Know Lieutenant General Prem Nath Hoon's story of courage and commitment in the world’s highest battlefield Siachen

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India observes Siachen Day every year on April 13. The day is observed to commemorate the courage of Indian Army for conducting 'Operation Meghdoot'. The day also honors the ‘Siachen Warriors' who defended the country successfully in the coldest and highest battlefield of the world.

The Operation Meghdoot was launched to secure control of the entire Siachen Glacier in Jammu & Kashmir. It was led by Lieutenant General Prem Nath Hoon. The move was approved by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The first phase of the operation began in March 1984 with the march on foot to the eastern base of the glacier. A full battalion of the Kumaon Regiment and units from the Ladakh Scouts, marched with full battle packs through an ice-bound Zoji La pass for days.

Plans for the occupation of Saltoro Ridge were vigorously developed by Lt Gen Hoon, and it finally took place in April 1984. Since that time, the Indian Army has had firm control over the hotly contested region between India and Pakistan.

Lt Gen Hoon had yet another run-in with history when he oversaw the Western Army, based at Chandimandir, during Operation Brasstacks in 1986 and 1987, one of the largest military drills on the subcontinent. This drill, the largest deployment of Indian Army troops ever, nearly started a war with Pakistan. Together with Gen K Sundarji, who was then the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Hoon participated in Operation Brasstacks' preparation and implementation as GOC-in-C of Western Command.

In his later years, while giving interviews to mediapersons, Lt Gen Hoon had maintained that Operation Brasstacks was an excuse to go to war with Pakistan. He also wrote a book called ‘The Untold Truth' in which he claimed that a coup d'etat had been planned by certain elements to topple the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's government in 1987.

Lt Gen Hoon was born on October 4, 1929, in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan. He joined the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, in 1947 and was initially commissioned in the Sikh Regiment in 1949 before being transferred to the Dogra Regiment a few years later.

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He commanded the 13th Battalion of the Dogra Regiment and also served as the Colonel of the Regiment till he retired in 1987 as the Western Army Commander.

Lt Gen Hoon took part in the 1965 war against Pakistan on Western front in Punjab in the Sialkot and Pasrur sectors. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier in 1970 and commanded a brigade in Sikkim deployed opposite Chinese forces at Nathu La.

He also served as Director General Military Operations at Army Headquarters and Chief-Of-Staff Western Command Chandimandir before he took over as Western Army Commander.

Post-retirement, Lt Gen Hoon was associated with Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena and was the Director General of the Sena's ex-servicemen wing. For the past several years he had been actively involved in the business of running an automobile agency.