Naib Subedar Chunni Lal is the only soldier awarded the Ashok Chakra, Vir Chakra and Sena Medal.
On a cold evening in January, Manveer Singh, a Class 10 student, was grappling with the biggest loss of his life.
Sitting in a hotel room with his mother and sisters who had travelled from a village in Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, to New Delhi, his shoulders felt heavy with responsibility.
Manveer thought of his father Naib Subedar Chunni Lal who had been around his age when he joined the Indian Army.
He had served the country for 23 years and brought unparalleled pride to the family and the entire village. No other soldier had received as many as India's highest gallantry medals like him.
The first medal was pinned to his father's chest when he was just 19 -- imagine that, still a teenager -- and the country's highest medal for gallantry during peacetime, the Ashok Chakra, was awarded to him at age 39.
Naib Subedar Chunni Lal, Ashok Chakra, Vir Chakra, Sena Medal
The military action that won him the Ashok Chakra was paid for with his life. Naib Subedar Chunni Lal was fatally wounded battling terrorists in a mission in J&K in 2007.
At the end of the operation, five terrorists had been killed.
Three were slain by Naib Subedar Chunni Lal.
"My father was a brave man. I have his example before me. I want to join the army and make him proud," Manveer said a day before his mother Chinta Devi received the Ashok Chakra posthumously from then President Pratibha Patil on January 26, 2008.
Today, Manveer Singh is a havaldar in his father's battalion, 8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry.
On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, along with his family he once again travelled to Delhi to attend the launch of a book on his father's incredibly inspiring story: Bravest of the Brave by Lieutenant General Satish Dua (retd), PVSM, UYSM, SM, VSM.
As his commanding officer for three years, General Dua served with Naib Subedar Chunni Lal on the Line of Control during the peak of militancy in J&K and saw combat together defending the LoC.
Naib Subedar Chunni Lal was awarded his second bravery medal under General Dua's tenure as commanding officer.
"The number of awards he received is testimony to his bravery. Bravery is not absence of fear. Bravery is overcoming fear," says General Dua, one of the Indian Army's most accomplished commanders.
As General Officer Commanding XV Corps, General Dua was among the officers to plan and coordinate the surgical strikes across the LoC in September 2016.
"Chunni's story has to be told. In a military career encapsulating two decades of bravery, he is the highest decorated soldier in the Indian army," says General Dua.
During the peak of militancy in the 1990s, General Dua says Naib Subedar Chunni Lal was a steadying force in the paltan during operations.
"We used to have an encounter every week and his soldiering skills gave us a combat edge. Everyone looked up to him."
For a boy who came from a humble farming family, Chunni Lal was brought up among heroes in his battalion.
8 JAKLI is the most decorated paltan in the Indian Army. One of its heroes Honorary Captain Bana Singh Param Vir Chakra has had pride of place at the annual Republic Day parade till ill health restricted travel from his home in Jammu to New Delhi this January 26.
"Chunni's upbringing was among soldiers with Vir Chakras, Mahavir Chakras and one Param Vir Chakra. From combat training to playing games with these men, he was baptised by fire in an ecosystem of the brave," says General Dua who visited Chunni Lal's village and spoke to scores of people in the army and outside to piece together the soldier's life story.
"Just two years into service, he volunteered for the highest attack in the world at 21,153 feet on the Siachen Glacier for which he received the Sena Medal."
Chunni Lal and his buddy were among the first to reach the top of the enemy post. The operation required nerves of steel and enormous skill to move, attack, capture and survive at that altitude.
The indomitable Bana Singh was awarded the Param Vir Chakra. The battalion was also awarded a Maha Vir Chakra for Subedar Sansar Singh, 7 Vir Chakras, 10 Sena Medals and 70 Commendation Cards, the largest in any single operation.
"My battalion is called the Bravest of the Brave by the Indian Army. When I spoke to Bana Singhji, he told me that even as a young soldier, Chunni had no fear," says General Dua.
Between 1998 and 2001, the battalion had gunned down 106 terrorists in Poonch sector -- the maximum in a single tenure becoming the only unit to do so.
Then Havaldar Chunni Lal was awarded the Vir Chakra, the third highest bravery award, and was instrumental in killing 12 infiltrators as post commander.
He then did two stints with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Somalia and Sudan. His team's bravery in Sudan won them a UN citation for valour.
June 24, 2007, the ultimate act of valour
Commanding his post in Kupwara, J&K at 14,000 feet with a visibility of just 5 metres and minus 5 degrees temperature, Naib Subedar Chunni Lal detected some movement on the Line of Control.
He quickly deployed his soldiers to stop any infiltrator from crossing the LoC.
At 3.30 am the Indian soldiers heard some noise and challenged it. A volley of Kalishnikov fire greeted the Indian inquiry. The soldiers searched for the terrorists till daylight broke.
As they approached a bushy patch, they were fired upon.
Chunni Lal along with his men continued to close in and killed two terrorists on the spot. In the gunfire two soldiers were badly injured and lay precariously close to where the terrorists were. Risking his life Chunni Lal crawled towards them, pulled his men to safety and saved their lives.
He then took charge again. Seeing a third terrorist trying to escape, he dashed towards him and killed him. Unfortunately, the terrorist's bullet tore his abdomen and left him bleeding profusely.
Unmindful of his grievous injury he took cover behind a boulder, continued firing and did not allow the other terrorists to break the cordon. Under his leadership the two remaining terrorists were also killed.
At the end of the operation, five terrorists had been killed and a large amount of ammunition was recovered.
Chunni Lal had lost a lot of blood. By the time a helicopter could airlift him to hospital, the bravest of the brave soldier had passed into the ages.
For his exemplary courage and leadership, he was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra.
The news of Naib Subedar Chunni Lal's death shook General Dua who was then posted in Delhi.
"Every single death weighs heavily on your mind. I lost two majors and six soldiers as commanding officer in those three years on the LoC, and 18 men in the Uri attack under my watch as corps commander."
"It was the biggest failure of my life."
"In combat you are confronted by survivor's guilt, but then our army training kicks in. Loss is part of a soldier's life. Breaking the news of death to a soldier's parents or wife is the hardest thing," says General Dua.
"No training in the world can prepare you for it."
Eighteen years after Naib Subedar Chunni Lal's valiant death, his son is carrying on his father's legacy in the army.
His daughters are married, one to a fauji and the other to a civilian. Chinta Devi, his wife, lives in the village where a memorial stands in the brave soldier's memory.
And now with this book, the story of this bravest of the brave should be read and retold.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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