Despite fatal injury, Capt Sharma got others evacuated first

Bhopal, Dec 10 (UNI) The sheer valour and sacrifice signified by the Kirti Chakra makes it seem heavy in a visiting civilian's hand when Ms Nirmala Sharma shows the honour that was conferred posthumously on her only son Captain Devashish who -- despite his fatal injury during an operation in Kashmir -- insisted that other wounded personnel be evacuated first.

December 10, 1994, Dangarpur village, Kashmir Valley. As a cordon and search operation progresses, 26 Punjab comes under heavy fire from militants. Capt Sharma, an Army Medical Corps officer, rushes to render medical aid to the battalion's wounded personnel but is himself hit.

As per the Headquarters, 8 Mountain Division, despite being mortally wounded the young officer -- who had undergone about a month's commando training at Lucknow -- shot a fleeing terrorist and continued to render aid to the soldiers.

In the sitting room of Ms Sharma's nondescript bungalow near the local Shahpura Lake is one of the last photographs of her smiling son, taken on November 18, 1994 while he was attending his maternal cousin's wedding at Delhi just days before his martyrdom.

Beside the frame, the officer's peak cap sits proudly. Along with the Kirti Chakra is the Sainya Seva Medal, with a citadel on one side and a hill on the other, conferred by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

''We had saved about Rs 2 lakh for his marriage and he had already found someone special,'' Ms Sharma told UNI. Her loneliness is compounded by the fact that her husband Jitendra Kumar Sharma, who was a poet and author and had served as Kendriya Vidyalaya principal, passed away on May 16 this year. Capt Sharma (MR-6368Y) was the family's sole representative in the Armed Forces.

Ms Sharma shows Capt Devashish's last letter to her. Written on December 1, 1994, it ironically reached her after December 12, the day the officer was cremated with full military honours.

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