President Droupadi Murmu on July 5 conferred Kirti Chakra, India's second-highest gallantry award, to Captain Anshuman Singh posthumously. Visuals of Captain Singh's wife Smriti and his mother, Manju Singh, receiving the award from the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan went viral.
With tears in her eyes, Smriti Singh, dressed in a white saree, stood there as her late husband was praised for his supreme sacrifice.
Why Captain Anshuman Singh was honoured with Kirthi Chakra
Capt. Anshuman Singh was serving as a medical officer in the 26 Punjab Regiment when he lost his life trying to rescue people from a fire at an Indian Army ammunition dump in the Siachen glacier area.
On July 19, 2023, a short circuit caused the fire incident. Spotting a fibreglass hut engulfed in flames, Captain Singh immediately acted to save those trapped inside. He rescued five individuals but the fire soon spread to the nearby medical investigation room.
Captain Singh went back into the fire and was trapped inside while trying to retrieve some life-saving drugs.
Despite his best efforts, he could not escape the blaze and died inside.
Captain Anshuman Singh was cremated with full state honour at his native place in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district on July 22, 2023.
Anshuman Singh met Smriti Singh on the first day of their engineering college before he was selected for the Indian Army.
Capt Singh married Smriti in February last year after graduating from Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. After two months of marriage, he was deputed in Operation Meghdoot at Siachen Glacier Area.
"We met at an engineering college but then he got selected in a medical college. Super intelligent guy. From then on, after just one month of meeting, it was a long-distance relationship for eight long years," she added. "Then we decided to get married. Unfortunately, within two months of our marriage, he got posted in Siachen," Smriti recalled.
Remembering her late husband, she added, "He would tell me, 'I would die with the brass on my chest. I would not die an ordinary death.'"
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