India's Youngest PVC awardee

Hello aspirants,

Our brave soldiers never deter an inch from saving the nation without thinking for a second about their life such is the pride and courage of our Indian army soldiers. In this post, we will see one such act of sheer grit and determination done by a merely a kid at that time of age around nineteen years.

Let's begin

1. Background
   

• Yogendra Singh Yadav was born in Aurangabad Ahir village of Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr District, Uttar Pradesh. His father also served the country in the Kumaon Regiment, participating in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistan wars.
• SM Yogendra had immense love for her motherland, and utter determination to serve the nation
• He joined the Indian Army at a very young age of 16 years and five months.

2. Life in the army
   

• He was enlisted with the 18 Grenadiers when he joined the military.
• Barely out of high school, Yadav had been in the service for just 2.5 years.
• His unit was part of commando platoon 'Ghatak' and was given the task to capture Tiger Hill.
• It is one of the highest peak in the Drass-Kargil area of J&K during Kargil war.

3. Kargil war
   

• Yadav's unit was given the task to capture three strategic bunkers on Tiger Hill in the early morning hours of 4 July 1999. The shelters were situated at the top of a vertical, snow-covered, 1000 foot high cliff face.
• They decided to climb the cliff using rope and started doing so, only 7 of them was able to jump Halfway up, an enemy bunker opened up firing the machine gun and rocket fire, killing the platoon commander and two others.
• The bullet hit Yadav on shoulders and other places, but he took cover and hurled a grenade towards the enemy bunker killing several enemies.
• This gave the time to other group soldiers to climb. Yadav then charged the second bunker along with two of his fellow soldiers and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, killing four Pakistani soldiers.
• They were faced with three attacks by enemy soldiers. Fighting without enough arms and ammunition, six soldiers died except for Yadav.
• Yadav took 17 bullets, but none was able to kill his sheer determination to protect motherland from the enemy.
• Severely wounded, lying on the ground, Yadav pretended to be dead while listening to the conversation of the Pakistani soldier's plan of action.
• Meanwhile, the enemy commander ordered to check if any of the Indian soldiers are alive and kill them by firing a bullet, Yadav was shot on the chest, but luck was on his side, and somehow survived the attack.
• Taking all of them to be dead the enemy went passed them Yadav took out a hand grenade and threw it at the Pakistani soldier.
• The shell landed inside the hood of his jacket, and before he could figure out what had happened, the explosion blew him off.
• Yadav then crawled, took hold of one of the rifles and began firing at the enemies while shifting his positions to give an impression that there were more than one soldiers.
• Soon, there was a situation of confusion and panic among the Pakistani soldiers. Assuming that the Indian army reinforcement had arrived, they fled.
• Yadav then crawled along the drain and spotted a few Indian soldiers who gave first aid to him and took him to the commanding officer.
• He narrated all the plan of action of the enemy.
• This information helped in the capturing of Tiger hill by Indian army without any further casualties.
• In August 1999, Nayab Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav was awarded Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military decoration, awarded for displaying exemplary courage during wartime.

We would end the article by quoting some of the lines spoken by Yadav in an interview-

"A soldier is like a selfless lover. With this unconditional love, comes determination. And for this love for his nation, his regiment, and his fellow soldiers, a soldier doesn't think twice before risking his life."

Stay connected to DDE for more such motivational tales of bravery.

JAI HIND