Jintu Gogoi (21 November 1970 – 30 June 1999), VrC was an

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

officer of 17

Garhwal Rifles The Garhwal Rifles, are an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally raised in 1887 as the 39th (Garhwal) Regiment of the Bengal Army. It then became "The Royal Garhwal Rifles" as part of the British Indian Army, and after the Inde ...

. He was posthumously awarded the

Vir Chakra The Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa, ) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of gallantry on the battlefield, on land or in the air or at sea. It is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards and ...

, India's third highest wartime military decoration, for his courage and bravery in combat during operations in the

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

in 1999.

Early life and military career

Captain Jintu Gogoi is the son of Duluprabha Gogoi and

Flying officer Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Flying officer is immediately ...

Thogiram Gogoi, an

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

Veteran. Jintu Gogoi's father Thogiram Gogoi stated that his son Jintu always wanted to join the Indian Army. After graduation from Gandhi Memorial National College, Jintu Gogoi joined

Officers Training Academy The Officers Training Academy (OTA) is a training establishment of the Indian Army that trains officers for the Short Service Commission (SSC). The 49-week course at the OTA prepares graduates for all branches of the Army, except for the Army Me ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

on 9 May 1994, and was commissioned into the 17th Battalion of the

on 11 March 1995. Before joining Kargil war, Gogoi took Mhow, YO, Winter Warfare, and Commando trainings.

Kargil War and death

Just after his marriage engagement, Gogoi had to rush to

Kargil Kargil or Kargyil is a City in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TERTIARY, tert ...

as the war declared and was deployed in the

Batalik __NOTOC__ Batalik is a village and military base in Ladakh, India, located in a narrow section of the Indus River valley, close to the Line of Control with Pakistan-administered Baltistan. It was a focal point of the 1999 Kargil War because of ...

Sector of

. On 29 June 1999, Captain Jintu Gogoi took charge of the mission to evict the enemy from the northern heights of the western flanks on Jubar Ridge, an area overlooking Jubar top, astride the National Highway ( NH 1) in the

Sector. All the companies, except the platoon led by Captain Gogoi, exposed to enemy during the daytime, thus he decided to move at night which also entailed an arduous climb of nearly 1 km. Captain Gogoi led his troops to the top of the ridge, however, they were spotted by the enemy and were subsequently surrounded. Gogoi launched an immediate attack on the enemy, killing two intruders in hand-to-hand combat, being mortally wounded in the process. He received a full burst from a machine gun in his

solar plexus The celiac plexus, also known as the solar plexus because of its radiating nerve fibers, is a complex network of nerves located in the abdomen, near where the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery, and renal arteries branch from the abdomi ...

but he continued firing till he collapsed. He soon succumbed to injuries and his body was found barely 150 yards from the picket on Jubar Top. Besides Captain Gogoi, eleven other soldiers of 17

laid down their lives during this entire operation viz. Naik Shiv Singh, Lance Naik Madan Singh, Lance Naik Devendra Prasad, Lance Naik Dinesh Datt, Rfn Birendra Lal, Rfn Amit Negi, Rfn Vijay Singh, Rfn JS Bhandari, Rfn Ranjeet Singh, Rfn SC Sati and Rfn Bhagwan Singh. Though Gogoi's platoon, under command, evicted the enemy, but he had to pay for the victory with his supreme sacrifice. Captain Jintu Gogoi got recognised for his bravery with a gallantry award, “

” posthumously. The battalion was awarded

Battle Honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or Military operation, operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In ...

‘''Batalik''’ for its exploits in Operation Vijay. The 17th Garhwal Battalion was also awarded

Theatre Honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

‘''Kargil''’. Back in Gogoi’s native town, there was an emotional funeral of Captain Gogoi, as the major insurgent outfit

ULFA The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) is an armed separatist insurgent organisation, that operates in the Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an independent sovereign nation state of Assam for the indigenous Assamese people thro ...

called Army officers and personnel in the Indian Army to avoid the

Vir Chakra

As described in Gogoi's

award citation:

Garhwal Rifle on Jintu Gogoi

The Wiki page of

(See Kargil War Section) cited a note with disappointment about supreme sacrifice of Capt Jintu Gogoi with and others of

for their Heroism in

, with the

citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

Honours

* Assam government posthumously awarded the state’s highest bravery award Bir Chilarai Award in 2008. * In honour of Martyr Jintu Gogoi, JOYA GOGOI COLLEGE of Golaghat, from where Gogoi studied his pre-university, named the library as a mark of respect to the Kargil Martyr Capt. Jintu Gogoi. *The Indian Army organizes Captain Jintu Gogoi, VrC Memorial Football Tournament every year. *Jintu Gogoi is the first Assamese in Indian Army who sacrificed supreme in Kargil War. *2020 Tokyo Olympics Indian boxer

Lovlina Borgohain Lovlina Borgohain (born 2 October 1997) is an Indian boxer. She won a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in the women's welterweight event, becoming only the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics. She won gold medal at 2023 IB ...

uses to pay her salute before she attempts any International game.

References