There are nearly 30,000 war-wounded personnel across the country.
As the much awaited Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon kick-started in the wee hours of January 17, iamin spoke to war-wounded personnel of the armed forces, the real heroes of the marathon, who participated with equal enthusiasm. The soldiers participated in the Dream Run as part of the War Wounded Foundation. Read on, as some of the brave warriors recount their stories...
Determination pays off slowly and steadily
“With only 10 to 15 rounds left, I was ready to shoot myself,” says Lance Naik Ashok Kumar, 41, of the Indian Army’s 16 Grenadiers Battalion, as he recalls the last few days of the Kargil war with Pakistan in 1999.
“While the nation celebrates July 26 as Vijay Diwas for India’s victory in the war, I am reminded of the horrific night that I spent at the LOC,” Kumar says. A 24-year-old then, Kumar was among the 30 soldiers being led by one officer close to the LOC on the morning of July 25, 1999, in one of the final fights with the enemy.
Kumar contemplated shooting himself while he waited for his fellow army personnel to arrive with help during the 1999 Kargil war.
“We were surrounded by around 250 of them and we began shooting. By evening, most of them were killed while the rest were injured. We were also low on ammunition. By evening, one bullet had scrapped my stomach from the front horizontally, and another one had injured my thigh from the calf up to my hips. I spent the night alone on the field fighting as much as I could since a few of us had gone back to get help,” recalls Kumar, hailing from Tigrana in Haryana.
“By early morning, I knew it would be difficult to fight them anymore and nothing can be worse than being a Prisoner of War or even being shot by the enemy. That is when I decided to shoot myself,” says the soldier, proudly adding that most male members of his family are in the army and so would his children when they grow up.
Just then, an injured soldier close by called for water, thus diverting Kumar and in the meanwhile, help arrived. Kumar had, by then, been severely injured and was thus put on a stretcher among heavy firing.
Doctors at the Military Hospital told him right away that he could never stand up. After two years of staying at various Military Hospitals in Srinagar, Jodhpur, Pune etc, attending several Yoga sessions, Kumar’s intense determination and moments of emotional turmoil paid off. He was back on his feet five years after the war.
Meanwhile, Kumar was medically boarded out of the army while he was barely 26. He later joined the War Wounded Foundation and is now involved in anti-corruption work along with several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Haryana and Delhi.
Kharde lost one of his finger and free-movement of his right leg while fighting terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir in 1998.
‘No benefits for the ones wounded before war’
Naik Kharde of 30 Rashtriya Rifle, during deployment in Kupwara sector of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1998, suffered severe bullet injuries in a fire fight with terrorists, resulting in the amputation of the little finger of his left hand beside impairment of free movement of the right leg. He was released from the Army with a disability of 40 per cent in December 2004.
“Since I was not wounded in war, the benefits for us are extremely limited. The war-wounded always receive more benefits owing to numerous government schemes,” says Kharde, 49, hailing from Sangli district in Maharashtra.
Kharde now works at a state government office in Nashik and dreams big for his two children.
War Wounded Foundation
Incorporated in 2002 and spearheaded by Lt. General Vijay Oberoi, former vice-chief of the army staff who himself lost his right leg as a young captain way back in 1965, the foundation creates long-term avenues for the financial independence of all war–wounded personnel of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. There are nearly 30,000 war-wounded personnel across the country.
This article was first published on iamin.in. For more such hyperlocal stories, visit their website.
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