By S.N.Venkatnag Sobers
Armed Forces personnel and bravery are the two sides of a coin. Soldiers plunge into war zone at any given point of time and situation and do not even think a second to lay down their lives for the sake of our Motherland. One such martyr is Major Akshay Girish of 51 Engineers of Bengal Sappers who was killed in a terrorist ambush on Nagrota Army cantonment in J&K on Nov. 29, 2016 just a few days ahead of his 31st birthday. It was at between 5.30 am and 6 am that Akshay received information of three terrorists entering the cantonment and he swiftly led the Quick Response Team. Akshay displayed exemplary bravery in preventing women, children being killed. Ashkay’s proud father Wing Commander (retd) Girish Kumar, who in Mysuru yesterday to receive ‘Desh Ratna Award’ presented posthumously to Akshay Girish by Rotary Mysore Midtown and Shrisainik Family, spoke to Star of Mysore about his son’s brave act. “It is a terrible loss and losing him just before his 31st birthday was even more tragic. We learnt some details about what took place on that day and we realised that what Akshay and his colleagues did was way beyond the word heroic”, he said. Girish Kumar, who is a pilot for a private airline, said Akshay very well knew since a young age what exactly he wanted to do and he chose the Army. Meghna, Akshay’s mother, has in fact, written 11 episodes about Major Akshay in her blog
