Drass (Jammu and Kashmir), July 26 - Soldiers and family members Sunday came together in this border town of Jammu and Kashmir to pay homage to army men killed in the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.

It was an emotive gathering as parents and siblings of soldiers visited the peaks of Drass where their loved ones perished while fighting to eject Pakistani raiders and camouflaged regular troops.

'It is an experience no soldier can ever forget,' said Lt. Gen. (Retd) Amar Nath Aul, who was a brigadier in 1999 and headed the Mountain Brigade that pushed back the intruders in the Drass sector.

'I salute the untiring commitment of my boys who fought against all odds and did not deter in laying down their lives when it came to protecting the country,' he added.

As officers and soldiers as well as families of many of the martyrs placed wreaths at the war memorial early Sunday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saluted those killed in the conflict.

'I join the entire nation in paying homage to the martyrs of the Kargil war. They sacrificed their lives in defence of Indian unity and integrity,' the prime minister said at the India Gate War Memorial in the Indian capital.

Like in the better known Tiger Hill and Tololing, heavy fighting took place in 1999 for the hills off Drass, the second coldest inhabited place in the world located about 60 km from Kargil town.