Malayali soldier Varun, who lost his right arm in Operation Sindoor, awarded President’s Air Force Medal

Kozhikode: Malayali soldier proves the power of his artificial arm after losing his right arm in Operation Sindoor. Varun Kumar S, the only Malayali soldier seriously injured in the Pakistani airstrike, has been awarded the President’s Air Force Medal on Thursday in recognition of his bravery.

On May 10 early morning, Alappuzha native Corporal Varun of the Indian Air Force lost his right arm in an airstrike carried out by the Pakistan military on the Udhampur Air Base in Jammu and Kashmir. For the past two and a half years, Varun has been working as a medical assistant at the Station Medicare Centre in Udhampur Air Base. The attack happened in the early hours. At the time, Sergeant Surendra Kumar Mog from Rajasthan, who was working alongside Varun, was killed in action.

Varun was admitted to the Commando Hospital in Udhampur and, after receiving expert treatment, returned to life. His injured right arm had to be surgically removed. He spent three months in hospital, after which he was moved to the Artificial Limb Centre in Pune. It was only last week that the artificial arm was fitted. The other day, Air Force Chief Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh visited Varun at the Artificial Limb Centre. Soon after, the Air Force released information about Varun’s survival story.

Varun joined the Air Force as airman in 2013. Until the day before the attack, his wife Anju, a native of Pilathara in Kannur, and their son Vihaan were with him in Udhampur. As tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, the family was sent back home. Varun is son of Shashidhar of Punnapra Thekkepurakkal and the late Ratnakumari. His brother Vivek Kumar is an engineer.