On 30 December 1949, he was posthumously awarded Maha Vir Chakra, independent India’s second highest military decoration.

Rajinder Singh was born on 14 June 1899 in Bagoona village (now Rajinderpura, Samba district) in a military Dogra rajput family.

On 25 September 1947, he took over charge as Chief of Army Staff of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces from Major General H. L.

[6] They were successful in instigating the Muslim soldiers of the 4th J&K Battalion of Maharaja Hari Singh's army that was based in the town.

[15] Brigadier Rajinder Singh ordered the destruction of Uri bridge on 24 October with a 25 pound charge by Subedar Major (Hon.

Rajinder Singh once again ordered his men to fall back, moving them to Rampur near Boniyar, where defensive positions were created throughout the night.

[6][13][11][19] On 30 December 1949, for his act of gallantry in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajinder Singh was posthumously awarded India's first Maha Vir Chakra.

[6] The citation reads: Immediately after the partition of the Indian Sub continent in 1947, thousands of raiders assisted by Pakistani regulars invaded the State of Jammu & Kashmir all along its border.

The Jammu & Kashmir State Forces, stretched along a 550-mile long border deployed in penn-packets with limited arms, ammunition and supplies, without road communications, and heavily-outnumbered, fought tenaciously holding on to their positions.

Brigadier Rajender Singh, Chief of Military Staff, took over the command of a relief column and proceeded to check the raiders.

Menon, an Indian civil servant, had said of Brigadier Rajinder:[24][25] "He and his colleagues will live in history like gallant Leonidas and his 300 men who held the Persian invaders at Thermopylae.

[35] Sainik Samachar reported that on 24 October 2018 a bust of Brigadier Rajindra Singh, presented by his family, was unveiled at the Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar.

[37] Sainik Samachar also reported that the family visited Boniyar to pay homage at the Memorial where Brigadier Rajindra Singh died fighting.

[36] Over the years there have been calls to posthumously honour the Brigadier with India's highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra.