Pune: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on December 13 will felicitate soldiers disabled in the line of duty and highlight their contribution to Indian Army. The event will be held at Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) & Centre, Khadki.
To honour soldiers who have been disabled in the line of duty, while serving the nation and to celebrate the undying spirit of soldiering, Indian Army has declared 2018 as the ‘Year of Disabled Soldiers in Line of Duty’.
Approximately, 600 serving and retired disabled soldiers from Indian Army’s Southern Command, South Western Command and Central Command will attend the event. Wheel chairs, prosthetic and artificial limbs will be presented to the disabled soldiers during the event.Here is the profile of some of the soldiers who will be felicitated.
Major Vivek Gupta : Kargil War
On June 13, 1999, while nearing its objective, the Assault Group came under enemy fire and his company commander and five members of his team were killed. Although, Kumar was hit by a bullet in his left arm, he kept firing on the enemy with his light machine gun. His fire facilitated his men’s advancement, allowing them to physically assault the enemy position and clear the area after a hand-to-hand fight. He was responsible for killing 48 Pakistani soldiers single-handed and received total 18 bullets on his body armour. He threw 18 grenades into 11 bunkers.
Lt Gen Vijay Oberai
Despite his disability he rose steadily in the Army till he retired as Vice Chief of Army Staff on Sept 30, 2001 after over 40 years of service. After four years of service in Maratha Regiment, Gen Oberai was wounded in 1965 Indo-Pak war and lost his right leg. His spirit though refused to submit to limitations of a physical trauma.
Major DP Singh
Maj DP Singh is a retired officer of the Indian Army who is a Kargil War Veteran and is known as Indian First Blade Runner. Commissioned into the Dogra Regiment of Indian Army, he was injured in July 1999 at LOC in Akhnoor Sector during the Kargil War. He was 80 metres from a Pakistani Army Post when a mortar fell within 1.5 metre of where he was, injuring multiple parts of his body and almost lost his life. Undeterred by his amputation, he gradually started playing golf in 2000. Also, he has run a total of 18 marathons and continuing to do so till date.
Naib Subedar Anandan Guna Shekharan
He was on patrolling duty along the LoC in Kupwara district of J&K in 2008 when a land mine blew up his left leg. He suffered other serious injuries but he did not give up. He trained hard at the Para Node at BEG & Centre and Army Sports Institute and emerged winner of a bronze medal at the 2018 Para Asian Games in Indonesia.
Lance Havildar Aneesh Kumar
While on long range patrol in J&K, he got stuck in the snow and his foot had to be amputated due to frostbite. After getting training BEG&C Para Node, Kumar won gold in discus throw and shot put at the 2018 Nationals in Panchkula, Haryana and a silver at the Indian Open in July this year to earn an Asian Para Games spot. He won bronze in discus throw in the Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, with a throw of 45.41m in F/44 category (lower limb disability).
Lance Naik M Anthony Das Pereira
A native of Kanyakumari, he is currently serving with PRC as National Wheelchair Basketball coach.
Pereira is a 1971 war casualty from the Corps of Engineers who sustained shell wound fraction with paraplegia during war in Bangladesh and was confined to a wheelchair at a young age of 26 yrs.
