Suresh Chand Yadav

Yadav was born on June 1, 1961, in the Khetan Khera village of Alwar district, Rajasthan, to Gokul Ram Yadav and Dodi Devi.[3]Yadav had dreamed of serving with the Armed Forces of India as a child growing up in Rajasthan. [4]

Yadav enlisted for the Indian Army soon after graduating from school and was recruited into the 13th battalion of the army's Mahar Regiment in 1978 , at the age of just 17.[5]By the year 2000 , Yadav had been promoted to the rank of Subedar and had a significant amount field experience under his belt. [5]

Yadav attempted the selection process and training course of the elite National Security Guard (NSG), India's federal counterterrorism force whose personnel were deputed from the army and the Central Armed Police Forces and in December 2001 , earned a deputation to the 51 Special Action Group (51 SAG) unit , which consisted of personnel on deputation from the Indian Army with the rank of Assistant Commander after clearing both.On September 24, 2002, two terrorists attacked the Akshar Dham Temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, at around 4:45 p.m. Within no time, the terrorists had killed 30 people present inside the compound and injured over 100. By 5:00, the Gujrat Police had surrounded the attackers and Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat had requested federal assistance for responding to the attack,[6] after which the NSG was dispatched to the scene to help the Gujrat Police. The NSG arrived at the temple at around 10:10.[6][7][8]The NSG then launched an operation to eliminate the terrorists, which was given the code name "Operation Vajra Shakti".The operation was headed by Yadav's unit,the 51 Special Action Group which was at the time the primary offensive arm of the NSG. During the operation, Yadav led the task force entrusted with distracting the terrorists to provide cover for other commandos,which would enable them to them attack the terrorists.At one point, Yadav selflessly rushed forward to save an injured team member despite being subjected to heavy fire from the terrorists.At another moment , Assistant Commander Suresh Chand moved forward to cover fire for his Team Commander at a time when the latter came under heavy fire from the terrorists. He then began to lob grenades and shoot at the terrorists , enabling the rest of the team to move towards the terrorists in order to attack them.Yadav ended up coming very close to a terrorist and was hit by a bullet directly in the face when he was less than 5 meters away from him .Despite this, Yadav went on to kill the terrorist from close range before dying due to excessive bleeding and serious injuries suffered during the operation.[9] The NSG decided to retreat from their positions for the day and continue the operation in the morning in order to avoid any further casualties.[6] Yadav was posthumously awarded the country's highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, for his extraordinary bravery.[10][11][12]