Laurels for first Keralite to earn Ashoka Chakra

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: During the peak of Naga insurgency in 1960s, India was trying to hold on to Nagaland. One day, around 500 Naga guerillas encircled and sprayed bullets on 40 Indian soldiers holed up in a bunker. Only one Indian soldier dared to walk and crawl out of the bunker to retrieve the badly-needed supplies. The young soldier named Alby Dcruz of Valiyathura did it twice during the next few days. He was not a gunner but a radio man who  answered the call of duty like no others. His valour earned him Ashoka Chakra (Class III) in 1962 from the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This was the first Ashoka Chakra earned by a Keralite. 

While fighting the insurgency, the small group of men from 14th Assam Rifle had walked and swam over 40 km to set up a camp fortified with mud. The radio was the only channel of communication with the headquarters. The sole way to charge its batteries was to run petrol- powered generator. As it was hazardous to keep fuel in  the camp, the petrol reserves were stored some distance away. After being surrounded for days, radio man Dcruz crawled out braving bullets  to fetch the fuel and save  the day.

The day after, the ammunition ran out due to heavy exchange of fire. Based on Dcruz’ radio requests, a helicopter air dropped two boxes of ammunition using parachutes. While one fell inside the camp, another box fell close to the Naga insurgents. At night, Dcruz once again walked to  drag the heavy box for several hundred metres. This time exchange of fire was intense as bullets from both sides grazed past him. Mr Dcruz, now 80, was re-felicitated by former defence minister A.K. Antony in the presence of his fellow Assam Rifle veterans at  a function organised by ‘Coastal Collective,’  a coastal organisation, on Tuesday.