H.N. Deka

Biography

Sepoy H.N. Deka was born in Paghali village of the Morigaon district of Assam. He joined the Indian Army in 2003 and served with 725 AD of the Army Service Corps, the arm responsible for sustaining fighting formations with a steady flow of supplies and provisions, often in the most remote and demanding terrain. Much of the Indian Army's deployment in the north-east sector lies in far-flung areas where no motorable roads exist, leaving forward posts dependent on air drops carried out by the Indian Air Force as Air Maintenance operations. On 6 October 2017, Sepoy Deka was tasked with one such mission. An Mi-17 V5 helicopter took off from the Khirmu helipad in Tawang district at around 6.30 am, carrying five IAF and two Army personnel, including Sepoy Deka, along with supplies destined for the forward post at Topu Ghar near the Yangste area. The region is known to be highly vulnerable to sudden and dangerous changes in weather. At approximately 06:59 hrs, about 60 kilometres from the point of take-off, the helicopter crashed. As it was ferrying kerosene supplies to the forward posts, the aircraft caught fire instantly. Sepoy H.N. Deka and all six other military personnel on board were killed in the crash, laying down their lives in the course of a hazardous operation to sustain their comrades on the front lines.