Army Major from Bengaluru bestowed with Sena medal

Team Udayavani, Jan 16, 2022, 5:59 PM IST

A total of 15 Indian Army officers and soldiers were awarded the Sena Medal, five of them posthumously, during the Army Day celebrations in New Delhi for gallantry during counter-terror operations. Among the winners was a Bengalurean, Major Neil Silas Lobo.

Major Lobo, a member of the 8th Light Cavalry but seconded to the Rashtriya Rifles was commended for his gallentary during the cordoning operations in Jammu and Kashmir on October 19, 2020. as per the citation, Lobo crawled towards the positions of terrorists in the face of heavy, indiscriminate firing and subsequently engaged the fleeing militants at close range, killing two of them.

Major Lobo was born to former professor and Bajal parishioner Leo Lobo and teacher Matilda Fernandes of Neermarga parish. He was a student of St Joseph’s Boys’ High School and subsequently attained a BBM from St Joseph’s Commerce College. He graduated from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on December 13, 2014, and was commissioned into the Armoured Corps.

The Sena Medal is awarded in recognition of individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage as have special significance to the Indian Army.