Seventy-nine years after Major Somnath Sharma fell defending a valley in Jammu and Kashmir, the soldier from Kangra who became the first name on India's highest gallantry roll is still being saluted by heads of state. On 3 November 2026, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu paid solemn homage to the fallen officer on his martyrdom anniversary, honouring a life cut short at Badgam in 1947 but remembered in every corner of the nation.

Posting in Hindi on X, Chief Minister Sukhu wrote: 'वीरभूमि कांगड़ा के सपूत एवं प्रथम परमवीर चक्र से सम्मानित मेजर सोमनाथ शर्मा जी के बलिदान दिवस पर उन्हें शत-शत नमन' — 'I offer a hundred salutes to Major Somnath Sharma, son of the heroic land of Kangra and the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, on his martyrdom day.' He added that Sharma had shown 'indomitable courage and valour' during the Pakistani raiders' assault in 1947, protecting the motherland without regard for his own life, and that 'his bravery and supreme sacrifice will remain immortal in the nation's history.'

The day Kangra sent its son to Kashmir

Major Somnath Sharma, born in Kangra district of what is now Himachal Pradesh, commanded a company of the 4 Kumaon Regiment during the first India-Pakistan war triggered by the tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947. On 3 November 1947, his company held the airfield approach near Badgam against an overwhelming force of Pakistani raiders. Despite a plaster cast on one arm from a prior injury, he directed his men and kept radio contact with headquarters, reportedly saying the enemy would not reach the airfield over his dead body. They did not — but the major did not survive the battle.

His actions directly protected the Srinagar airfield, the single lifeline for Indian reinforcements. The Indian Army's ability to hold Kashmir in those first critical days is inseparable from what happened at Badgam on that November morning.

India's first Param Vir Chakra — and what the award meant

The Param Vir Chakra — India's highest wartime gallantry honour — was instituted on 26 January 1950, the day the Constitution came into force. The government awarded it posthumously to Major Sharma first, making him not only the inaugural recipient but the standard against which all future awardees would be measured. The medal's Sanskrit name translates as 'Wheel of the Bravest of the Brave.'

Kangra's military pride and why this tribute matters today

Kangra district — which CM Sukhu called Veerbhumi, 'the land of the brave' — has long supplied soldiers to the Indian Army in numbers disproportionate to its size. Chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh have consistently used the anniversary of Major Sharma's martyrdom to reinforce that identity, linking the state's military heritage to the national narrative of sacrifice. For a Congress government in Shimla, the tribute also underlines a non-partisan point: the defence of the nation predates every political party.

Every year on 3 November, the date carries the same weight it did in 1947 — a reminder that the borders held then were not inevitable. They were held by one man with a broken arm and a radio, urging his company to stand firm.