Gurusewak Singh

Biography

Sepoy Gurusewak Singh was born to Balwinder Singh and Baljit Kaur in the village of Warana in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab. He grew up in a modest family alongside two sisters and an elder brother. Drawn to a life of service, he joined the Indian Army in 2013 and was recruited into the 22 Sikh battalion of the famed Sikh Regiment, a unit renowned for the valour of its soldiers and its many battle honours. In 2016, Sepoy Gurusewak Singh's unit was deployed along the Line of Control in the Poonch Sector of Jammu and Kashmir. This stretch of the border is among the most active and volatile along the nearly 3,000 kilometre frontier India shares with Pakistan, with around 740 kilometres of the LoC falling within Jammu and Kashmir, and cross-border firing occurring frequently. Around midnight on 6 November 2016, the alert and vigilant troops observed suspicious movement near the LoC and challenged a group of infiltrating terrorists. The terrorists opened fire and attempted to slip back towards the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir side of the Line of Control. In the ensuing firefight, Sepoy Gurusewak Singh and another soldier sustained gunshot wounds. Despite being evacuated, he succumbed to his injuries the following day, 7 November 2016. Only 24 years old, Sepoy Gurusewak Singh laid down his life in the service of the nation.