Bangladesh war hero and former Indian Army chief Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who passed away early 27th June laid to rest with full military and State honours
One of India’s greatest soldiers Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw— affectionately called Sam Bahadur — was laid to rest near his wife’s grave at the Parsi cemetery in Ooty on Friday 27th June.
Ninety-four-year-old Manekshaw, who passed away due to a deteriorating lung disease at the Military Hospital in Wellington, Coonoor a little after midnight the previous day, was accorded a military funeral with full honours.
Sam Manekshaw had led India to victory in the 1971 Bangladesh war. His immediate family was by his side when he breathed his last. Vice-Chief of Army Staff M L Naidu offi ciated at the funeral in the absence of the Army Chief, who is abroad, said sources.
Before the funeral, people including students from various schools queued up in large numbers at the Srinagesh Barracks, Madras Regimental Centre in Coonoor, where his body was kept to enable the public to pay homage.
The Tamil Nadu government declared a day’s offi cial mourning and educational institutions in the Nilgiris remained closed as a mark of respect. Dignitaries including Union Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju, representatives from the Indian armed forces, Bangladesh Army and Royal Bhutan Army paid their last respects.
Later, Manekshaw’s body was placed in an Army gun carriage and taken ceremoniously in a procession to the cemetery in Ooty, some 12 km away. The fi nal rites, conducted at the Parsi Zoroastrian cemetery, were a private ceremony attended by his two daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren.
Manekshaw has a road named after him in Coonoor. Ever since his retirement from the Army in 1973, he had been living in Coonoor. His wife Siloo Bode passed away a few years ago. |
