Army Vice-Chief salutes fallen comrades before taking charge

Before stepping into his new role as Vice-Chief of the Army on Friday, Lieutenant General Pushpendra Singh made a personal detour. In a solemn ceremony at the National War Memorial here, he paid tribute to five soldiers who had once fought by his side — and laid down their lives in an operation he led as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka in 1989. He was seriously injured in the same mission.

What made the moment poignant was the presence of the families of the fallen. The widows and relatives of the five soldiers stood alongside Lt Gen Singh as he offered a floral tribute at the Tyag Chakra, where the names of the five bravehearts have been etched.

He also paid homage at the eternal flame of the National War Memorial.

Lt Gen Singh was a young Second Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, Special Forces (4 PARA SF) when the incident occurred on July 22, 1989.

He was leading a 13-member quick reaction team moving from Iranamadu to Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. The convoy was ambushed en route, triggering a fierce counter-assault in which four LTTE militants were neutralised and several others injured. Five Indian soldiers made the supreme sacrifice, while Singh and two others sustained serious injuries.

The 4 PARA SF had been inducted into Sri Lanka in October 1987 and played a critical role in several operations, first in Jaffna and later in Kilinochchi.

Lt Gen Singh was commissioned into the Army in December 1987 after graduating from La Martiniere College, Lucknow, Lucknow University, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.