Subedar Joginder Singh

Some Lesser Known Facts About Subedar Joginder Singh

• Did Subedar Joginder Singh smoke?: Not Known

• Did Subedar Joginder Singh drink alcohol?: Not Known

• He was born in a Saini Sikh family in Moga, Punjab. 

• His family had relocated to village Mahla Kalan near Moga from village Munaka of district Hoshiarpur.

• On 18 September 1936, he got enrolled in the First Sikh Regiment of the British army as a Sepoy.

• In 1948, when Pakistani tribals attacked Kashmir, he was posted with the Sikh Regiment at Srinagar.

• He was very interested in education, and soon after joining the army, he passed the Army Education Examination. Subsequently, Singh was appointed as the Unit Education Instructor.

• During the Second World War, Subedar Joginder Singh served on the Burma front.

• During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948, he was posted in Srinagar.

• During the 1962 Sino-India War (Indo-China War), he commanded a platoon in the Tawang sector of NEFA (North East Frontier Agency). Now, a War Memorial has been established there in his name.    

• At 0530 hours on 23 October 1962, the Chinese Army launched a heavy attack on the Bum La axis. However, Singh and his platoon stood firm like a rock before the advancing Chinese Army. In the action, the platoon lost half of its men, but Subedar Joginder Singh, despite a wound in the thigh, refused evacuation. He manned a light machine gun and killed a large number of enemies. However, he could not stem the tide of the Chinese advance single-handedly. When the situation became desperate, Joginder Singh and his men emerged from their position, shouting the Sikh battle cry, “Wahe Guruji ka Khalsa, Wahe Guruji ki Fateh.” Finally, Subedar Joginder Singh was captured after this epic battle. He died from his wounds and frostbite as a PoW in Chinese custody. 

• According to one of his fellow soldiers, when the Chinese Army wanted to amputate his frostbitten foot, he refused to undergo the operation.

• For his steadfast courage, inspiring leadership, and devotion to duty beyond all odds, Subedar Joginder Singh was awarded India’s highest wartime gallantry medal, the Param Vir Chakra, posthumously.

• In the 1980s, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), of its crude oil tankers as MT Subedar Joginder Singh, PVC, which was handed over to SCI in 1984, and served for 25 years before being phased out. 

• In 2006, Subedar Joginder Singh’s full battle fatigue was inaugurated near district DC office in his native town of Moga. 

• In 2018, a biopic was made on Subedar Joginder Singh’s life and his action during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Punjabi actor-singer Gippy Grewal played the lead role in the film.