Sudhir Kumar Walia

Major Sudhir Kumar Walia was an Indian military officer with the 9 Parachute (Special Forces) unit. In 1988, he graduated from the Indian Military Academy as an officer in the 4 Jat Regiment. He was a member of the 70000 soldiers who were sent to Sri Lanka on a peace mission. After he returned from Sri Lanka, he was moved to the 9 Parachute Commando regiment which is a special force of the Indian Army that specialises in mountain operations. He served two six-month terms at Siachen. In 1997, he was sent to the United States for a specialised course and got first position. He also spoke at the Pentagon during this mission. He was later deputed as aide-de-camp to the Chief of the Army Staff and was twice decorated with gallantry awards for combating militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. When the Kargil War broke out, he obtained special permission to go to the battlefield because at that time he was recovering from injuries, and his team recaptured the Zulu Ridge. After the Kargil War ended, his team was assigned the duty of fighting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

On 29 August 1999, he led an assault on a militant hideout in the Haphruda jungles of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir. He killed 9 of a total of 20 militants and sustained gunshot wounds in the process. Though he was unable move, he continued to give orders to his team till they succeeded. He allowed himself to be evacuated only 35 minutes after the operation ended. He was airlifted to the army base hospital but he succumbed to the injuries en route. For his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, the highest peace time military decoration in India.