Walong

Enveloped in sheer historic importance, Walong is a tiny cantonment and administrative town in the Anjaw District of Arunachal Pradesh. Till 2004 Anjaw was a part of Lohit District. Walong's approximate position is 28 degrees 06 minutes North, 97 degrees East. Tucked away on the west bank of the Lohit River(a tributary of the Brahmaputra), it is 20 km south of the Chinese border. Walong had witnessed a fierce Battle of Walong in 1962 when the outnumbered Indian Army 11th Infantry Brigade blocked the thrust of the invading Chinese. The Brigade fought strongly between 22nd October and 16 November 1962 until it was reduced to pitiful remnants and then withdrew down the valley to Hayuliang. The Chinese who had suffered big casualties did not follow up beyond Chagwinty.

There is a War Memorial in Walong which was erected in the memory of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the noble mission of saving their land from invasion. They braved the aggression from Chinese with the nerves of steel. This memorial has the following verses composed by a Walong veteran inscribed on it:

" The sentinel hills that round us stand, bear witness that we loved our land.
Amidst shattered rocks and flaming pine, we fought and died on Namti Plain.
O Lohit gently by us glide, pale stars above us softly shine, as we sleep here in sun and rain ".