Shaheed Captain
Jintu Gogoi
Body
arrives, fiancee gives up her last hope
New Delhi, July 14 (HT Correspondent)
As
the last post was sounded and the soldiers in ceremonial gear turned their
weapons upside down, they remembered the smiling faces of the eleven martyrs
whom they were honouring.
Capt
Jintu Gogoi, L/nk Madan Singh, Rfn Jaideep Singh, Rfn Varinder Lal (17 Garhwal), Sep Rajvir Singh, Sep Dharambir Singh, Sep Vinod Kumar, Sub Harphul
Singh, Sep Gazpal Singh and Sep Krishan Kumar (17 JAT) had gone into the
battlefield with weapons blazing and made the supreme sacrifice for the
nation. They were brought for the ceremonial wreath laying in Delhi Cantonment.
Capt
Jintu Gogoi, who was recalled from leave to join his unit 17 Garhwal barely
a 12 days after his engagement, was brought in a tri-colour draped coffin.
A marigold wreath on it. Watched by his fiancee and relatives who waited
for the senior officers to pay their respects before giving way to their
own sorrow. "There is no hope now," Anjuna said. Just days ago she had
spoken to The Hindustan Times about hoping that since Capt Gogoi’s body
had not been recovered he may be alive.
No
tears fell from her bright eyes. The smile belied the shattered dreams.
Yet the quiet dignity honoured the soldier more.
Eager
for news of how the end came, she spoke to the soldiers who had been with
him at that time. "He was leading from the front. There were three men
ahead of him. His body was found barely 150 yards from the picket on Jubar
Hills that he had been ordered to take. A full burst from a machine gun
had caught him in his solar plexus," she said. The men of 17 Garhwal had
charged into battle shouting ‘Badri Vishal’, their battle cry. Of the four
companies that went into battle one officer and eleven jawans did not return.
Nation's third
highest wartime gallantry award VIR CHAKRA was awarded to Captain Jintu
Gogoi on 15th August 1999.
Courtesy: The Hindustan Times News Service
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