Let's salute to our Indian Army together, We are proud to be Indian.
Let's salute to our Indian Army together, We are proud to be Indian.
The one who received Ashoka Chakra Award for his act of utmost courage and intelligence.
Naib Sub Gurnam Singh belonged to a family of soldiers and it was his aim to become a soldier. Let’s know how he fulfilled his dream with extreme sincerity.
Naib Sub Gurnam Singh was born in Bhullar village near Amritsar, Punjab on 18th August 1935. He had his basic education in his home district. He hailed from a family of soldiers, thus career in the Army was his natural choice. He joined the Bombay Sappers- College of military education, Kirkee on 26th August 1955.After the completion of his training, he was attested as tapper 1 and subsequently posted to Depot Bn (T) on 19th July 1957.
On 9th July 1958 he was posted to 22 Field Company. After tenure of over four and a half years in the Coy he was posted to the Depot Bn / Trg Bn-1 in October 1962. His next posting was to 23 Field Company on 15th December 1965. His last posting was to the CME, Pune as Instructor on 5th January 1971.
On the 23rd September 1973, College of Military Engineering arranged a demonstration for the visiting staff and student officers of the Defence Services Staff College. The team was also to demonstrate actual firing of the Charge Line Mine Clearing with recently introduced explosive device. Naib Sub Gurnam Singh with his party of seven sappers was detailed to demonstrate this exercise.
While he was in the midst of setting up and preparing the Charge Line Mine Clearing for firing, a mine accidentally got activated. He realized that the complete explosive was likely to blow up within few seconds. considering the safety to the lives of the men under his command, he instantly ordered them to run for safety.He himself, in complete disregard of his own life, set upon the hazardous task of deactivating the mine and to ensure the safety of the new equipment.
In spite of his best efforts, courage and determination he was not able to put off the explosion and with the explosion, he was blown into pieces. In order to save the lives of his subordinates, Naib Sub Gurnam Singh made the supreme self sacrifice. As a mark of recognition for his bravery and sacrifice, he was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra.
