Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair

Born: 17 February 1951

Died: 20 December 1993

• He was a highly decorated officer of the Indian Army.
• On 20 December 1993, while heading an advance party of the battalion, his convoy was ambushed by Naga rebels.
• He personally led the attack to break the ambush and sacrificed his life defending his men.
• For this act of valour, he was conferred the Ashoka Chakra.
• Technically he is the most decorated officer of the Indian Army, as the only serviceman to have been awarded both the highest (Ashoka Chakra) and second highest (Kirti Chakra) awards for gallantry.
• In December 1993, he was leading an advance party convoy in Nagaland, when they were ambushed by about one hundred insurgents.
• The overwhelming fire from automatic weapons killed one junior commissioned officer and 13 jawans on the spot.
• He, who was seriously injured, did not lose his courage.
• Unmindful of his serious injury, he organized his jawans in an assault line and charged at the insurgents when they broke ranks and fled.
• For his courage and gallantry, he was awarded the Ashoka Chakra posthumously in 1994.

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