“We had a long conversation on July 18 and on July 19 we got to know he is no more,” recalled Smriti Singh, the widow of late Captain Anshuman Singh, who was awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously for displaying indomitable courage and giving ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
President Droupadi Murmu, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, conferred the Kirti Chakra, India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award, posthumously to Captain Singh, which was received by Smriti on Friday.
Recalling their first meeting, Smriti Singh said, “It was love at first sight”.
“We met on the first day of college. I would not be dramatic, but it was love at first sight. After a month, he got selected into Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC). We met in an engineering college, and he got selected into a medical college, (he was a) super intelligent guy. After just one month of meeting, it was a long-distance relationship for eight long years and then we thought we should get married now, and so we did,” Smriti Singh said, recalling their love story.
Talking up to this point, she couldn’t control her emotions. The couple married in February 2023 after Anshuman Singh graduated from AFMC.
She then spoke about the last conversation she had with her husband before the fateful day.
“On July 18, we had a long conversation about how our life will be in the next 50 years — we are going to build a house, we are going to have kids, what not. On 19th morning, I get up, I get a call that he is no more,” she said, with her voice choking towards the end.
Explaining the trauma that her family went through, Smriti said, “For the first 7-8 hours, we could not accept that anything of that sort has happened. Till date, I am not coping up. Just trying to figure out thinking maybe it is not true. But now that I have the Kirti Chakra in my hand, I realise it is true. But it’s okay, he is a hero. We can manage a little of our lives because he has managed a lot. He gave up his life and family so that the other three army families could be saved”.
Disregarding his own safety, Captain Singh exhibited exceptional bravery and resolve to rescue many people in a major fire incident in Siachen.
In July 2023, a short circuit ignited a fire in an Indian Army ammunition dump at Siachen in the early hours of the morning. Amid the chaos, Captain Singh courageously rescued fellow soldiers trapped in a fiber-glass hut.
As the blaze spread to a nearby medical investigation shelter, Captain Singh made a valiant attempt to recover life-saving medicines. Unfortunately, he sustained severe burns and succumbed to his injuries.
Captain Anshuman Singh was posthumously awarded for his heroic deed.
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