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Uday Singh is our hero: U.S. General

By Our Special Correspondent

Lt. Gen. James Campbell paying tribute to Uday Singh in Chandigarh on Thursday.

CHANDIGARH DEC. 11. In a rare gesture by a foreign Army on Indian soil, top U.S. Army officials today paid homage to the Indian-born American Sergeant Uday Singh, who died in an ambush in Iraq on December one.

The coffin containing the body of the 21-year-old Uday reached here this morning and his last rites were performed with full U.S. military honours. The coffin was taken to the Sector 18 residence of Uday escorted by a high profile U.S. Army and the U.S. embassy team led by the Commander of the U.S. Army's Pacific Command (Pacom), Lt. Gen. James Campbell.

While the family members wept, the soldiers draped the U.S. flag on the coffin for the honouring "ceremony" performed by the six pall-bearers from the U.S. Army.

In a brief speech, the U.S. General said that "two great democratic nations pause to mourn the loss of this courageous young man who chose the life of a soldier.''

He said that he was deeply honoured to be here with his fellow soldiers to pay tribute to a "brother-in-arms and India's son — Uday Singh."

"He was, and always will be, an American soldier. He always placed the mission first. He never accepted defeat, and he never quit. He is our hero. Today we stand tall as a nation and as any army and, in our grieving, take enormous pride in saluting Sergeant Uday Singh for his noble stance to make the world safer.'' Uday's loss was a reminder that freedom "is paid for in blood, sweat and tears,'' Gen. Campbell said.

The acting deputy chief of the U.S. mission ,Walter North, the Brigadier General of the U.S. Army, O' Neil, the Defence Attache, Col. Sboto, and the Casualty Assistance Officer, Steven Stoiber, and several Indian Army personnel were also present.

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