Gurjinder Singh Suri, MVC

Biography

Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri was born on 4 July 1974 in Ambala district of Haryana into a family with a deep military tradition. His grandfather, Subedar Gurbaksh Singh, had served in the Second World War and the 1947-48 and 1962 conflicts, while his father, Lieutenant Colonel T.P. Singh Suri of the Sikh Light Infantry, saw active service in the 1971 War. Growing up on cantonments and studying in Army Public Schools, Gurjinder resolved from childhood to follow his father into uniform. He joined the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, in July 1993 and was commissioned into the Army Ordnance Corps on 7 June 1997. In 1999 he was serving on attachment with 12 Bihar in Jammu and Kashmir as the platoon commander of a Ghatak team deployed at Faulad post in a forward defended area. On 9 November 1999, during Operation Birsa Munda, he led an assault to clear enemy bunkers, killing two enemy soldiers with his rifle and silencing a machine gun. Grievously wounded by fire and a rocket-propelled grenade, he refused evacuation and continued to inspire his men until his last breath. The operation destroyed 14 bunkers and killed 17 of the enemy. Aged 25, he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra.