Bravest of Brave Indian Soldier Abdul Hamid PVC

A soldier in the 4th Grenadiers of the Indian Army, he destroyed 7 Patton tanks of the enemy and went down fighting in the Khem Karan sector during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965

Emblazoned on one wing of an army building in the Cantonment area of Bangalore was the name, ‘Abdul Hamid Barracks’. A few years ago, due to renovation perhaps, the placard was removed. Who was Abdul Hamid, I asked myself. He was, it was apparent, a great soldier who had served his country faithfully and well. A little research yielded the moving and inspiring story of a very brave man — a modern-day hero.

Company Quarter Master Havildar Abdul Hamid was a soldier in the 4th Grenadiers, Indian Army and went down fighting in the Khem Karan sector during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. Even as a child, he was no stranger to the traditions and rigours of army life. His father was Lance Naik Usman Farooqi.

In 1965, when war broke out between India and Pakistan, Abdul Hamid had already completed ten years of service in the Indian army and won the Saniya Seva medal, Samai Seva medal and the Raksha medal. The enemy’s offensive was aimed at Aknoor in Jammu. Their goal was to cut off communication and supply routes to the Indian forces on the border of Jammu and Kashmir. The 4th Grenadiers occupied a vital area near Chima village on the road to Khem Karan. Firm hold of this area was essential for the Indian plan of defence. On September 8, the enemy made repeated attacks on the Grenadiers’ position, but was repulsed each time. The most serious assault came when the enemy advanced with a regiment of Patton tanks. So intense was the attack that a shell littered every yard of ground occupied by the Indian battalion. Hamid was in command of a recoilless gun detachment. He moved out to a flank with his gun mounted on a jeep.

Intense enemy firing did nothing to deter him. From his new position he knocked out the leading tank with accurate fire. Then changing position, he disabled another. By now the enemy had spotted him and employed machine guns and explosives to bring him down. As he hit another enemy tank, he was mortally wounded by a high explosive shell.

Throughout this blistering attack, he had inspired his comrades to put up a gallant fight. The enemy was routed. They never made it past Khem Karan. Approximately 97 Pakistani tanks were destroyed or abandoned during this battle.

Abdul Hamid did not live to see the next day or share in the joy of victory that came after three days of intense fighting. He was awarded the highest military honour, the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously. His citation gives him credit for destroying three tanks. He had in fact destroyed seven.

Today he lies in a modest grave at a place commemoratively called Assal Uttar (‘Befitting Reply’). A fading plaque records his heroic deeds. He had stood up single-handedly in India’s most famous win in the 1965 War. According to the caretaker there, only a handful of visitors come on his death anniversary every September 10.

One can make a note some important developments, though. This decisive win exposed the vulnerability of the M 48 Patton Tanks. They had been supplied by the United States to Pakistan. They were withdrawn completely and replaced with M60 Patton Tanks. India set up a War Memorial in Khem Karan, where the captured Patton tanks are displayed.
 

भारतवर्ष के वीर सपूत अब्दुल हमीद, जिन्होंने अकेले दम पर पाकिस्तान के 7 टैंक नष्ट किये थे, के शहादत दिवस (10 सितम्बर ) शत-शत नमन

A stamp was issued in Hamid’s honour in 2000. A television serial featuring Naseeruddin Shah was also produced. But by and large, today Hamid is a forgotten hero. His spirit fortunately lives on. Very few are probably aware that the intrepid social activist, Anna Hazare, was present and active during this period of valour and glory. A comrade of Abdul Hamid, his assignment was to carry firearms and bombs to the border. In the fierce engagement all his fellow-soldiers became martyrs. He was the only survivor. It was an experience that affected him profoundly, making ‘Service to the Nation’ the moving force of his.  Article by -- Leela Ramaswamy

The Brave : Param Vir Chakra Capt. Gurbachan Singh Salaria

Two bullets had pierced his neck. The blood was seeping down and soaking his shirt. Right ahead he could see the gendarmerie running away. Some of his brave and gutsy Gorkhas were still giving chase.

He did not resist when an immense weariness enveloped him. He had lost too much blood. His task had been achieved and he was at peace. Closing his eyes, Capt Gurbachan Singh Salaria of 3/1 Gorkha Rifles, dropped his rifle and fell, drifting into unconsciousness from which he would never awaken.

Many years earlier, when Salaria had joined the Gorkha Rifles, he had been told that his regiment’s motto was: It is better to die than to be a coward: Kafar hunu bhanda marnu ramro.

Salaria had lived up to the motto. Salaria fancied himself a palmist. Before the Congo deployment in February 1961, he had visited Chotta Shimla for some work and run into an excise officer, who used to read people’s palms.

Reading Salaria’s hand, the officer told him that there was a star on his mount of Jupiter, which would bring him great fame. Salaria took the prediction very seriously and would often point it out to fellow officers in lighter moments.

Maj Gen RP Singh recalls Salaria showing him his own right hand. He pointed out the star on his mount of Jupiter. ‘Wait and see, this star will take me to great heights,’ he said. Singh had leaned over to feel the mount, but only out of politeness. ‘I just shrugged it off as I never took his knowledge of palmistry seriously,’ the general recounts.

‘I did not know that his day of reckoning and attaining fame was just a few days away. Or that he would never know of this fame since it would come when he was in his heavenly abode,’ he says quietly.

Gurbachan Singh Salaria was born on 29 November 1935 in a village called Janwal, near Shakargarh, now in Pakistan. The second of five children, he was a favourite of his grandmother, who would tie a black thread around his waist to keep the evil eye away from him.

Gurbachan’s father Munshi Ram was in the Armoured Corps of the British Indian Army and would move from one Army cantonment to another, coming home only on annual or casual leave.

When he did come home, it was celebration time. Friends and family would drop in to listen to his awe-inspiring tales of faraway places where soldiers performed great acts of bravery. Little Gurbachan and his siblings would listen to their father in rapt attention. Quite possibly this is how Gurbachan was inspired to be courageous.

Gurbachan would go to school regularly, but was always more occupied with games and outdoor activities rather than studying. He was a good kabaddi player, and continued to be good at sports even after he cleared the entrance to King George’s Royal Military College (KGRMC), Bangalore. Though he was initially rejected in the physical exam because his chest was found to be an inch less than the stipulated measurements, he was given a month to try again. He took the challenge head on, drinking one litre of goat’s milk every day and exercising passionately.

When he went back for his medical, he had managed to increase his chest by two-and-a-half inches and was immediately admitted. He joined the college in August 1946 as a cadet. In 1947, he was transferred to KGRMC Jullundur, which was closer to his village.

When he was in his second year, Gurbachan and a friend were once bullied and insulted by another cadet. Gurbachan’s self-respect took a blow but he challenged the bully to a boxing match the next day. He boxed with such fury that the bully was knocked out and had to apologise. The operation in Congo was very reminiscent of this incident; where Gurbachan took on a much bigger and better equipped enemy fighting force just because he wanted to teach them a lesson in war ethics.

Gurbachan went on to the National Defence Academy and then the Indian Military Academy. He joined 2/3 Gorkha Rifles in July 1954 where he was nicknamed Khan Saheb by his commanding officer because of his cropped hair cut and upturned moustache.

In March 1960, he received orders, transferring him to 3/1 Gorkha Rifles. And that was where General R P Singh, who was then the battalion adjutant, met him. General Singh found Salaria to be a simple man, spartan and very careful with money, unlike other young officers, many of whom had extravagant tastes. In fact, Salaria once told him, he recalled, that he was sending money home to finance the education of his younger brother Sukhdev, at college in Jammu.

Sukhdev is now 75 and lives in Pathankot. He is bedridden and has lost his sense of balance, but he remembers fondly how, when he and Gurbachan were little boys - Gurbachan was older by two years - they would go swimming in the small stream that ran across their village.

‘We had no worries then; we would splash around in the stream. What beautiful days they were. Now Gurbachan is gone and I can’t walk, but whenever I think of him that is the first memory that streams into my head,’ says the old man, sinking back into silence. He has more memories to recount but his strength fails him.

Source : New Indian Express