By Akshay Dongare: Lieutenant Rekha Singh, the wife of Galwan hero, Late Naik Deepak Singh, joined the Indian Army on Saturday as an officer after completing her training at Chennai-based Officers Training Academy (OTA).
According to reports, Rekha Singh has been commissioned into the Indian army as a lieutenant and that she has been posted to a frontline base along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. This is the same command under which her husband made the supreme sacrifice during the Galwan clashes.
ALSO READ | Rekha Singh’s husband died fighting Chinese in Galwan. She is now a Lieutenant
Taking to Twitter, the Indian army wrote, “Woman Cadet Rekha Singh, wife of Late Naik (Nursing Assistant) Deepak Singh, Vir Chakra (Posthumous) got commissioned into the Indian Army after completing her training from the OTA in Chennai. Naik Deepak made the supreme sacrifice during the Galwan Clashes.”
ALSO READ | Rajnath Singh holds talks with Chinese defence minister, 1st since Galwan clash
Apart from Rekha, the Indian Army also commissioned five women officers into the Regiment of Artillery on Saturday.
Lieutenant Rekha Singh, 24, who hails from Rewa District of Madhya Pradesh, lost her husband within a year of their marriage.
ALSO READ | India rescues nearly 2,400 citizens as fresh fighting breaks out amid Sudan truce
WHO WAS DEEPAK SINGH?
Late Naik Deepak Singh was awarded the country’s third-highest wartime award posthumously, after the clash with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in 2020. As many as 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the clash. Naik Deepak Singh saved the lives of 30 soldiers.
Naik Singh was credited for not only treating his fellow brothers in the clash but also the Chinese soldiers, despite being injured himself. It was a falling rock that killed him while he was tending to Chinese soldiers.
During the Galwan clashes, Naik Deepak Singh was posted to the Bihar regiment’s 16th Battalion as a Battalion Nursing Assistant. During ‘Operation SNOW LEOPARD,’ he treated casualties from a skirmish in Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh.
He stepped forward for quick medical assistance after assessing the battle situation. As the skirmish erupted and casualties mounted, he moved to the frontlines to provide first aid to his fellow soldiers.
He received critical injuries in the next skirmish, which was accompanied by intense stone-pelting, yet he remained undeterred and untiring in his efforts to provide medical treatment. He was severely injured while performing his job because the enemy outnumbered the Indian troops. Despite being severely wounded by the enemy, he continued to provide medical care to injured soldiers and civilians. Later, he succumbed to his injuries.
