Guts, Grit and Glory | A Real Life Hero

Maj. Gen. Raj Mehta (retd)

There are heroes and there are heroes. So goes the popular perception of brave-hearts. In the military sense, heroism is often an event, an episode or a happening quite often unplanned but sometimes planned as well. This is when there is an opportunity; a chance to do something unexpected; something out-of-the-box; something extraordinary either individually or in a buddy pair, sub team or team action. The person gets involved in a manner led by gut instinct, grit, enterprise, cold courage tested almost always against impossible odds. Such a brave-heart is led by selflessness and unit/country-first ideals, always and every time.

So, there are heroes… and there are heroes. By implication, this means that some heroes rise above heroism itself. When they do, they need to be respected, admired; placed on an altar where only the finest examples of humanity belong: deathless heroes. The writer is proud to indicate that he has come across one such person who meets this stringent entry requirement for deathless heroes: IC-6638 Brig NS Sandhu, MVC.

Brig Sandhu was in command of 10 Dogra in the climacteric Battle of Dera Baba Nanak (DBN) during the 1971 Indo-Pak War. This 3 Cavalry veteran of the Battle of Khemkaran (1965 Indo-Pak War), who had delivere