Service No : 9204205K
Date of Birth : May 25, 1944
Place of birth : Pauri Garhwal Dist
Service : Army
Last Rank : Havaldar
Unit : 10 Mahar
Arm/Regt : The Mahar Regiment
Operation : Op Cactus Lily
Awards : VrC
Martyrdom : November 30, 1971
Havaldar Budhi Ballabh VrC
Havaldar Budhi Bhallabh hailed from Tachholi village of Pauri Garhwal District in Uttarakhand. Son of Shri Rashi Ram and Smt. Palturi Devi, he joined the Army after his initial school education. He was recruited into 10 Mahar Battalion of the Mahar Regiment, an infantry regiment founded in 1941 with a glorious history of gallantry in various operations.
The 10th Battalion was raised as a Machine Gun Battalion at Saugor on 15 November, 1962. On 1 Sep 1963, the battalion was converted to a standard infantry battalion and re-designated as 10th Battalion, the Mahar Regiment. It formed part of 52 infantry Brigade for the capture of Muhadipur on Chhaprar-Sialkot axis on night of 17-18 Sep 1965 during the 1965 war. The battalion captured the villages of Muhadipur and Tilakpur despite intense shelling, repulsed repeated fierce counterattacks by Pakistani forces. 10 Mahar battalion was conferred with Battle Honour "Tilakpur-Muhadipur" and Theatre Honour "Punjab 1965" in recognition of the splendid operation performance. By the year 1971, Hav Budhi Bhallabh had put in substantial years of service and had evolved into a gritty and committed soldier.
Indo-Pak War : 30 Nov 1971
Though the war with Pakistan actually commenced on 03 Dec 1971, when Pakistani Air Force attacked Air Bases of India, the border skirmishes were going on much before that and Hav Budhi Bhallabh’s unit was involved in one such operation on 29/30 Nov 1971. During that period, 10 Mahar battalion formed part of 81 Mountain Brigade deployed in Shamsher Nagar of erstwhile east Pakistan. The Mahar Regiment was given the task of capturing an enemy position, at Chatlapur on the Eastern Front, which was well-fortified and dominated by machine guns around the entire area. Hav Budhi Bhallabh was part of the assault force that was assigned the task.
During the assault his platoon was held up in front of two enemy bunkers due to heavy and accurate fire. By that time, half of the troops in his platoon had either been killed or wounded. Undeterred, he went from man to man collecting ammunition of those who had been killed and wounded and distributed this ammunition amongst those still fighting. Realizing that his platoon could not advance due to close proximity and fire of the enemy, Hav Budhi decided to single handedly destroy the enemy bunker. In an attempt to do that he crawled up to the enemy bunker but was hit by a machine gun burst. He succumbed to his injuries and was martyred on the battle field. Hav Budhi Bhallabh was a gallant soldier, who displaying grit and resolve of a very high order, laid down his life in the line of his duty.
Hav Budhi Bhallabh was given the gallantry “Vir Chakra” for his outstanding courage, determination, devotion to duty and supreme sacrifice.
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