Param Vir Chakra Winners

Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is the highest gallantry award given to the personnel of India’s armed forces. Only 20 army men and one air force pilot have received this stop honour so far, 14 of them after sacrificing their life. The stories of the recipients of the PVC, the super human heroic acts of the Param Vir, should inspire every Indian. But how many of us know of their legendary deeds? How many of us know their names? How many Indians know that but for Maj. Somnath Sharma’s self-sacrifice, Kashmir Valley would have been overrun by Pakistan? How many are aware that CQMH Abdul Hamid destroyed four Pak armoured tanks firing his recoilless gun mounted on a jeep in 1965 war? Does anyone know that Naib Subedar Bana Singh’s superhuman feat of climbing an icewall of the glacier to destroy a Pak post secured Siachen for India in 1987? All these should have been part of India’s proud military history. The heroic actions of these soldiers should have found a place in the lessons of our school textbooks. Alas, we are yet to have an official history of wars free India has fought!