Major Vivek Gupta, Subedar Sumer Singh Rathore, Subedar Bhanwar Lal, Havaldar Yashvir Singh, Havaldar Sultan Singh Narwaris, Naik Surendra Singh, Rifleman Bachan Singh (all from Rajputana Rifles) and Signalman Vinod Kumar made the supreme sacrifice in the Kargil sector.

``My father (late Col Bhopal Singh of 22 Rajputs) would have been very proud of him,'' was all Capt Gupta said after she had laid a wreath on her husband's coffin. Once the ceremony was over, she walked over to the officer who had accompanied her husband's body and in hushed tones asked him what exactly happened at the front. There were no tears.

YashpalSingh, a head constable in Delhi Police, paid his last respects to his brother-in-law Yashvir Singh. ``He was a brave man,'' Singh said. ``They are four brothers in all and in fact, his youngest brother Harbir Singh is also posted in the Kargil sector. He is in the Signals.''

Col G P Yadav, former commanding officer of the Rajputana Rifles unit to which the seven men belonged, paid glowing tributes to his paltan. ``Major Gupta was the last officer to be commissioned when I was commanding the unit,'' Yadav recalled. ``He was a fine officer.'' Yadav then went onto to have a chat with the ``boys'' who had accompanied the bodies straight from the battlefront.

The men were in high spirits, but their blackened and tired faces told the story of the long and hard battle that they had fought. Relatives of Yashvir Singh also had a little talk with the soldiers.