Bravest of the Brave

Chunni Lal grew up among heroes. And at the age of nineteen, he became a hero himself. In the 1987 Siachen attack, he was the first to reach the enemy post and was, subsequently, awarded the Sena Medal. Lt Gen. Satish Dua (Retd.) was his commanding officer in the battalion at the LoC a decade later, when Chunni was a combat-experienced Havildar and an inspirational figure. For counter insurgency operations, he was awarded the Veer Chakra at this time. Seven years later, in 2007, while deployed again on the LoC in North Kashmir during a counter infiltration operation, Naib Subedar Chunni Lal was killed in action. He was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra. With the Sena Medal, the Veer Chakra and Ashok Chara, Naib Subedar Chunni Lal became the highest awarded soldier of the Indian Army.