Naib Subedar Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) is a term used for a group of military ranks which is higher than havildar ( non commissioned officer) and lower than lieutenant ( commissioned officer). The term is only used by Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Se ...

Gurnam Singh, AC (18 August 1935 – 23 September 1973) was a

Junior Commissioned officer Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) is a term used for a group of military ranks which is higher than havildar (non commissioned officer) and lower than lieutenant (commissioned officer). The term is only used by Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Sen ...

(JCO) in

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- ...

who was posthumously awarded the

Ashoka Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

, India's highest peacetime military decoration for his self sacrifice in a mine explosion.

Early life

Gurnam Singh was born on 18 August 1935 in Bhullar village in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

district of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. Son of Shri Tej Singh, Gurnam Singh belonged to the family of military personnel. He was influenced by his military family members and nursed the idea of serving in the Army since his childhood. After his basic education in his native place, he got selected to join the Army and was happy to achieve his childhood dream.

Military career

On 26 August 1955, Gurnam Singh joined

Bombay Sappers The Bombay Engineer Group, or the ''Bombay Sappers'' as they are informally known, are a regiment of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The Bombay Sappers draw their origin from the erstwhile Bombay Pres ...

as a recruit and got appointed as a sapper after his initial training. After two years, on 19 July 1957, he got posted in the depot battalion (T). After serving the company for four and half years, he was posted to training battalion in Oct 1962. On 5 January 1971, he was then appointed as an instructor at “

College of Military Engineering College of Military Engineering (CME) is a technical and tactical engineering training institution of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. Training of Combat Engineers, Military Engineering Service, Border Roads Engineering Ser ...

”,

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

after serving with 22 and 23 Field Companies for few years.

Mine Explosion

A demonstration was arranged by the

for the visiting staff and student officers of the

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , presi ...

, Wellington On the 23rd September 1973. Gurnam Singh was tasked to the Charge of the demonstration of line Mine Clearing, an explosive device for the clearing of enemy mine fields. The task was assisted by party of seven

sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...

s. Preparing the Charge Line Mine Clearing for firing, the tail initiator of the charge got prematurely actuated. He at once realized that the entire explosive was likely to blow up within ten seconds. When he realized the danger to the lives of the men under his command, he immediately ordered them to run to a safe distance but he disagreed of his personal safety. But unfortunately, he was not able to prevent the explosion within the few seconds, at his disposal. Gurnam Singh was blown to pieces.

Ashoka Chakra Awardee

For his supreme sacrifice for the men under his command and devotion to duty Gurnam Singh was given the nation's highest gallantry award during peace time

Ashok Chakra Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

Personal life

Naib Subedar Gurnam Singh was married to Srimati Jagir Kaur.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gurnam 1935 births 1973 deaths Indian military personnel Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) Ashoka Chakra