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| Major Vetri Nathan's Story Will Swell Your Chest With Pride |
A hero of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, Major Vetri Nathan's story is an example of courage and selfless devotion to duty. The young officer from Mumbai joined the Indian Army at 21 and served in the 11 Gorkha Rifles regiment. In December 1971, he led a daring and successful mission against the enemy in the Kargil sector, where he laid down his life for his country. He attained martyrdom at the age of 30 and was awarded the Vir Chakra posthumously for his bravery. Major Vetri Nathan has been immortalized with a memorial in Colaba along with a road named after him as Major Vetri Nathan Marg.
During the 1971 war, Major Nathan’s Battalion 2/11 GR was deployed in the tough Kargil sector, which had a series of hills along the Line of Control that were of strategic significance for the military. One such position was Point 13620 dominating the Srinagar-Leh Highway that was under the control of the Pakistani forces. India had captured this Point in the 1965 war, but had to return it as part of the Tashkent Agreement of January 10, 1966.
In December 1971, Major Vetri Nathan was tasked with dislodging Pakistani troops from a hill point in the Sylhet region of present-day Bangladesh. He and his team captured the Black Rocks post and advanced towards Point 13620. When they encountered an enemy machine-gun post, Major Nathan took a handheld rocket launcher and destroyed the enemy bunker, but was hit by an enemy bullet and martyred. The Gorkha Regiment troops then attacked the remaining enemy soldiers with their Khukris and forced the enemy to abandon and flee all the posts before dawn the next day, accomplishing the mission.
Recognizing Major Nathan’s valour and successful mission, the post was named a Vetri Post in his honour and a memorial was erected there.
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