Vir Chakra (VrC)

Havildar Lekh Raj of Punjab Regiment was commanding a recoilless gun detachment when his battalion was attacked in strength by enemy infantry supported by a squadron of tanks in the Eastern Sector. Under cover of the morning mist, the enemy tanks firing their weapons had reached within 20 yards of the forward defended localities. Seeing the danger to which our troops were exposed, Havildar Lekh Raj manoeuvered his recoilless gun to hit the enemy tanks from the flanks.

Undeterred by the heavy machine gun fire direct on his detachment by the enemy, he hit an enemy tank with the first shot and destroyed it. When he was about to engage the second tank, he was hit by medium machine gun fire from an enemy tank and was seriously wounded.