HANDIGARH: Brig Sant Singh (retd), 94, who had been awarded the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) in the 1965 as well as 1971 India-Pakistan wars, died on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday at a hospital in SAS Nagar.

He was among the six officers of the Indian military who were decorated with this gallantry award twice; he was also the last surviving MVC & Bar. The MVC, India’s second highest military decoration after the Param Vir Chakra, is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy.

Brig Sant Singh is survived by his daughter Satinder Kaur and son-in-law Brig Sarabjeet Randhawa (retd).

He had also taken part in World War-II, 1947-48 India-Pakistan war and 1962 India-China war. During an interview in August this year, he had said that he was recommended for yet another MVC and also the Param Vir Chakra, but did not get it. A Lt Col in the 1965 war, he had retired in 1973. In 1971, he was one of the officers who trained Mukti Bahini, the guerrilla force formed during Bangladesh’s war of liberation. His brigade caught the Pakistani forces off guard and marched into Dhaka, forcing the enemy to surrender. Brig Sant Singh had been associated with The War Decorated of India and remained its president. His cremation will take place in Sector 25 here on Thursday. Mourning the death, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh said the country had lost a great soldier.