Ashish Kumar

Biography

Rifleman Ashish Kumar hailed from Ghimana village in the Jind district of Haryana, born on 1 March 1977 to a former soldier. He was selected for the Army on 27 October 1997 at the age of twenty and was inducted into the 2nd Battalion of the Rajputana Rifles, an infantry unit renowned for its brave soldiers and numerous battle honours. During Operation Vijay in the summer of 1999, his battalion was tasked, as part of 81 Mountain Brigade, with recapturing the heavily defended Tololing Heights in the Drass sector — the first major objective of the Kargil War. On the night of 12 June 1999 the battalion launched its assault, and Rifleman Ashish Kumar, serving in Charlie Company under Major Vivek Gupta, charged the enemy positions through intense artillery and automatic fire. He was severely wounded in the course of these operations and laid down his life for the nation on 15 June 1999. He is remembered with deep respect for his valour and his unflinching devotion to duty.