[TrueDreamer]

Tributes to the bravehearts of India on the 20th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Divas

Jai Hind!

[Gannu_1]

https://youtu.be/w75Oy3NZHcE

[Akib Khan]

A tribute to the real heroes of our Motherland.

[V.Narayan]

21 years have gone by. Those who fought have grown older. Most of the rest of the country has half forgotten. Today is Kargil Vijay Diwas.

"In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted."

[srvm]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

21 years have gone by. Those who fought have grown older. Most of the rest of the country has half forgotten. Today is Kargil Vijay Diwas.
...

Thanks for reminding us. I was a teenager in 1999. Remember many of my friends were more crazy about Cricket world cup over the war front news. How misplaced our youth were/are about choice of heroes/icons!
After the war, I made a quiet vow that my first-born son shall be named Vikram (after Captain Vikram Batra, PVC), but fate had other plans (chatterbox daughter from land-of-angels )

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

21 years have gone by. Those who fought have grown older. Most of the rest of the country has half forgotten. Today is Kargil Vijay Diwas.

"In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted."

26/7 and 26/11 are easily forgotten because most people don't care about anything except themselves.

Hopefully we will not have any more dates to forget.

[Ranjith812]

Tributes to our brave Soldiers.

Thank you for your courage and sacrifices for our nation !

Saluting India's Real Heroes.

Jai Hind.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

21 years have gone by. Those who fought have grown older. Most of the rest of the country has half forgotten. Today is Kargil Vijay Diwas.

"In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted."

Thank you Narayan Sir for keeping the thread alive. Today's Kargil Vijay Diwas assumes extra importance with the Eastern enemy literally at our doors, to remind and assure our countrymen that whatever the odds, IA/IAF/IN will always come out trumps.

Eternally grateful to my brethren in the services and paramilitary forces. May you live long and prosper! Jai Hind!

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

26/7 and 26/11 are easily forgotten because most people don't care about anything except themselves.

Hopefully we will not have any more dates to forget.

16-12-1971 is another date we need to remember. The date Bangladesh was born and Lt Gen JS Aurora took the surrender of the Pakistani Army in Dhaka.

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

to remind and assure our countrymen that whatever the odds, IA/IAF/IN will always come out trumps.

Eternally grateful to my brethren in the services and paramilitary forces. May you live long and prosper! Jai Hind!

Thank fully they are one arm of the Govt that actually functions they way it was designed to.

[hondafanboy]

Ever grateful to our brave soldiers and their families . Thank you and Jai hind!

[BoneCollector]

Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, PVC (P), a name synonymous with sheer grit and valour. He was my elder brother's squadron as well as cross country mate, they were good friends. I had the opportunity of meeting him twice, once at NDA passing out parade and once at IMA passing out parade. Never knew that I was meeting a Hero par excellence. Similarly, there were many from his course who made the supreme sacrifice in Kargil war.

A huge salute to them. 🙏

[amsidhu]

Originally Posted by 2500cc

Imagine, folks staying in hostile climate, a bunker which is flooded with water due to melting snow and continuous rains, treating people in such friendly way and giving us to eat whatever they have. My folks started crying for this gesture and told "Pappa, our relatives dont treat us this way, Salute to these people" Jai Hind!


Attachment 1784165

In 2016, I was travelling across the same pass, and friends were busy clicking pics. Suddenly news of a massive landslide just 500 mtr ahead came. People got stuck at 18000 ft for almost 4 hours, some even had AMS symptoms.

I saw how a small det atop helped the tourists in each possible way - using their rest rooms, hot water, tea, even medical cover was provided. Feel proud.

Jai Hind

[Hunter3077]

One fine morning in the July of 2009, we landed up in the Drass sector as the main body, to relieve an Artillery unit that was due to move out.
We were to acclimatise in the Mushkoh Valley, pitching up our tents and walking the distance to the Kargil Battle School (KBS) each morning for the PIT training.
On the first day of our PT fall-in, as the Adjutant of the unit, I took report and looked back. I saw an imposing mountain top that seemed to be shouting back at me - lay off. I resolved to find out what that peak was
Thus began my fascination with OP VIJAY. The war that hinged solely on the able shoulders of Indian Army's young shoulders.
I read extensively on the war, referring to the various books that had already been published - with the gallant stories of our heroes. At first, I could not believe that the innocuous looking mountain tops were witness to the supremely daunting spirit of our men. The first sight of Tololing was surreal. To imagine that the Pakis had come so close, in such dominating manner, and yet, we managed to throw them off, is stuff that the case studies are made of. 18 GRENADINES & then 2 RAJ RIF immortalised themselves in winning that first elusive and morale boosting win. Alas, at a heavy price. Lt Col Vishwanath is one of the many names that are uttered with a sombre fervour when Tololing is talked about.
18 GRENADINES & 2 RAJ RIF went on to script more majestic and successful victories over the next couple of months.
While camped at Mushkoh, I realised that every peak, every saddle and every mountain had a tale to narrate. A tale that mostly consisted of unparalleled bravery of the Indian soldier, led by maverick Indian army officers.
My two year tenure at Drass was majorly an exercise in understanding what went behind these operations to recapture those insurmountable peaks and what propelled the Indian soldier, besieged by the lack of quality winter clothing, to embark on such fantastic missions that hardly guaranteed him his life.
The conclusion was the same as ever. The fabric of the Indian Army, standing against the test of time, has repeatedly Come to the rescue of our organisation. Till the time, we have Vikram Batras, Anuj Nayyars, Balwans, Khushal Thakurs, Manoj Pandeys, Yogender Yadavs, Sanjay Kumars, Kenguruse, Vijayants and the scores of men laying down their lives for our sacred nation, no possible harm can ever come to destroy us.
From that first day of PT in Mushkoh Valley till today, I have been in awe of our Armed forces and will continue to do so.
We, are a class apart and we know it too.


Dedicated to the memories of OP Vijay - 21 years on.....

[skchettry]

Originally Posted by Hunter3077

The conclusion was the same as ever. The fabric of the Indian Army, standing against the test of time, has repeatedly Come to the rescue of our organisation. Till the time, we have Vikram Batras, Anuj Nayyars, Balwans, Khushal Thakurs, Manoj Pandeys, Yogender Yadavs, Sanjay Kumars, Kenguruse, Vijayants and the scores of men laying down their lives for our sacred nation, no possible harm can ever come to destroy us.

Thank you very much Sir for bringing back memories of the bravehearts, many of whom made the supreme sacrifice at such a young age. We don't have words to describe their valour in such extremes of conditions. Hope we all can be worthy citizens of the country worth protecting.
My salute to you too for being in the IA; the institution that swears allegiance to the Constitution of India and lives by it.

[V.Narayan]

Today is the 51st anniversary of the 1971 Indo-Pak war that ended in unqualified victory for India and the creation of a new nation state - Bangladesh. In 13 short days the Indian Armed Forces along with the Indian trained Mukti Bahini annexed the all of Bangladesh's 148,000 odd square kms and captured 90,000+ POWs of the Pakistani Army & administration. Never before since World War II had any country achieved a military conquest of this magnitude.

And India achieved this while keeping the enemy forces of West Pakistan at an arms length and keeping the China border fully manned & covered by fighter air patrols to dissuade any adventures by China. All this was achieved by astute political leadership and of course superb footwork by the Armed Forces.

Photo below showing the signing of the instrument of surrender by Pakistan's Lt. General AK Niazi flanked by India's Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aroura on the left. The Pakistani's killed around 3 million Bangladeshi's in 1971 as the freedom fight of the Bangladeshis gained momentum. It was the largest genocide since World War II. President Nixon of USA chose to ignore it against the advice of his own embassy in Dhaka saying infamously {the exact words I don't recollect now} that a few million East Pakistani's are not going to derail his rapproachement with China & Mao Zedong. He needed Pakistan as a bridge to China.