Sepoy Sewa Ram

Sepoy Sewa Ram hailed from Mulhera village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. Son of Shri Hari Ban, he was inclined to join the armed forces since his childhood. Eventually, he got selected to join the Army and was recruited into 890 AT(Animal Transport) battalion of the Army Service Corps, an important logistic arm of the Indian Army.  

After serving for sometime, he got married to Ms Bhoti and the couple had two sons Ram Kumar & Onkar Ban and two daughters Pramod Devi & Krishna Devi. By 1971, he had served in various field areas and gained the skills required to handle the mules the backbone of any Animal Transport company. 

Border Operations (J&K) : 06 Oct 1971

During Oct 1971, Sep Sewa Ram's unit 890 AT (Animal Transport ) battalion was deployed in J&K. The Animal Transport units under the Indian Army Service Corps worked alongside troops during war to transport ammunition and other stores to forward units as well as transport casualties to military hospitals on some of the most treacherous tracks in the world. Even during peace time, the role of these units was vital in providing last-mile logistics supply to isolated army units. During winter, heavy snowfall would convert the J&K frontier into a terrain where no vehicle (perhaps even man) could possibly go. If not for for the supplies brought by the Animal Transport units, the soldiers would have been unable to stay at their outposts. Sep Sewa Ram's unit had mules who were trained to brave bullets, airstrikes and battle trenches to undertake the given tasks. 

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 the Indian Army had moved a number of units to the operational areas in the early part of 1971.  As a number of infantry units were operating in J&K in October, Sep Sewa Ram's unit was providing the vital support for their operations. On 06 Oct 1971, Sep Sewa Ram was tasked for one such support operation to transport the critical stores. It was a last-mile logistics supply operation in the very inhospitable conditions as the terrain was very treacherous and challenging. However, Sep Sewa Ram got severely injured while undertaking the operation and was martyred. Sep Sewa Ram was a gallant soldier, who laid down his life in the line of his duty, following the highest traditions of Indian Army.

Sep Sewa Ram is survived by his son Shri Ramkumar Goswami and daughters Smt Pramod Devi and Smt Krishna Devi.