Jaswant Singh Rawat

Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat of the Garhwal Rifles fell at Nuranang in Arunachal Pradesh in November 1962, in a stand so stubborn that the army never struck him off its rolls. At Jaswantgarh, the post that bears his name, he is still treated as a serving soldier.

He was born on 19 August 1941 in Baryun village in Pauri Garhwal and joined the 4th Battalion, Garhwal Rifles. In the last battle of the 1962 war, at Nuranang near Sela pass, his battalion broke repeated Chinese assaults; Jaswant Singh and two comrades silenced a machine-gun post in an action that won the battalion its battle honour.

In the final fighting on 17 November 1962 he was killed at his post; the legend of the hills says he fought on alone for days, aided by two local Monpa girls, Sela and Nura, holding the position with rifles fired from many bunkers. The army awarded him the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously.

At Jaswantgarh the army maintains his room, polishes his boots and delivers his mail; soldiers crossing to Tawang stop to salute. In Garhwal, where nearly every family sends a son to the colours, 'Baba' Jaswant Singh is the regiment's patron spirit.