Exceptional soldier and an officer par excellence
Vetri Nathan was born to Commander N K Nathan on 24 February 1941 in Mumbai. He joined the army and was commissioned into Second Battalion of Eleven Gorkha Rifles (2/11 GR) in December 1962. The second battalion of the regiment was inducted into Mizoram to quell the Mizo uprising in the 1960s. Major Vetri led many counter-insurgency operations leading the terrorists to dub him ‘Black Pearl’ and place a price on his head.
The Indo-Pak war of 1947-1948 concluded with the Line of Control bisecting the Ladakh district, with the Skardu tehsil going to Pakistan. There was political tension between East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan. The East Bengal protests in 1969 led to the resignation of President Ayub Khan. He invited army chief General Yahya Khan to take over Pakistan government.
Later elections were declared and the Awami League of East Pakistan gained a majority. The Pakistan army rejected this victory. The Awami League called for strikes leading into an insurrection. The Pakistan government reacted with cruel suppression.
Hoping to prevent any Indian support to East Pakistan (subsequently Bangladesh), on 3 December 1971, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched surprise pre-emptive strikes on eleven airfields in north-western India. The Indian Air Force responded with initial air strikes the same night. These expanded to massive retaliatory air strikes. Next morning India launched a full-scale invasion of Pakistan.
During the 1971 war 2/11 GR, was deployed in the Kargil Sector of J&K (Jammu and Kashmir). A series of hill features ran along the LoC (Line of Control) in this sector and held considerable importance for military operations. One such hill feature Point 13620, dominating the Srinagar-Leh highway was under the control of Pakistani forces. The Indian forces had captured this Point during the 1965 war but had to return it as part of the Tashkent Agreement signed on 10 January 1966.
The hill feature posed a serious threat to the movement of troops along the highway and it was necessary to dislodge the enemy forces from Point 13620. 2/11 GR was assigned this task. The task involved overrunning many enemy-held posts along the slopes leading to Point 13620. Major Vetri Nathan was commanding one of the companies that took on this challenging task and launched the attack on 6 December 1971. Major Nathan displaying courage and leadership skills successfully managed to capture the enemy held post ‘Black Rocks’.
Subsequently, the Company marched towards their objective of capturing Point 13620. However, the advance was stalled by the enemy’s Medium Machine Gun (MMG) post on the summit. After analyzing the gravity of the situation, Major Nathan realised that the enemy MMG post had to be neutralised at any cost. Disregarding his personal safety, he called for the handheld Rocket Launcher and personally rose up to take aim and neutralise the enemy MMG bunker. While he shot off the rocket which knocked off the MMG post, he at the same time took an enemy bullet through his head and was martyred.
His martyrdom infuriated his troops who unsheathed their khukris (daggers) and went on a rampage against the enemy beheading many soldiers. The daredevil attack by Gorkha soldiers forced the enemy to flee evacuating all the posts before first light and Point 13620 was captured. The post, 14,000 feet above the sea was named as ‘Vetri Post’ in his honour and a memorial was erected at this place.
Major Vetri Nathan was a committed soldier and an officer par excellence who laid down his life in the highest traditions of the Indian Army. Before going to battle, he had paid his mess charges, as he was aware of the possibility on not returning. He was given the gallantry award, ‘Vir Chakra’ for his exceptional courage, determination, unfaltering leadership, and supreme sacrifice. The Pilot Bunder Road in Navy Nagar, Mumbai was renamed as Major Vetri Nathan Vir Chakra Road.
Contributed by Renu Prakash from the data bank of Late Brig. Suresh Chandra Sharma.