Havaldar Giris Gurung KC

Hav Giris Gurung was born on 25 Feb 1979 and hailed from Nagidhar village in Kaski district of Nepal.  He joined the army on 27 July 1998 at the age of 19 years before completing his class X. He was recruited into 1/4 GR of 4 Gorkha Rifles Regiment, the Regiment known for its fearless soldiers and innumerable battle honours. After completing his training Hav Giris Gurung got posted to his parent unit and served at various operational locations.

Hav Gurung served with his unit in J &K as part of Op Rakshak from Feb 2000 to Mar 2002. Later he was deputed to serve with 15 Rashtriya Rifles battalion deployed in J & K for counter insurgency operations. In 2015 Hav Gurung was once again got posted to his parent unit which was deployed along the LOC in J &K. Thus Hav Gurung served in J &K for most part of his service career and developed into a battle hardened and committed soldier.

Kupwara Operation : 20 May 2017

During 2017, Hav Gurung’s unit 1/4 GR was deployed along the LOC in J &K and was engaged in counter insurgency operations along with manning the forward posts . The unit was deployed in Kupwara district in an area prone to infiltration by the militants and the troops were required to maintain a very high state of alert at all times. On 20 May 2017, the unit received information from the intelligence sources about the infiltration attempt by the militants form across the border.  It was decided by the unit to launch a search and destroy mission in the morning of 20 May 2017. Hav Gurung was part of the team that was assigned the task of foiling the infiltration attempt.

As planned Hav Gurung and his team reached the suspected area and launched the search operation. At around 1405 hours when Hav Gurung was leading the search operation in the dense foliage and vegetation, a hidden terrorist fired at him and injured him in his thigh. Though bleeding profusely, Hav Gurung with utter disregard to his personal safety moved to a flank and fired thereby eliminating the terrorist with an accurate burst from his AK-47. Thereon, he identified the location of another terrorist who was firing towards his team. Though being grievously injured he lobbed a grenade in that direction and charged at the hidden terrorist eliminating him too. However he later succumbed to his injuries. The fierce encounter with the militants continued for 36 hours in which 4 heavily armed infiltrators were killed. Unfortunately in this operation Hav Giris Gurung along with 2 other soldiers Hav Damar Bahadur and Rfn Rabin Sharma were also martyred.

Hav Giris Gurung was given the nation’s second highest peace time gallantry award, “Kirti Chakra” for his indomitable courage, bravery, devotion to duty and supreme sacrifice. He is survived by his wife Panch Maya Gurung and two children.