Antony, Gen Singh to come face to face on Apr 3

Defence Minister A K Antony and Army Chief General V K Singh will attend a function at Udhagamandalam on April 3 to mark the 98th birth anniversary of Field (Fd) Marshal Sam Manekshaw.

Antony and General Singh and others will lay wreaths at the new gravestone for the late Field Marshal and attend a prayer and military memorial service that day.

Manekshaw, known as Sam Bahadur, was the architect of the victorious 1971 Indo Pakistan campaign that led to the liberation of Bangladesh.

Upon retirement in January 1973, Manekshaw settled down in Coonoor, the twin civilian town of Wellington Cantonment, where he had served as commandant of the Defences Services Staff College.

He passed away at the age of 94 in 2008. He was laid to rest in the nearby Parsee Zoroastrian Cemetery in Ooty.