40 years down the lane, a soldier's memory relives

Amguri, Sivasagar, Aug 16 (UNI) In February 1968, an AN-12 aircraft of the Indian Air Force carrying 102 soldiers from Chandigarh to Leh, ran into rough weather and crashed into the 6,264-metre Chandrabhaga peak in Lahaul Valley killing all on board.

Almost forty years after the tragedy, tears rolled down the cheeks of the family members of soldier Mahendra Nath Phukon yet again, as an Army team brought the news of the recovery of Phukon's body - and two others - who were among the 102 soldiers on board the aircraft.

An expedition team of the Dogra Scouts recovered the three bodies from a glaciated area at an altitude of over 17,500 feet on August 9 last.

A feeling of poignance has been gaining momentum in and around the Deodhai Village here ever since the Army team informed Phukon's family that they would be handing over the body soon.

'' It's really shocking. Don't know what to say. Of course all are feeling the pain,'' said Jatin Phukon, the eldest of the Phukon siblings.

The three Phukon brothers live separately in adjacent houses, while their two sisters are married and stay nearby .

Phukon's body would be cremated beside a pond constructed in his memory by his father, late Gunaram Phukon, in the village.

''Bring him to my home. I want to see him,'' said Mahendra's septuagenarian sister who lives in the nearby Geleky area.

Forty years back, the Phukons had got the news of Mahendra's death only through newspapers. It was only after a year of the crash that they were informed officially and a symbolic funeral was organized in his memory.

Mahendra was 20 when he joined the Army three years before the tragedy. The last time he wrote to his family was just before the crash. He informed that he was transferred to Leh and would be leaving shortly.

Mahendra's father died in 1978, and his mother passed away three years later.

His brother Triben has just retired from the Army. Triben's two sons are also in the Army.

Triben's third son Amit - Mahendra's nephew - was a former ULFA cadre who surrendered to the former Prafulla Kumar Mahanta-led Government in 2000 along with 532 other cadres. However, unidentified miscreants killed him later.

Meanwhile, the youths of Mahendra's native village are preparing for the funeral ceremony, which is expected to take place once the body reaches here from Harayana. The Army would also pay military tributes to the soldier.

There was a huge gathering at the village today as people poured in from nearby places to have a glimpse of the soldier's body found 40 years after his death. But they had to retrace their path after it was known that the body would not be brought today.

Sivasagar SP Shyamal Prasad Saikia said that though the body was to be brought today, it has been delayed due to incompletion of official procedures. ''We expect it to be brought tomorrow,'' he said.

UNI