Service No: IC-39558
Date of Birth: Dec 08,1959
Place of Birth: Shillong, Meghalaya
Service: Army
Rank : Major
Unit : 16 Raj Rif
Arm/Regt : The Rajputana Rifles
Operation: Op Pawan
Award: VrC
Date of Martyrdom : Jun 5, 1989
Major Surinder Singh VrC
Major Surinder Singh was born on 8th December 1959 in Shillong, Meghalaya into a military family. Son of an army officer, Lt Colonel MS Labana, Maj Surinder Singh wanted to follow the footsteps of his father and join the Armed Forces. He followed his dream and got selected to join the prestigious NDA in Khadakwasala. Maj Surinder Singh got commissioned into the Rajputana Rifles Regiment, a regiment known for its fearless soldiers and numerous battle and theater honours.
Op Pawan : 05 June 1989
After the induction of Indian forces in Aug 1987, as part of Indo-Sri Lanka accord signed on 29 July 1987, the militants were supposed to surrender but the dreaded LTTE backed out and unleashed war on Indian forces. Initially only 54 division of the Army was inducted but the escalation of the operations brought three more divisions 3, 4 and 57 into the conflict. By June 1989, Indian forces had undertaken numerous operations against LTTE but the war was far from over. During June 1989, Maj Surinder Singh’s unit was deployed in the Jaffna peninsula and were operating in Puttur area. Based on information from intelligence sources , a decision was taken to attack a suspected hideout of the LTTE militants in Puttur on 05 Jun 1989. Maj Surinder Singh was tasked to lead that assault operation.
Maj Surinder Singh along with his troops consequently swung into action and reached the suspected area and cordoned it off. Maj Surinder Singh leading a team of 15 soldiers soon spotted the militants in the hideout and shot two of them. The determined attack by Maj Surinder Singh and his troops caused panic among the militants and two of started to flee. On seeing the militants escaping Maj Surinder Singh decided to chase them and ordered his troops accordingly. However one of the injured militants fired at Maj Surinder Singh from closed range injuring him badly. Maj Surinder Singh despite being seriously wounded turned around and shot dead the injured militant and continued the chase till he collapsed. However he refused to be attended to and ordered his troops to continue the operation and his troops eventually killed one more militant. Maj Surinder Singh later succumbed to his injuries and was martyred. He displayed gallantry, professional skill and devotion to duty of a very high order during the operation.
Major Surinder Singh was given the gallantry award, “Vir Chakra”, for his exceptional courage, indomitable spirit and supreme sacrifice during the operation.
Citation for the Vir Chakra awarded to him reads:-
Major Surinder Singh was tasked to approach a suspected militant hideout in an area east of puttar in Sri Lanka. He located and identified the hideout. Thereafter, he decided to raid it. On 5th June 1989, he organised his patrol of 15 ORs and went in for the raid during which he personally shot two militants. The patrol observed two militants fleeing the hut. The officer, without worrying about his personal safety, decided to chase the fleeing militants. In the hut were lying two militants earlier shot by him. As he ran past the hut, one militant opened fire at point blank range on Major Surinder Singh and injured him seriously. Despite injury on the chest, the officer turned around, shot dead the injured militant and continued chasing the militants till he collapsed on the ground. He refused to be attended to and directed his personnel to pursue the militants. Eventually, one of the fleeing militants was shot dead.
Major Surinder Singh, thus, displayed conspicuous gallantry and valour in the face of very adverse circumstances.
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PYARE lal doodi
2018 at 1:46 pmVery good officer .My compani commander B coy 16 Raj Rif
shwetambri sharma
2022 at 8:28 amMay your Supreme Sacrifice keep on shining in not only this world but world’s around. You are very precious to us even today.
Warmest regards from the land here to the lands wherever you are .
Maj BK Murti (Retd.)
2023 at 10:06 pmMy squadron mate and coursemate in NDA. An officer full of Josh and spirit and great sense of humor. Had us in stitches with his subtle jokes all the time.
God bless you my friend.
You left too soon , but we shall meet again one day. And it may not be too long.
Abhijeet
2023 at 5:19 pmBrave officer my salute to uncle ji. My dad was 71 war participant. 43 batch IMA died in 1982 from lung cancer that time he was Major 17 Sikh regiment. It’s very hard to serve nation in uniform because it’s tapasya. Whatever govt do for fajujis are less jitna Karo utna kaam hai they deserve lot lot lot