Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Ramaswamy Parameswaran,

PVC Polyvinyl chloride (alternatively: poly(vinyl chloride), colloquial: vinyl or polyvinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons o ...

(13 September 1946,

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

– 25 November 1987,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

) was an Indian

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

who was awarded the

Param Vir Chakra The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India's highest Awards and Decorations of the Indian Armed Forces, military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valour during wartime. Param Vir Chakra translates roughly as the "Wheel of Supre ...

, India's highest military decoration, for his bravery during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Career

Major Parameshwaran was granted a Short Service Commission as a second lieutenant in the 15th Battalion

Mahar Regiment The Mahar Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Although it was originally intended to be a regiment consisting of troops from the Mahar community of Maharashtra, today the Mahar Regiment is composed of different communities from ...

on 16 January 1972. Promoted lieutenant on 16 January 1974, he was subsequently granted a regular commission, and was promoted captain on 12 October 1979 and to major on 31 July 1984.

Military action

On 25 November 1987, when Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran was returning from search operation in

, late at night, his column was ambushed by a group of militants which had five rifles. With a cool presence of mind, he encircled the militants from the rear and charged into them, taking them completely by surprise. During the hand-to-hand combat, a militant shot him in the chest. Undaunted, Major Parameswaran snatched the rifle from the militant and shot him dead. Gravely wounded, he continued to give orders and inspired his command till he died. Five militants were killed and three rifles and two rocket launchers were recovered and the ambush was cleared .

Param Vir Chakra citation

The

citation on the Official

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 ...

Website reads as follows:

IPKF Memorial error

On 15 August 2012, R.K. Radhakrishnan, Colombo correspondent of The Hindu reported a glaring error on the IPKF transcription : "The inscription read: IC 32907F MAJ. P.RAMASWAMY MVC 25 NOV 1987 8 MAHAR. MVC stands for

Maha Vir Chakra The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...

, India's second highest military decoration. No one seemed to have noticed the mistake before. As I stood there, it crossed my mind that there was no guarantee that the names and honours of the other 1200 soldiers inscribed on the stone were all correct. Since Independence, only 21 Indians have had the honour of having PVC suffixed to their names. Parameshwaran was the only

IPKF Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...

soldier who was given that honour. He is also the lone

soldier to be conferred the

, the highest military decoration of India. That must mean a lot to a regiment active since 1941."

Naming of an apartment

The Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO) built a colony in Arcot Road Chennai and named it as A.W.H.O Parameshwaran Vihar in the year 1998 in honor of Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran. Major R Parameswaran statue at Param Yodha Sthal Delhi

Major R Parameswaran statue at Param Yodha Sthal Delhi

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parameshwaran, Ramaswamy Indian Army personnel Recipients of the Param Vir Chakra 1946 births 1987 deaths Indian military personnel killed in action Military personnel from Mumbai