Lieutenant Colonel Ramakrishnan Vishwanathan, VrC was the second-in-command of 18 Grenadiers which was conducting operations on and around Tololing mountain, Drass sector, Kargil, during Operation Vijay. He was posthumously awarded the

Vir Chakra Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy on the battlefield and is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards a ...

for his actions during the

Kargil War The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referr ...

. A

Tripunithura Thrippunithura or Tripunithura (), is a prominent historical and residential region in the City of Kochi in Kerala, India. Located about 7 km (4 mi) from the city centre, Tripunithura was the capital of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin ...

a street near

Eroor Pisharikovil Temple Eroor is a suburb of the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. It is located at around 7 km from the city center. Temples Puthenkulangara Shiva Temple of Eroor is known for its green surroundings and garden, which contains dozens of ...

is named in his honour.

Early life

Vishwanathan was born to V Ramakrishna Iyer and Kamala, in 1960. He was raised in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

and attended Kendriya Vidyalaya at Gandhi Nagar in Kadavanthra.

Military life

Vishwanathan was commissioned into the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

on June 1981 after completing his military training from

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

in 1980. He had served with the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka and later with the UN Peacekeeping Force in

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. The then Colonel Khushal Thakur, commanding-officer of the 18 grenadiers, recalled Vishwanathan's courage with the narrative, "The 18 Grenadiers had launched three unsuccessful attacks on Tololing. On June 2, Lt. Col. R Vishwanathan volunteered to go."

Vir Chakra Citation

The citation for the

reads as follows

References

{{Reflist

External links

*http://ikashmir.net/kargilheroes/vishwanathan.html *http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ARMY/Galleries/Wars/Kargil/0366.jpg.html 1960 births 1999 deaths Kargil War