Junior warrant officer A. Pradeep, who was killed in the helicopter crash at Coonoor, was cremated with full State and military honours on the compound of his house at Ponnukkara on Saturday.
Pradeep’s eight-year-old son Dakshan Dev lit the funeral pyre. Air Force personnel chanted slogans Warrant Officer Pradeep Amar Rahe. Pradeep’s uniform and the national flag that covered the coffin that carried his mortal remains were handed over to his wife Sreelakshmi before the body was taken to the pyre.
All arrangements for the funeral were done under the control of the Air Force and a 70-member team gave the guard of honour to him.
Pradeep, son of Radhakrishnan and Kumari, was among the 13, including Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, killed when an Indian Air Force helicopter crashed in Coonoor on December 8.
Union Minister V. Muraleedharan and Thrissur MP T.N. Prathapan accompanied the ambulance carrying the body from Coimbatore to Thrissur. The mortal remains of Pradeep were received at the State border Walayar by Ministers K. Rajan, K. Radhakrishan, and K. Krishnankutty. District Collector Haritha V. Kumar received the body on the district border at Vaniampara. People waiting on both sides of the National Highway paid floral tributes to the soldier.
Thousands of people, including Ministers, elected representatives, military and paramilitary forces, police officers, cultural leaders, teachers, friends, and local people paid homage to Pradeep when his body was kept from 2.45 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. at Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Puthur, where he studied. The body was then shifted in a military vehicle to his house. Besides Mr. Rajan, Mr. Radhakrishan, Mr. Krishnankutty, Minister R. Bindu accompanied the military vehicle along the three km.
Pradeep, son of daily wage workers, had come from a humble background. It was his ambition to join the Air Force, his friends recalled. He married Sreelakshmi nine years ago and have two children aged eight and two.
Pradeep joined the Air Force in 2004. He was later selected as air crew. He participated in many missions including that against Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
Kerala had witnessed his care for the land during the devastating floods that ravaged the State in 2018. He volunteered to be part of an Air Force rescue mission from Coimbatore to the flood-hit areas.
Pradeep’s father, who is on ventilator following a critical lung ailment, was informed about his son’s death only an hour before the cremation.
Even after joining the Air Force, Pradeep kept close contact with his village and friends. He was an active member of the alumni association of his school.
Pradeep had come on leave two weeks ago in connection with the treatment of his father. Before he went back, he had promised his friends to come back for the village temple festival.
The fatal accident took his life just four days after he joined duty after leave. According to his relatives, he was planning to take voluntary retirement from service after two years.
