``Kungulu, as we affectionately called him, visited us in the first week of February before leaving for Kashmir. I told him my apprehensions about his being posted in an area infested by militants. But his direct reply had me stumped. He said if I die fighting the enemy in Kashmir, should you not feel proud about me?''his father, Nabaghana Sahu, says. He says the 24-year-old soldier, who belonged to the Corps of Signals, had always dreamt of fighting the enemy on the borders.

But Lance Naik Sahu's dream was a short one -- his posting at the border lasted only four months. Having joined the Army in June, 1997, he completed his training at Goa on December 31, 1998. He stayed there for a month before coming home for a few days.

The soft-spoken Nabaghana Sahu, who is the headmaster of the mahtab high school at pallahara, said he receivedthe information about the death of the second of his three sons about 11 hours later on June 7.

``The Angul district collector informed me over telephone and the body arrived the next day,'' he said.

Ironically, Sahu received his son's last letter from Srinagar on June 11 when he returned to Pallahara after completing the last rites of his son. All that the letter said was that his unit was moving to a new place where an exercise was on and a request to form his parents not to worry. ``He has left me for ever which is an irreparable loss but I am proud that he died for the country,'' Sahu said.