Jojan Thomas

Colonel Jojan Thomas was an Indian military officer with the Jat Regiment of the 45 Rashtriya Rifles unit. He was a native of Kuttoor in Kerala and lived in Bangalore. He was commissioned from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai in March 1986. On 22 August 2008, he led an operation against terrorists in the forests of Macchal sector in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. In the process, he killed three terrorists, but sustained several gunshot wounds and succumbed to injuries. For his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, the highest peace time military decoration in India.