Major Sudhir Kumar Walia, who served as the Aide-De-Camps to the then Army Chief Gen VP Malik, took special permission to take part in the Kargil war, which broke in 1999, as he did not want to miss the opportunity. 

After the war was over, his team was assigned counter insurgency duties in Jammu and Kashmir. It was during this time that he launched an operation in the Haphruda forest area near Kupwara that unfortunately claimed his life.

Though Walia managed to kill 9 terrorists out of 20, he sustained serious injuries in the process. 

He was airlifted to the army base hospital but succumbed to the injuries en route. 

For his act of gallantry, he was awarded the Ashoka Chakra posthumously.