Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Drass (Kargil), July 26

The victory flame passed hands from one veteran to another and finally to Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday as it reached its final destination at the Drass War Memorial here.

The flame — which was lit by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the National War Memorial in New Delhi on July 14 — was received at Drass by Major DP Singh (retired), a Kargil war veteran and India’s first amputee marathon runner.

The war veteran was 25 when he was hit by mortar fire in Akhnoor sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Following the injury, his right leg was amputated.

“I was among many soldiers who are not with us. To carry their memories in my hands, what more could I have asked for,” the retired officer said.

The flame reached Drass, the ground zero of 1999 Kargil war, on the last of the three-day commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Kargil war victory.

Major Singh, who has ran in 21 marathons using a prosthetic limb, after receiving the flame at Drass handed it over to another Kargil war hero, Subedar Major Yogendra Singh Yadav. He was awarded the highest military decoration Param Vir Chakra for his role in the fight for Tiger Hill.

The victory flame after completing a 1000-km journey was finally handed over to the Army chief who merged it in the eternal flame at the Drass War Memorial.