Yogendra Singh Yadav (PVC)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Yogendra Singh Yadav

• Subedar Major Yogendra Singh Yadav is a serving Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army, who received the Param Vir Chakra, highest military decoration, for displaying exemplary courage during the Kargil War. In the 1999 Kargil War, Yogendra had survived 12 bullets and had played a vital role in capturing the Tiger Hill.

• Being the son of a retired Indian Army soldier of the Kumaon Regiment who took part in the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan, Yogendra grew up listening to the awe-inspiring stories of the brave Indian soldiers on the battlefield.

• Yogendra was 15 years old when his brother, Jitendra, was inducted in the Indian Armed forces. Jitendra also suggested Yogendra to join the Armed forces. Yogendra, who had a tremendous love for his motherland, and sheer determination to serve the nation, didn’t even give it a second thought and went to appear for the exam of selection. He passed the test on his first attempt.

• Yogendra’s mother did not want him to join the armed forces. She wanted him to further continue his studies and secure a prestigious job. Talking about it in an interview, Yogendra said,
  

  My mother never wanted me to join the army. In fact, even I would like to have studied further. But the state of the country is such that even the educated need to shell out large bribes to land a job. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, the army was the only way out”

• In June 1996, Yogendra joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in the Manekshaw Battalion. After concluding his 19-month training at the IMA, he graduated from the IMA after on 6 December 1997. Yogendra was merely 16 years and 5 months old when he joined the Indian Army as a Sainik.

• He was married for only 15 days when he reported for National duty during Kargil War. He went to the Kargil war with only 2.5 years of experience in the Armed Forces.

• On 12 June 1999, his battalion captured Tololing Top, and in the process, 2 officers, 2 junior commissioned officers, and 21 soldiers sacrificed their lives. He, along with 14 other soldiers,

• He was a part of the Ghatak Platoon and was assigned to capture Tiger Hill on the night of 3/4 July 1999.

• The platoon had to climb 16,500 feet of a steep snowbound and rocky section of the mountain to reach on the peak of Tiger Hill. He volunteered to lead and fix the rope for his team. On seeing the team, the enemy opened extreme automatic grenade, rocket and artillery fire. The Commander and two of his colleagues died in the firing and the platoon was stalled.

• He then crawled up to the enemy position in tranquillity, and in the process, he sustained multiple bullet injuries. He continued climbing in the forward direction towards the enemy positions, lobbed grenades, continued firing from his weapons and executed four enemy soldiers in close combat. Despite multiple bullet injuries, he continued to battle until he could. Inspired by his valorous act, the platoon charged on the other positions with thunder and captured Tiger Hill Top.

• He survived 12 bullets on his body; with one bullet piercing through his heart, during the Tiger Hill Operation. “I had sustained 12 bullet wounds on my arm, legs. An enemy soldier also took an aim at my chest and fired a bullet, but it ricocheted off the Rs 5 coins I had kept in my pocket,” Yadav told the PTI there.

• The Param Vir Chakra was announced for him posthumously, but soon it was found that he was recovering in a hospital and there was another soldier with his namesake in the company who was martyred during Kargil war.

• There are only three living recipients of the Param Vir Chakra Award; Bana Singh, Sanjay Kumar, and Yogendra Singh Yadav himself. 

• Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav became the example of the most evident valour, invincible gallantry, and determination under extremely adverse circumstances.

• On 22 January 2021, Yogendra Singh Yadav, along with another Kargil War hero and Param Vir Chakra recipient Subedar Sanjay Kumar, appeared on the Karamveer special episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati. This was the grand finale of the 12th season of the Indian game show.