Maninder Singh

Biography

Naik Maninder Singh was born on 24 August 1990 in Fatehgarh Churian village of Gurdaspur district, Punjab. He came from a military family; his father, the late Sukhdev Singh, also served in the Army and laid down his life in the line of duty. After completing his schooling, Maninder Singh joined the Army in 2008 at the age of eighteen and was inducted into the Punjab Regiment, an infantry regiment renowned for its brave soldiers and numerous battle honours. Over more than ten years of service, he served in various demanding operational areas. In November 2019, his unit was deployed in the northern sector of the Siachen Glacier, one of the most inhospitable and inaccessible parts of the region during winter. On 18 November 2019, Naik Maninder Singh was on a routine patrol along with Sepoy Manish Kumar, Sepoy Veerpal Singh and Sepoy Dimple Kumar. As the patrol moved through snow-covered terrain at an altitude of around 19,000 feet on the world's highest battlefield, a massive avalanche struck, leaving them almost no time to react. Despite an intensive rescue effort, the soldiers buried under tonnes of snow could not be saved. Naik Maninder Singh was 29 when he made the supreme sacrifice while performing his duty.