The Kargil war in the summer of 1999 was a tale of brutality and courage. Here was war in its essence: barren, icy peaks held by a strongly entrenched enemy, and the only way to dislodge the intruders was to climb up in the face of overwhelming fire. By the end of the war many more heroes were added to the list of the nation’s brave: Saurav Kalia, Vijayant Thapar, Yogendra Singh Yadav, Mariappan Sarvanan and Vikram Batra, to name only a few. Their exploits in this harrowing battle read like the stuff of legend.