Wednesday, 26 February 2020

The story of Jaswant Singh Rawat- Hero of the Indo-Sino war 1962


A new destination, a new story... 
I came to know about this one when I was in Arunachal Pradesh- a truly beautiful destination. Every view is so mesmerizing that no matter how many pictures you click, you simply can never have enough. The beauty is enough to make one fall in love with it instantly. 




But in all this mesmerizing beauty, so many heartbreaking, "not so famous" stories are hidden.  This one is about a brave soldier of the Indian army- A hero of the Indo- Sino war 1962.  



Hon Captain Jaswant Singh Rawat- a 22-year-old Indian soldier of 4 Garwal rifles, who won the Maha Vir Chakra at The Battle of Nuranang during the 1962 India-China war. 
   According to the legend, this brave young man single-handedly fought the Chinese army for 3 days. It was the last phase of the war in November 1962 and due to the lack of resources, the company was asked to fall back. But Jaswant Singh refused to give up and remained at his post. A Chinese medium machine gun (MMG) was located at a point close to the company. Hence, Jaswant Singh, Trilok Singh Negi, and Gopal Singh Gusain went after the Chinese army and by throwing grenades at the bunkers, they killed several Chinese soldiers. 
Later, while crawling back to safety Trilok and Gopal got severely injured, but they still managed to drag the MMG to the Indian post. Meanwhile, Jaswant killed around 300 Chinese soldiers but unfortunately, he got shot by one right in the heart.
    
 It is believed that the Chinese soldiers were so intimidated by the bravery of our young Jaswant Singh Rawat that after they killed him, they captured and beheaded him to celebrate their victory and the death of Jaswant.



After they chopped his head off, they placed it on a tree near the border. The tree is now placed in the memorial called Smriti Sthal built for Jaswant Singh Rawat with all of his belongings like uniform and other items. Although the significance of this memorial is the tree, there are also photographs of the Commanding officer and the other martyrs who played an important role in the battle of Nuranang.
The tree where the Chinese army placed Jaswant's chopped head.
Jaswant Singh Rawat's uniform and other personal items
 22-year-old Jaswant Singh Rawat is not the only young brave soldier who died serving his country. He alone fought and killed around 300 Chinese soldiers who had much more advanced weapons. Indian history has so many young soldiers who fought fearlessly and gave their lives protecting our country whose stories were never told or maybe we are unaware. 

A big salute to all those courageous young lads who sacrificed their lives to protect ours!


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