Squadron Leader Kailash Singh Parihar (9071) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the Indian Air Force on 25th December, 1964 and since then he has flown 2197 accident free hours on various Aircraft. In August, 1976, there were unprecedented floods in Loni River in Jodhpur District and a number of villages were isolated. The fury of the river did not permit plying of rescue boats. The Air Force was, therefore, called in aid of civil power to effect rescue of marooned villagers. Sqn Ldr Parihar volunteered to rescue the marooned villagers. On arrival at the village it was discovered that many houses in and around Lamba Village had been washed away and that sixty villagers had taken shelter on top of the village temple. The front portion of the temple had been washed away and it was feared that the rest of the building might collapse at any time endangering the lives of all the persons.

As it was not possible to land the helicopter on the temple top, Squadron Leader Parihar decided to effect the evacuation by directing the hovering helicopter from the temple top and simultaneously assisting these people to board. Knowing fully well that a slight slip might be fatal, he jumped on to the edge of the temple top from the helicopter which was hovering at a considerable height. Taking his position, he marshaled the hovering helicopters to correct positions near the temple roof one after the other. The helicopter made about 18 shuttle flight and evacuated all the 60 people.

In this action, Squadron Leader Kailash Singh Parihar displayed exemplary courage, professional skill, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.

Flight Lieutenant Ramesh Chandra Ghildiyal was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in 1964 and served as the Squadron Pilot. As a Flight Commander in an operational helicopter unit where he flew over 1650 hours while carrying out casualty evacuations, relief operations, and logistics support missions and flight of dignitary over hazardous terrain with great efficiency. He volunteered for the Flight Inspectors course in 1971-72 and on the basis of his performance and aptitude, he was selected for the Experimental Test Pilot's Course in France in 1974 which he completed with a high merit. He was posted to Air craft and Systems Testing Establishment in 1975. He took great interest in development and testing of fixed wing aircraft and regularly assisted in their flight testing. On 28th September, 1976 while assisting Sqn. Ldr Deepak Yadav in the conduct of a flight trial, the aircraft suffered structural failure leading to complete loss of control. Flight Lieutenant Ramesh Chandra Ghildiyal was killed in the ensuing crash thereby sacrificing his life in the cause of test flying.

Flight Lieutenant Ramesh Chandra Ghildiyal has thus displayed courage, determination and devotion to duty.

Due to unusually heavy rains on 24th and 25th November 1976, low lying areas of Madras city were inundated and a large number of citizens were marooned. On 25th November, 1976 Squadron Leader Shivacharan Singh Tomar of Air Force station Avadi was called upon to assist the civil police in the evacuation of marooned people. In the absence of any other satisfactory arrangement, he used some dinghies as make-shift boats. The extremely limited capacity of dinghies, the difficult conditions due to floods and incessant rains and the handicaps caused by the darkness in the evening did not deter Squadron Leader Tomar from undertaking the rescue operations. He ceaselessly continued the operations throughout day and night on 25th and 26th November 1976 and was able to rescue three hundred and sixty-seven persons.

In these operations, Squadron Leader Shivacharan Singh Tomar displayed great initiative, skill, courage and devotion to duty of a high order.

Corporal Rishi Kesh Tiwari was enrolled in the Air Force in 1963. On the 10th December, 1976 at about 1900 hours, while going from his billet to his mess, he heard the sound of a gun-shot. He proceeded to the place from where the shot had been fired. He saw a Defense Security Corps sepoy with a rifle and heard him ordering four persons to stand in a line and subsequently firing one round which injured one of the four persons. He shouted at the sepoy and unmindful of his own safety, ran towards him to prevent him from firing him any more. Before he could reach him, the sepoy fired another round injuring one more person. Corporal Tiwari caught the sepoy from behind and pulled him down. He was immediately joined by the other two persons and the rifle was snatched away from him

In this action, Corporal Rishi Kesh Tiwari displayed exemplary courage, initiative, presence of mind and sense of public duty of a high order.

Corporal Ram Prasad, Aircraft Hand General Duties is in the Air Force since 18th May, 1975. On the night of 28th February, 1977, at about 2330 hrs, a fire broke out in the quarter of L/Nk LR Soni. L/Nk LR Soni was then away and his wife and three children were sleeping in the house. By the time Mrs. Soni discovered the fire, it had already assumed serious proportions and she ran out of the house to shout for help. Corporal Ram Prasad was the first to respond and by the time he reached the scene, the whole house was engulfed in flames and smoke. Smti. Soni was in a state of shock and was crying that her three small children were in the flaming house. Corporal Ram Prasad in utter disregard for his personal safety went thrice into the burning house and one by one brought out three children who were trapped inside.

In this action, Corporal Ram Prasad displayed exemplary courage, presence of mind, determination and a high sense of public duty.

On 15th October 1977, Squadron Leader Sidhu was ordered to evacuate Sir Edmund Hillary the leader of “Ocean to sky Expedition” who was lying critically ill at the base camp located at a height 17,5000 feet above Mean Sea Level. A veteran of many causality evacuation missions, Squadron Leader Sidhu could easily comprehend the gravity of the situation. He planned his mission immaculately, got airborne and spotted snow covered gorge on which Sir Edmund Hillary was perched, would make evacuation extremely hazardous. As he adroitly maneuvered the helicopter so that it was inches above the ground, loose and scattered snow started flying all around and caused a mini blizzard. Undeterred by this, he kept the helicopter stationery by maintaining a perfect hover, at the altitude 17,5000 feet till his copilot jumped down and helped Sir Edmund Hillary into the helicopter. In this action Squadron Leader Sukhmander Singh Sidhu displayed great courage, determination and professional skill of high order.