‘He was one of a kind... was born to serve the country’

Lucknow: “If death strikes before I prove my blood, I swear I will defeat death.” Captain Manoj Pandey was the first in his family to serve in the Indian Army, after he chose to appear for an interview by the National Defence Academy rather than the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

“He consistently excelled... He was a part of the 1/11 Gorkha Rifles regiment. You could never tell his fierce loyalty and grave dedication when he came home,” his younger brother Manmohan said, as he recalled his brother’s passion for serving the nation.

Captain Pandey, the eldest of four siblings, was killed in Batalik during the Kargil War. He was 24.

Originally from Sitapur, his family moved to Lucknow in the late 1990s. Their house in Gomti Nagar is adorned with the Captain’s uniform, awards he received posthumously, and a vintage camera and transistor that were his prized possessions.

“He was the most jovial and carefree man when he was at home, hardly coming across as the deep thinker that he was. Several army aspirants or army personnel, before leaving for their posting, visit our house to seek blessings,” Manmohan said.

Recalling how his brother sacrificed his life for the nation in the war, he added: “The 1/11 Gorkha Rifles regiment had to scale steep slopes in the darkness, to reach higher ground where enemy bunkers were located. The unit successfully attacked and neutralised the first three bunkers but it was during this time that Captain Pandey sustained two bullet injuries. His team mates said that even though he was wounded, he kept motivating the rest of his unit to complete the task... When the army was attacking the fourth bunker, the Captain was shot in the forehead. His last words to his unit were ‘do not let them go’.”

Manmohan said that although his family has been honoured by the army and the government, “we know that we can never get back what we lost”.

“My brother was a diamond and a blessing. He was one of a kind. My brother was born for the country. He was born to serve the country, and we consider ourselves lucky that he was born in our family,” he said.