Dear All,
I was extremely lucky when I was tasked to escort three living Param Veer Chakra Awardees from Aurangabad to Buldhana on 15 Jul 15. On 16 July a grand reception was arranged by Dept Of Sainik Welfare, Govt of Maharashtra, another by civil authorities and third by all colleges at Buldhana. The entire route was lined up with NCC cadets, school boys and girls with their teachers numbering more than 2000 showering petals on three of them. They were in the open jeep to receive this salute. Even on the same late night CREDAI , of Aurangabad , visited our hotel and paid floral tributes to them. Next morning on 16 th July at sharp 0700 hrs we went to Mahatma Gandhi Eng College auditorium where students and staff numbering more than 250 were present to hear these awardees.
We left same day at 0815 hrs for Pune and reached outskirts at around 1445 hrs. Representatives of PSSP and AFA Maharashtra were waiting to offer bouquets to all three of them. Photo below shows to my left, Nb Sub Sanjay Kumar of Kargill war, Hon capt Bana Singh of Siachin fame and Sub Yogendra Yadav of Tiger Hill fame.
I dropped them at their place of halt thereafter. I accompanied my wife again in the late evening to meet them and paid our profound respects to all of them. They are attending another private civil reception this morning at 1000 hrs where Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale ( Retd) will be Chief Guest to honour them.
My three days with these PVC awardees will remain a unique and most memorable event in my life. You may not get three living legends together in the near future. Nb Sub Sanjay Kumar is presently serving at IMA as Instructor and Sub Yogendra Yadav of Granadiers is serving at Bareilly.Hon Capt Bana Singh is retired and staying at Jammu.
Regards,
Gp Capt Suhas Phatak,(Retd)
President,
Air Force Association,Maharashtra,
Camp, Pune -411001
Tel no : 020-26840442/462
Mob: 09421003200
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