Contribution to Army :

“Fighting without guns in hands requires more courage. After the conflict, I received the Veer Chakra for fighting the war unarmed”, said MAJOR GAUTAM SHASI KUMAR KHOT awardee of VIR CHAKRA year 2000. Col (retd) Gautam Khot received Veer Chakra-the third highest gallantry award of the country, for their valour in the Kargil war which began in May 1999 and lasted for more than two months before Pakistani soldiers and mercenaries withdrew from the mountain tops overlooking the Srinagar-Leh highway. In a short span of 40 days he flew 100 hours, operating helicopters in difficult and high altitude areas in testing weather conditions. He saved Armed forces personnel and delivered ammunition as well as food and water for the fighting army units. During the war, he survived a death scares as well as he managed piloting helicopters in difficult high altitude areas, in trying weather conditions, landing at unprepared helipads and saved many lives of his comrades.

He was the first pilot of the Army Aviation to have landed at Tololing, the first victory of the Indian Army in the Kargil conflict of 1999. Flying a Cheetah helicopter on a terrain that made no suitable landscape for an airfield or a helipad, Colonel (Retd) Gautam Khot, VRC, then Major Khot, landed his chopper at Tololing just to carry six bodies of soldiers who laid down their lives fighting a battle that had ended previous night. For his act of bravery that involved flying for over 100 hours saving the lives of his comrades and delivering ammunition and essential loads despite heavy enemy shelling to the troops engaged, Col Khot was awarded Vir Chakra by the President in November 2000. Colonel Khot is the only Maharashtrian to have been honoured with Vir Chakra for bravery in Kargil war. A native of Mumbai, Col (retd) Khot is now working as a pilot of a helicopter owned by a corporate and has settled down in Pune with his family of four. Now he is thinking of penning down his memories in a book. Salute to brave heart who assisted in the war unarmed.