Dhan Singh Thapa Lieutenant - Colonel Dhan Singh Thapa PVC ( ) ( June 10 , 1928 – September 6 , 2005 ) was an Indian Army major in 1st Battalion , 8th Gorkha Rifles Regiment . He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra , India ' s highest military decoration . Biography . Dhan Singh Thapa was born to P . S . Thapa at Shimla , Himachal Pradesh . He was commissioned into the 8th Gurkha Rifles on 28 August 1949 . He was involved in a major action in Ladakh during the Sino - Indian War . The Sirijap valley , north of Pangong Lake in Ladakh , was considered vital for the defence of Chushul airfield . The 1 / 8 Gurkha Rifles had outposts there to thwart any Chinese encroachment in the area . One of these outposts named Sirijap - 1 was held by a platoon of ' C ' Company under the command of Major Thapa when the Chinese attacked on 20 October 1962 . At 06 : 00 on 20 October 1962 , the Chinese opened a barrage of artillery and mortar fire over Sirijap - 1 post . The shelling continued till 08 : 30 and the whole area was set ablaze . Some shells fell on the command post and damaged the wireless set . This put the post out of communication . The Chinese then attacked in overwhelming numbers . Major Thapa and his men repulsed the attack , inflicting heavy casualties . The Chinese mounted another attack in greater numbers after shelling the area with artillery and mortar fire . Major Thapa once again repulsed the attack , inflicting heavy losses on the Chinese . A short while later , a third Chinese attack included tanks in support of the infantry . The defenders were weakened by the casualties suffered in earlier attacks , but held out while the ammunition lasted . When the Chinese finally overran the post , Major Thapa jumped out of his trench and killed many intruders in hand - to - hand fighting . He was eventually overpowered and captured . For his gallant act , Major Dhan Singh Thapa was honoured with the highest wartime gallantry medal , the Param Vir Chakra . He was believed to have been killed in this engagement , and the original citation reflects this . He was later discovered to have been taken prisoner and after his release from the POW camp , he resumed his military career . He retired as Lieutenant - Colonel . Citation . The citation for the Param Vir Chakra awarded to him reads : MAJOR DHAN SINGH THAPA 1 / 8 GORKHA RIFLES ( IC - 7990 ) ( 3 Mechnised Infantry ) Major Dhan Singh Thapa . On 20 October it was attacked by the Chinese in overwhelming strength after being subjected to intensive artillery and mortar bombardment . Under his gallant command , the greatly outnumbered post repulsed the attack , inflicting heavy casualties on the aggressors . The enemy attacked again in greater numbers after heavy shelling by artillery and mortar fire . Under the leadership of Major Thapa , his men repulsed this attack also with heavy losses to the enemy . The Chinese attacked for the third time , now with tanks to support the infantry . The post had already suffered large numbers of casualties in the earlier two attacks . Though considerably reduced in number it held out to the last . When it was finally overrun by overwhelming numbers of the enemy , Major Thapa got out of his trench and killed several of the enemy in hand - to - hand fighting before he was finally overpowered by Chinese soldiers . Major Thapa ’ s cool courage , conspicuous fighting qualities and leadership were in the highest traditions of our Army . Other Glorifications . The Shipping Corporation of India honoured the valor of this man by naming one of their ships as Major Dhan Singh Thapa PVC .