PUNE: The National Defence Academy (NDA) on Saturday paid homage to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Brigadier LS Lidder and Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, who lost their lives during a helicopter crash in Coonoor district of Tamil Nadu on December 8.
A wreath-laying ceremony was organized at the Hut of Remembrance in their memories at the academy.
The ‘Hut of Remembrance’ (HoR) at NDA is a sublime cenotaph that commemorates the sacrifice of ex-NDA officers of the Armed forces who lay down their lives in the line of duty.
The HoR’s book read, “Rarely a General goes with his boots on. General Rawat etched his name in the Hut of Remembrance at NDA as the senior-most soldier to die in the line of duty. That’s his glory.”
General Rawat was an alumnus of the 53rd NDA course. He was from the ‘Charlie’ squadron and served the nation as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS). He rose to become the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in January 2020.
Commandant of the NDA Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor laid a wreath at the HoR on behalf of the NDA fraternity.
All senior officials of the academy were present to pay their last respects to the departed souls.
General Rawat’s NDA coursemate Lt Gen Satish Nawathe (retd), who served together in the northeast region in 2015, described him as an ‘extremely frank’ and ‘focused’ Army officer.
“I was posted as the area commander then while Rawat was posted as the Corps Commander of III Corps headquarters at Dimapur in Nagaland. We met on several occasions and attended meetings together. He was articulate as well as very focused on what he had planned in the operational areas of the corps. Once we had dinner together at our residence in Shillong. He had a unique personality,” Nawathe told TOI.
