1 July 1948, at Gumri in Jammu and Kashmir, Sepoy Zaila Singh was No. 2 of an LMG outpost. At 0600 hours the enemy attacked the picquet with two companies with MMG and 2-inch mortar support and reached some 400 yards. As his LMG No. 1 got seriously wounded, Sepoy Zaila Singh at once took over the gun, killing or wounding at least two enemy soldiers. Under barrage of 2-inch mortar and heavy concentration of MMG cross fire, the enemy advanced to within 200 yards of this outpost but Sepoy Zaila Singh used his weapon with such devastating effect that the advance of the enemy was temporarily halted. His picquet commander shouted at him to crawl back to the main position. But knowing that he was causing heavy losses to the enemy, he stuck to his position saying that he was more useful there. The enemy, unable to advance without over-running this outpost, furiously engaged this one-man outpost with all the weapons he had, mortally wounding sepoy Zaila Singh.
This brave man by his selfless gallant stand and devotion to duty and his individual skilful action forced the enemy to temporarily abandon an attack on the picquet. He made the supreme sacrifice for the safety of his comrades.