'...Cliffy with utter disregard to his personal safety, charged through the fire zone, closed in on the enemy, threw hand grenades inside their bunkers and killed six enemy soldiers!'
'...He was hit by a volley of bullets. Even before breathing his last, Cliffy killed a Pakistani soldier in hand-to-hand combat...'
Captain Keishing Clifford Nongrum, who was just 24, received the Mahavir Chakra posthumously for his superhuman act of valour in the Kargil War.
Archana Masih/Rediff.com remembers one of India's Bravest Of The Brave as the nation salutes the 527 soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice for the Motherland on Vijay Diwas.
The grace with which parents, wives, siblings of the fallen brave endure loss is one of life's lessons that the rest of us can learn from.
"Thank you for honouring my son's memory," said Peter Nongrum, father of Captain Keishing Clifford Nongrum, Mahavir Chakra, over the phone from Shillong, 23 years after his son was killed in action in the Kargil War.
Captain Nongrum is the highest decorated military officer from Meghalaya.
The Mahavir Chakra is the second highest award for gallantry in war.
Today, on July 26, Vijay Diwas which marks India's victory against Pakistan in that war, Mr Nongrum and his wife Sally are at the Kargil Memorial in Drass, Jammu and Kashmir.
As they have done many times in the past, they will put flowers where their 24-year-old son's name is etched forever among the bravest of the brave.
They will bow their heads in a silent prayer for the son who Mr Nongrum had hoped would join the State Bank of India like him, but whose heart was set on the Indian Army.
In the background are the sharp cliffs and peaks which were the battleground of the Kargil conflict where 527 Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives in a fiercely fought two month-long war.
Mr and Mrs Nongrum and their two other sons, Geoffrey and Paul, have visited Point 4812 where Captain Clifford met a soldier's death on the night of June 30/July 1, 1999.
"He had called at 11.30 pm on June 25, 1999 from the battlefield via satellite phone. That was the last time I heard his voice," says Mr Peter Nongrum, his own voice choking with emotion.
"I have been there and seen the near vertical cliff," says Captain Nongrum's older brother Geoffrey Nongrum whose wedding was advanced to March 1999 so that his younger brother could attend when he came home on leave from his posting at the Siachen Glacier.
"Climbing the cliff was an impossible task, but Clifford did it. The jawans who fought with him told me how he led the climb through the enemy line of fire. It was only after he reached the top and made way for the rest of the column that the assault on Point 4812 could begin," he says.
Captain Nongrum's final act of valour would have lasted about 20 minutes and was superhuman, recalls an army officer who was part of the war and hopes his bravery is captured on film someday.
Pakistan had intruded 8-10 kilometres inside the Line of Control in the Batalik sector in May 1999. Captain Nongrum's unit, the 12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, was tasked to launch a multi-dimensional attack on Point 4812.
'After an arduous 70 degrees climb for more than 10 hours with very heavy loads, he and his men reached the top. They encountered a very strong enemy opposition as the Pakistanis were well entrenched in inter connected positions and remained immune to even artillery fire,' wrote Lieutenant Colonel Sandeep Ahlawat, his course mate from the Officers Training Academy, in a moving Facebook tribute in 2018 which has gone viral several times.
'The enemy pinned down the column with heavy and accurate automatic fire. The only way the Pakistanis could have been dislodged was if either Cliffy [coursemates called him that] or any team member went all the way up without cover and took the enemy on 'one on one', and knowing him well, I knew it would be Cliffy who would undertake this...'
'...Cliffy with utter disregard to his personal safety, charged through the fire zone, closed in on the enemy, threw hand grenades inside their bunkers and killed six enemy soldiers!
'...However, in this retaliatory action by the enemy, he was hit by a volley of bullets. Even before breathing his last, Cliffy killed a Pakistani soldier in hand-to-hand combat...'
Captain Clifford Nongrum's actions ensured that his unit captured the crucial hill. He was mortally wounded, but refused to be evacuated and fought to his last breath.
'He died standing -- a death every Indian soldier aspires,' reads Lieutenant Colonel Ahlawat's account of the extraordinary bravery of his brother in arms in whose memory he has kept a statute of an infantryman on his desk to this day.
A few years ago, he travelled to Shillong to deliver a talk that Captain Clifford had promised his alma mater on the next trip which sadly never happened. Four other course mates made the trip in honour of their fallen brother. They paid respects; even did push ups by his grave in a befitting military tribute to a batchmate who was amongst the most physically fit, mentally robust and always smiling.
This year on September 5, the batch will mark the silver anniversary of commissioning in the Indian Army. Among the invitees will be Mr and Mrs Nongrum and parents of other brother officers who died in the service of the nation.
As they celebrate their young lives, there will be sharing of memories and songs from their youth -- among them Elton John's Sacrifice and George Michael's Faith that Cliffy would sing on his guitar and mouth organ.
The mouth organ is among the belongings that were sent home in a trunk. It has been placed in a room that has been converted into a museum bearing photographs, memorabilia, plaques and the Mahavir Chakra.
Every soldier who has died for this nation has a section of his home dedicated to his memory. It is a sacred and exalted space which parents revere and look after with utmost love.
It is open to anyone who wants to pay respect.
Elsewhere in Shillong, a bust of Captain Nongrum is placed in the Rhino War Museum and a square in the city has been dedicated to him.
An auditorium bears his name in the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regimental Centre in Srinagar.
Some touching gestures of solace have come from unexpected avenues as well. Like the lady who collected newspaper clippings of every article that appeared on Captain Nongrum and the stranger who only broke his fast after paying respects at the hero's door.
"His body came home a week after his passing. It was the most difficult time for us, without the support of the people we wouldn't have been able to get through those days," says brother Geoffrey.
"We have been living with his loss for 23 years, but the months of June-July are especially hard for my parents."
"The family gets together for a prayer meeting on his birth and death anniversary," says Captain Nongrum's father softly, the pain palpable about the loss of a young son he lost too soon.
In their death, soldiers leave memories to last a lifetime. They also bequeath courage to loved ones who somehow muster it when it is humanly impossible. They bear the grief with amazing grace and fortitude because this is how the men they lost would have wanted them to be.
In honouring them, we honour the memories of the brave.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
