Today I get goosebumps when I narrate to you about our mission Tiger Hill. Thankfully, at that time we were mentally alert and were prepared to combat our enemy. Now, I can refer to the incident as a ‘story’ but it is a reality to fight for the honour of our Motherland. I was one of the members or I should say soldiers of 18 Grenadiers who were assigned the mission of capturing the Tiger Hill with 8 Sikh, which was already posted at the base.

Moreover, a crack-team, that is, a highly specialized team of soldiers who could respond quickly and smartly, were with us to assist. We found out the extent of our enemy’s strength and searched for the suitable routes to attack. I still remember, on 3rd July, 1999, at 7pm, we started our multidirectional attack with the support of our fire power of artillery and mortars. You can’t imagine how bad the weather was.

There was darkness all around and it was extremely cold. In spite of all adversities, we were successful in holding the top of the Tiger Hill, but connecting with other companies was very difficult. The enemy camp also came out of their initial surprise and fierce counterattacks started immediately. Casualties were many and the numbers were increasing, but by God’s grace we could hold on the top, facing all dangers. 

I must say here that my colleague Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav and his team showed exceptional courage. 8 Sikh team decided another strategy of stopping the supply route to our enemy and that worked wonders. 

To cut a long story short, finally the entire mission was accomplished on 3rd July, 1999 at night. We captured the Tiger Hill Top, though heavy fighting was still going on. But the enemy was unable to dislodge us and we won this fierce battle, thank God ! 

Today, as I narrated the happenings of those days, my eyes were filled with tears. We have won the Kargil war, our operation Vijay, but I have lost many of my friends. I salute those martyrs. They are the bravehears who sacrificed their lives to safeguard the prestige of our dear Motherland, India.