The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories Read Free Page A

his voice.
    Somi doesn’t answer. A half smile plays on his lips.

    Maj Somnath Sharma was born on 31 January 1923, in Jammu. His father, Amarnath Sharma, was a medical corps officer, who rose to the rank of major general. Of his two brothers, Surindra Nath, better known as Tindy in Army circles, went on to become the engineer-in-chief. The youngest, Vishwa Nath, joined the armoured corps and went on to become the Chief of Army Staff in 1988. Of his two sisters, Kamla joined the Army as a doctor and married an Army officer, who also rose to the rank of Major General; the other, Manorama, also married a brigadier in the Army.
    When Tindy was four years old, his father was detailed to do a medical course in England and decided to take his wife along. Somi and Tindy, who were about one year apart, were put in Hampton Court Convent in Mussoorie. Though Somi was older, they were put in the same class and made a good team. The two remained boarders there, happy to be in the same dormitory.
    ‘We got kicked around by seniors, but Somi was my protector because he was tougher and bigger than me, ‘ remembers Tindy. ‘I was the brains behind the pair, I was very good at math, and he was more into outdoor stuff. Other than history and general knowledge, Somi was just not interested in studies.’
    The deal between the brothers was that while Somi would protect Tindy from the bullies, Tindy would finish all the homework in the evening so that Somi could get up early and copy it. Both went on to study at Sherwood from where Somi, who always wanted to join the Army, applied for admission to the Prince of Wales’s Royal Indian Military College (now Rashtriya Indian Military College), Dehradun.
    After passing out in May 1941 he joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA) where he did exceptionally well. By then the war had started and IMA training was cut short. After about nine months of training, Somi became a commissioned officer in February 1942. He was just 19 when he joined the 8/19 Hyderabad Regiment, now 4 Kumaon, as a second lieutenant. He faced action in Arakan where one of the toughest battles of the Burma War was fought with the Japanese on the Arakan coast where three Indian battalions landed, along with one battalion of British commandos.
    That was where Somi saw a wounded Kumaoni soldier sitting against a tree. He asked the man to run but when he replied that he was not be able to stand up, the tough and battle-hardy Somi carried the man on his back, right through Japanese crossfire, laughing all the way, and bringing him back to safety. The two were not shot, possibly because the Japanese respected raw courage.
    Returning to India as a major and the adjutant of 4 Kumaon, Somi got busy in internal security duties in various parts of Punjab and helping the police and civil authorities in controlling civil disturbances in 1947. Many educational institutions in Delhi still talk of his great powers of organization in arranging supplies of rations and safe movement of people from one locality to another. He was made in charge of a flying squad of men with jeeps, who would assist the police in controlling civil disturbances in Delhi. His amicable but firm command instilled confidence and discipline in many difficult situations.
    The same was tested when hostilities broke out in Kashmir in 1947, and India decided to send her troops to save Kashmir from the Pakistani raiders. Though Somi’s left arm was in plaster due to an old wrist-fracture suffered doing gymnastics, he insisted on going with his company. As he was so keen to go, the commanding officer finally agreed and ordered him to fly in and command two companies of 4 Kumaon tasked with the protection of Srinagar airfield. There are some priceless black and white pictures of him with his arm in a cast, taken at Safdarjung Airport, where he is grinning broadly, no doubt happy with the thought of being with his men in war.
    When Somi landed in Srinagar in late October, the