Mehta Singh, KC

Biography

Captain Mehta Singh was born on 1 August 1922 and hailed from Punjab. He joined the Army at the age of twenty and was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment, a unit renowned for its fearless soldiers and battle honours. In 1956, his unit, 3 Sikh LI, was deployed at Kohima in Nagaland, where Naga insurgents were active across the operational area, keeping troops engaged in regular counter-insurgency operations. Late in June 1956, security forces received intelligence that Naga insurgents had occupied the upper portion of Khonoma village, the home village of Naga leader A.J. Phizo. Captain Mehta Singh led the 'D' Company of 3 Sikh LI into the encircled village. Displaying indomitable courage and resolve, he and his men held the lower part of the village for over a month, sustained only by hard patrolling and occasional air-dropped supplies. When 17 Rajput Regiment moved in to relieve them on 28 July 1956, the insurgents launched an aggressive counter-attack. Grasping the gravity of the situation, Captain Mehta Singh led an assault from the front and succeeded in pushing the insurgents back, achieving his objective. During the exchange of fire he was struck in the abdomen by a burst from a light machine gun and, gravely wounded, later succumbed to his injuries. For his exceptional courage, leadership and supreme sacrifice, he was awarded the Kirti Chakra.