Gouri Shanker Sah, KC

Biography

Gouri Shanker Sah hailed from Bihar and had an inclination to join the Indian Army right from his childhood. After completing his initial education, he enlisted in the Indian Army and was assigned to the 8 Bihar Battalion of The Bihar Regiment, an infantry regiment well known for its dauntless soldiers. On 3 May 1992, during counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir, intelligence sources reported militant activity in a residential building in Sopore, Baramulla district. The 8 Bihar Battalion received orders for a search and destroy mission. As the assault team stormed the building where militants were entrenched, Sepoy Gouri Shanker Sah led the charge up the stairs, firing his Light Machine Gun from the hip. When the militants lobbed a grenade at the assaulting party, he grabbed the grenade as it fell and threw it right back, saving the lives of his comrades. Despite sustaining multiple gunshot wounds, he kept firing at the retreating militants until he became unconscious. His extraordinary courage enabled the assault team to secure the first floor and eliminate the militants. He was evacuated to a medical aid post but succumbed to his grievous injuries. For his conspicuous gallantry and courage of an exceptional order, Sepoy Gouri Shanker Sah was posthumously awarded the Kirti Chakra, India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, on 26 January 1993.