jitenderhooda
September 8th, 2003, 10:43 AM
How the Great Indian Soldiers do their duty , Here is an incidence ...
My logbook shows the date as 20 September 1978 when the first IAF sortie to Siachen was launched. The black snout of the glacier was, to say the least, imposing and menacing yet truly majestic. As we flew along, I looked left and right for force-landing fields. Where there were no crevasses there was only Ice. But our Chetak had no skis. Never mind, the army Jawan had to be supported and we pressed on. Came Camp I, the aircraft was brought to a hover, the sliding door opened and out went the 'freah'. A little ahead was Camp II and the same thing was repeated. Back at Leh when we were reliving the experience a thought occurred to us, "Why not pick up their mail for their people back home?" And so, when the request for the next sortie came in on 23 September 1978, we were prepared.
Sqn Ldr JK Kaushik was now the Detachment Commander. The helicopter was brought to a hover, 'Chacha' opened the sliding window of the door and out went the main rotor tip cover at the end of a string. In the tip cover was a small note which said in Hindi that, "We are coming back in ten minutes. Please write your letters and put it in the bag." The Jawan retrieved the note and the Chacha pulled up the bag in a manner of drawing water from a well. And then the Jawan gave a smile and a salute that I can never ever forget. We repeated the same 'water drawing' procedure at Camp II and came back to Camp I to pick up the letters, in 10 minutes as promised. Down went the tip cover and the Jawan put in a small object. We indicated to him to put in the letters but he did not react. Fuel was running short and we were a bit angry. Here we were trying to help them and they were not responding. Up came the bag, I put my hand in and found a Locula eye drops carton. It is still so vivid -it was a 10% solution box. In the carton was tattered piece of paper on which was written in Hindi, "SAHIB HAMARE PAS LIKHNE KELIYE KAGAZ NAHIN HAl. KRUPAYA KUCH LIKHNE KA SAMAN LE AIYE" -We do not have paper to write on, so please get us some writing material." I felt a lump in my throat, and when Sqn Ldr Kaushik read it I saw that he was no better. I had some free issue Armed Forces inlands which we dropped for them and thereafter made sure that their loved ones back home were never denied news about their people on the glacier, courtesy 'drawing water from the well method.
Jitender Singh Hooda
My logbook shows the date as 20 September 1978 when the first IAF sortie to Siachen was launched. The black snout of the glacier was, to say the least, imposing and menacing yet truly majestic. As we flew along, I looked left and right for force-landing fields. Where there were no crevasses there was only Ice. But our Chetak had no skis. Never mind, the army Jawan had to be supported and we pressed on. Came Camp I, the aircraft was brought to a hover, the sliding door opened and out went the 'freah'. A little ahead was Camp II and the same thing was repeated. Back at Leh when we were reliving the experience a thought occurred to us, "Why not pick up their mail for their people back home?" And so, when the request for the next sortie came in on 23 September 1978, we were prepared.
Sqn Ldr JK Kaushik was now the Detachment Commander. The helicopter was brought to a hover, 'Chacha' opened the sliding window of the door and out went the main rotor tip cover at the end of a string. In the tip cover was a small note which said in Hindi that, "We are coming back in ten minutes. Please write your letters and put it in the bag." The Jawan retrieved the note and the Chacha pulled up the bag in a manner of drawing water from a well. And then the Jawan gave a smile and a salute that I can never ever forget. We repeated the same 'water drawing' procedure at Camp II and came back to Camp I to pick up the letters, in 10 minutes as promised. Down went the tip cover and the Jawan put in a small object. We indicated to him to put in the letters but he did not react. Fuel was running short and we were a bit angry. Here we were trying to help them and they were not responding. Up came the bag, I put my hand in and found a Locula eye drops carton. It is still so vivid -it was a 10% solution box. In the carton was tattered piece of paper on which was written in Hindi, "SAHIB HAMARE PAS LIKHNE KELIYE KAGAZ NAHIN HAl. KRUPAYA KUCH LIKHNE KA SAMAN LE AIYE" -We do not have paper to write on, so please get us some writing material." I felt a lump in my throat, and when Sqn Ldr Kaushik read it I saw that he was no better. I had some free issue Armed Forces inlands which we dropped for them and thereafter made sure that their loved ones back home were never denied news about their people on the glacier, courtesy 'drawing water from the well method.
Jitender Singh Hooda