Lance Naik Mohinder Singh was born in Bhaini Paswan village of Gurdaspur district in Punjab. His parents were Shri Ajit Singh and Smt. Rattan Kaur. He joined the army at the age of 18 as it was his childhood dream, and was recruited into 16 Sikh, a battalion of The Sikh Regiment, which had been decorated with 14 Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration of the UK. In 10 early years of his service, his unit had been posted in many operational activities across the nation, which had given him ample opportunities to evolve himself into a very brave and competent soldier and gave him much experience.
| Service No | 3376395 | ||||
| DOB | April 1, 1960 | ||||
| Last Rank | Lance Naik | ||||
| Unit | 16 Sikh | ||||
| Arm/Regt | The Sikh Regiment | ||||
| Operation | Operation Pawan (Sri Lanka) | ||||
| Award | Vir Chakra | ||||
| Date Of Martyrdom | July 23, 1988 |
OPERATION PAWAN 1988
On 29 July, 1987 Indian Govt. signed an agreement with Sri Lanka for assuring them any help to restore peace in their country. But the solution for restoring peace there didn’t go easy, as IPKF (India Peace Keeping Force) had to carry out a long bloody war in Lanka. After heavy damage caused by LTTE in Lanka, Indian Operations were launched in August 1987, which continued for three long years. 16 Sikh were deployed there in 1988. On 23rd July a strong information came to the unit of a militant hideout. An operation was launched to burst out the hideout by the forces. The operation was launched by 2 companies of the unit, and they decided to attack from two directions, Bravo company from west and Delta company of Lance Naik Mohinder Singh from east. At about 1030 hours both the companies were attacked with a heavy enemy fire. They were attacking with GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun). To stop the enemy fire, Lance Naik Mohinder Singh fired with his LMG (Light Machine Gun), but his fire wasn’t able to make much impact. On realising, it is necessary to silence the GPMG to save the life of his fellow brothers, disregard of his life, he jumped on to the enemy GPMG position and caught the barrel of firing GPMG with his bare hands (which was too hot due to firing) and turned its mouth towards other direction and in doing this he also was hit with several burst of the fire, which made him to pay his life but saved the life of fellow soldiers. In between this the forces charged upon the militants fiercely and made them to fly from the spot. And because of his unmatchable bravery he saved the life of his comrades and made the operation successful. After this the troops took the hold of the enemy position. For his sacrifice for the nation, he was awarded Vir Chakra (posthumously).
“I Am A Soldier, I Fight Where I Wm And Win Where I Am.” —-General George S. Patton US Army
