Kalam pays tribute to Indian soldiers in Athens

Athens, Apr 26 (UNI) The 74 Indian Army soldiers, who died in the second World War, today had the Supreme Commander of the Armed Force from their home country paying tribute at their memorial here.

President A P J Abdul Kalam, who arrived on a three-day visit to Greece last night, visited the Commonwealth War Cemetry, which lies a few kilommetres to the south-east of Athens.

Now called the Faleiron War Cemetery, it commemorates 74 soldiers of the army of undivided India among 2,2028 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the campaigns in Greece and Crete during the Second World War.

The Indian armymen were accorded the last rite of cremation as required by the Hindu religion. Dr Kalam went round the Faleiron Cremation Memorial which lies within the cemetery.

The soldiers cremated here were part of the Fourth Indian Infantry Division which was in 1944 moved to Italy , where it took part in the Italian Campaign and notably the battles for Monte Cassino, Central Italy and the Gothic Line before being sent to Greece to help stabilise the country after the Axis forces withdrew as part of Operation Manna to prevent the Communist from seizing power in Greece after the German withdrawal.

Out of the 2,028 servicemen commemorated in the Faleiron Cemetery, 596 are unidentified.

Earlier, the Cemetery was the burial ground for Commonwealth casualties of the Greek Civil War (December 1944-February 1945).

Subsequently, the Greek Government and the Army decided that it would be the most suitable site for a Second World War cemetery for the whole mainland of Greece.

UNI