read book.