Chuni Lal

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Operation Vijay

Awards
Ashok Chakra
Vir Chakra
Sena Medal
(Gallantry)

AC, VrC, SM was an Indian Army soldier of The Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (8 JAK LI). He was born in Bhaderwah,[2] and basically from Gandhari Paddar and lived in Bhara village with parents Shanker Dass and Shakuntala Devi in Doda district of Jammu
. Decorated with
Ashok Chakra
. He is the highest decorated soldier of the Indian Army of all time, honored with Sena Medal, Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra.

Career

In 1984, Lal joined the 8th Battalion, The

Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The enemy post was a glacier fortress with ice walls, 457 metres high, on either side. On 26 June 1987, Naib Subedar Bana Singh led Chuni Lal and other men through an extremely difficult and hazardous route. These men crawled and closed in on the adversary and cleared the post of all intruders. This operation was named as Operation Rajiv and Nb Sub Bana Singh was awarded Param Vir Chakra
for courage and bravery.

In 1999, in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Rakshak, he fought an attempted intrusion by the Pakistan Army and was instrumental in killing 12 intruders and saved the post from enemy capture. He was awarded the Vir Chakra, for gallantry.

He also did two tenures with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Somalia and Sudan. Display of exemplary courage by his team in Sudan won his unit a UN citation for valour.

On 21 June 2007, Lal was promoted

naib subedar (seniority from 1 June).[4]
Only three days later, on 24 June 2007, Lal was in charge of a post in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. The post was at height of 14,000 feet where visibility on that cloudy night was just 5 metres and temperature was minus 5 degrees. Around 3:30am, he detected some movement across the fence on the Line of Control and decided to check it. He deployed his soldiers at the LoC. An exchange of fire followed, which continued for almost an hour. Nb Sub Chuni Lal and his soldiers surrounded the whole area and searched for their assailants till dawn. Finally as Nb Sub Chunni Lal and his team were approaching to search a sketchy bushy patch, they were suddenly fired upon. The men continued to close on to the area where their attackers were hiding and killed two of them on the spot. In the gunfire, two army soldiers were seriously wounded and lay close to where their attackers hid. With disregard to his personal safety, Chuni Lal crawled towards the wounded men and pulled them to safety thus saving their lives. Anticipating more hidden attackers, he continued to search the area. His anticipation proved right and he saw a third attacker trying to escape. Nb Sub Chuni Lal charged at him with his weapon and killed him. Unfortunately, an exchange fire from the attacker split opened Nb Sub Chunni Lal's abdomen and he began to lose lot of blood. He took cover behind a rock, continued to fire and did not allow the other attackers to break the cordon. Under his leadership the two remaining attackers were also killed.

Chuni Lal had lost a large volume of blood and died by the time a helicopter could airlift him to nearest Army Hospital. For his actions in battle, Nb Sub Chuni Lal was posthumously awarded the

Ashok Chakra on 15 August 2007[5]
for saving the lives of his fellow men, displaying most conspicuous bravery, demonstrating battle field leadership and laying down his life to protect the country.

Nb Sub Chuni Lal is survived by his wife Chinta Devi, and three children - a son and two daughters. His wife Chinta Devi received his Ashok Chakra medal from the President of India at the

Republic Day Parade
of 26 January 2008.

Gallantry awards

 
Ashok Chakra
 Vir Chakra
Sena Medal Wound Medal
Special Service Medal
 Siachen Glacier Medal
Sainya Seva Medal
High Altitude Medal
Videsh Seva Medal
50th Anniversary of Independence Medal
20 Years Long Service Medal
9 Years Long Service Medal
 United Nations Medal - Somalia United Nations Medal - Congo

Ashoka Chakra Award details

The published details of the

Ashoka Chakra Award
:

JC-NYA-9088705 NAIB SUBEDAR CHUNNI LAL, 8 JAMMU & KASHMIR LIGHT INFANTRY (POSTHUMOUS)[6]

Naib Subedar Chunni Lal who belonged to Bhaderwah (J&K) killed three terrorists on 24 June 2007 before laying down his life in countering an infiltration bid by terrorists in Kupwara sector of J&K. This courageous junior commissioned officer was decorated twice for bravery on earlier occasions. As a young soldier he had taken part in the capture of Bana Top in Siachen Glacier in 1987 for which he was awarded a Sena Medal. He was also awarded Vir Chakra for beating back an attempted intrusion in Poonch sector in 1999.[7]

Vir Chakra Award Citation

The citation for the Vir Chakra reads as follows:

Gazette Notification: 129 Pres/2001, 15.8.2001,

Operation: -, Date of Award: 30 Aug 2000,

Citation:
Havildar Chuni Lal was part of a special mission operation at the Line of Control in Doda- Poonch Sector in Jammu and Kashmir. On 24 August 2000, he successfully thwarted enemy's attack to capture own forward post. On the night 23rd/24th August 2000, the enemy started shelling and firing heavily at own post. Despite heavy shelling, Havildar Chuni Lal displayed undaunted bravery by moving from bunker-to bunker in his section and motivating his troops who brought down effective medium machine gun fire on the enemy's attacking column. Subsequently, he inspired his men by personal example to fight a close quarter battle in open trenches.

Observing that two enemy soldiers have jumped inside own communication trench, he picked up a light machine gun and rushed at them disregarding own safety and shot them dead. Taken by surprise at the ferocity of the pro-active stance of own troops, the enemy quickly retreated leaving behind several weapons at our post. Twelve enemy soldiers were killed in the action. Havildar Chuni Lal displayed conspicuous courage and relentless offensive action in the face of the enemy.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Hav Chuni Lal, VRC, SM @ TWDI".
  2. ^ "Famous Personalities of Bhadarwah - Shaheed Chuni Lal". Sanjeet Rakwal. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  3. ^
    DNA India
    . 25 June 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch)" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 12 July 2008. p. 868.
  5. ^ "List of Awardees - 2007 - Independence Day - Ashoka Chakra". Indian Army. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  6. ^ "Press Information Bureau".
  7. ^ "Press Information Bureau".
  8. ^ "Vir Chakra (VRC), Awardee: Hav Chuni Lal, VRC, SM @ TWDI".
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