Chuni Lal joined the 8th Battalion of the
Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment in 1984. Three years later, he volunteered and participated in an operation to capture the Quaid post, which was later called the
Bana Top, located at in the
Siachen Glacier, for which he was awarded the
Sena Medal for gallantry. A large number of Pakistani soldiers had intruded over the
Siachen Glacier, and Lal's battalion was tasked with ejecting them. A special task force was constituted for this purpose. The Pakistani intrusion had set up positions at a glacier fortress with ice walls high, the highest peak in the area, from where they could snipe at Indian army positions. On 26 June 1987, Naib Subedar
Bana Singh led Lal and other men through an extremely difficult and hazardous route. These soldiers crawled and closed in on the infiltrators and cleared the post of all intruders. This operation was named
Operation Rajiv and Nb Sub
Bana Singh was awarded
Param Vir Chakra for courage and bravery. In 1999, in the
Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir during
Operation Rakshak, Lal fought an attempted intrusion by the
Pakistan Army and was instrumental in killing 12 intruders and saving the post from enemy capture. He was awarded the
Vir Chakra for gallantry. Lal also did two tenures with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in
Somalia and
Sudan. His unit won a UN citation for valour in Sudan.
Final battle and death On 21 June 2007, Lal was promoted to
Naib Subedar (seniority from 1 June). Three days later, on 24 June 2007, Lal was in charge of a post in
Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. Around 3:30 AM, he detected some movement across the fence on the
Line of Control and deployed his soldiers to the area. An exchange of fire followed, which continued for almost an hour. Lal and his soldiers surrounded the whole area and searched for their assailants until dawn. Lal and his team were then fired upon by hidden attackers. The team continued to close on to the area where their attackers were hiding and killed two of them on the spot. Two Indian soldiers were seriously wounded in the gunfire, and lay close to where their attackers were hiding. Lal pulled the wounded men to safety, saving their lives. He continued to search the area and saw a third attacker trying to escape. Lal charged at him with his weapon and killed him. An exchange fire from the attacker split opened Lal's abdomen and he began to lose a lot of blood. He took cover behind a rock, continued to fire and did not allow the other attackers to break the cordon. Under his leadership the two remaining attackers were also killed. Lal had lost a large volume of blood and died by the time a helicopter could airlift him to nearest army hospital. For his actions in battle, he was posthumously awarded the
Ashok Chakra on 15 August 2007 for saving the lives of his fellow men, displaying most conspicuous bravery, demonstrating battle field leadership and laying down his life to protect the country. Lal was survived by his wife Chinta Devi, and three children — a son and two daughters. His wife received his Ashok Chakra medal from the President of India at the
Republic Day Parade on 26 January 2008. ==Gallantry awards==