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President pays homage to Indian soldiers

Vinay Kumar

A poignant moment for the Supreme Commander

— Photo: AP

REMEMBERING THE VALIANT ONES: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam lays a wreath on a memorial column at a war cemetery in Athens on Thursday.

ATHENS: Arumugam Doraiswamy, Murugesan Palaniandi, Havildar Bhawani Datt, Abdul Satar, Mohammad Qasim, Rup Singh are some of the brave soldiers, belonging to Indian regiments such as Gorkha, Madras Sappers, Bengal Sappers and Miners, who laid down their lives fighting in World War II but have remained unknown and unsung thousands of miles away from home.

While the mortal remains of 74 soldiers of the army of the undivided India, who died during the campaigns in Greece and Crete were cremated, 56 others, for whom no last rites could be performed, have their names engraved on the memorial column at the Faleiron War Cemetery here.

It was a poignant moment for President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who on Thursday visited the Faleiron Cremation Memorial and laid a wreath to commemorate the soldiers, who died in the prime of their youth. The memorial commemorates 3,000 members of the land forces of the Commonwealth, who laid down their lives during the campaigns in Greece during 1941-45 and in Yugoslavia during 1943-45 but have no known grave. There are now 2,028 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in the Faleiron cemetery; 596 of the burials are unidentified.

It was nearly 62 years after the soldiers died fighting valiantly that the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces visited their memorial and paid homage.

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