AFVOA Newletters of Year 2002

Page 78 of 84 fight the enemy tenaciously. He kept rushing across the open ground to his sections exposing himself to heavy and accurate fire thus inspiring the men to hold on. 45. Keeping his nerve, he skilfully directed the fire of his section into the ever-advancing enemy. He repeatedly exposed himself to the full fury of enemy fire and laid out cloth air strips to guide our aircraft onto their targets in full view of the enemy. 46. Realising that casualties had affected the effectiveness of his light automatics, he personally commenced filling magazines and issuing them to light machine gunners. A mortar shell landing right in the middle of the ammunition resulted in an explosion that killed him. 47. Major Sharma’s company held onto its position and the remnants withdrew only when almost completely surrounded. His inspiring example resulted in the enemy being delayed for six hours, thus gaining time for our reinforcements to get into position at Hum Hom to stem the tide of the enemy advance. 48. His leadership, bravery and tenacious determination were such that his men were inspired to fight the enemy who outnumbered them by seven to one for six hours, one hour of which was after this gallant officer had been killed. 49. He set an example of courage and qualities seldom equalled in the history of the Indian Army. His last message to Brigade Headquarters received a few moments before he was killed was: “The enemy are only 50 yards from us. We are heavily outnumbered. We are under devastating fire. I shall not withdraw an inch but will fight to our last man and our last round.” The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen. ~ Lee Iacocca