<P> The close engagement with the Indian troops resulted in the gendarmerie losing about half their men; they fled in utter confusion leaving their dead and the injured behind . This helped the main battalion to easily overrun the enemy force, clear the roadblock, and prevent rebels from encircling the UN Headquarters in Elizabethville . For his duty and courage, and disregard for his own safety in the face of the enemy, Salaria was awarded the Param Vir Chakra . </P> <P> For his gallant actions on 5 December 1961, Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria was awarded the Param Vir Chakra . The citation read: </P> <P> On 5 December 1961, 3 / 1 Gorkha Rifles was ordered to clear a roadblock established by the gendarmerie at a strategic roundabout at Elizabethville, Katanga . The plan was that one company with 2 Swedish armoured cars would attack the position frontally and Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria with two sections of Gorkhas and two Swedish armoured personnel carriers would advance towards this roadblock from the airfield to act as a cutting - off force . Captain Salaria with his small force arrived at a distance of 1500 yards from the roadblock at approximately 1312 hours on 5 December 1961 and came under heavy automatic and small - arms fire from an undetected enemy position dug in on his right flank . The enemy also had two armoured cars and about 90 men opposing Captain Salaria's small force . Captain Salaria appreciating that he had run into a subsidiary roadblock and ambush and that this enemy force might reinforce the strategic roundabout and thus jeopardise the main operation, decided to remove this opposition . He led a charge with bayonets, khukris, and grenades supported by a rocket launcher . In this gallant engagement, Captain Salaria killed 40 of the enemy and knocked out the two armoured cars . This unexpected bold action completely demoralised the enemy who fled despite their numerical superiority and protected positions . Captain Salaria was wounded in his neck by a burst of automatic fire but continued to fight till he collapsed due to profuse bleeding . Captain Salaria's gallant action prevented any enemy movement of the enemy force towards the main battle scene and thus contributed very largely to the success of the main battalion's action at the roundabout and prevented the encirclement of UN Headquarters in Elizabethville . Captain Salaria subsequently died of his wounds . </P> <P> In the 1980s, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), a Government of India enterprise under the aegis of the Ministry of Shipping, named fifteen of its crude oil tankers in honour of the PVC recipients . The tanker MT Capt . Gurbachan Singh Salaria, PVC was delivered to SCI on 26 October 1984, and served for 25 years before being phased out . </P>

Soldier awarded param vir chakra after he was martyred