Then there were widows and parents of the martyrs. The ceremony over, Savita Rana, whose husband Lt Col S S Rana had received the Ashok Chakra (posthumous), the highest peacetime gallantry award, walked down the aisle of the elliptical memorial, looking for the name of her husband.

Her eyes brimmed over as she finally found him. “Haan, wohi hain,” she said, before lapsing into silence.

A day earlier, Vinod Anand, mother of Second Lieutenant Mukesh Anand who laid down his life merely three-and-a-half months after joining the Army in 1993, had called up to ask when she could “see him there”.

Lt Col J S Kanwar, whose son Major Sandeep Shankla received the Ashok Chakra (posthumous) in 1991, was all praise for the memorial. “It’s an unprecedented effort. I am grateful for it.”

Others guests who took a round of the memorial included Haryana Chief Minister B S Hooda, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Haryana Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.