 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat's staff officer, perished in last Wednesday's helicopter crash.
Please click on the images to view Major Prafulla Menezes (retd), Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh's wife, and young daughter Preet Kaur pay homage to a husband and father, whose services to the motherland, will always be remembered, never forgotten.
IMAGE: Major Agnes Prafulla Menezes (retd) salutes her husband before his cremation at the Brar Square crematorium in New Delhi on Sunday. All photographs: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Major Menezes holds the Tricolour that wrapped her husband's coffin.
IMAGE: Major Menezes, a native of Karkala in Udupi, and Lieutenant Colonel Singh fell in love and married. They later served together at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.
Recalled Vikas Panicker on Twitter: 'Maj Agnes (then Capt.) was our AEC instructor back in 2007-08 at IMA posted along with husband Lt. Col Harijinder Singh (then Capt). Have always had a calming influence over us GCs. True embodiment of grit of a service officer and an officer wife. Respect and Salute! '
IMAGE: A child breaks down during the lieutenant colonel's cremation.
IMAGE: Preet Kaur, Lieutenant Colonel Singh's 12-year-old dughter, sprinkles Ganga water on her father's mortal remains during his cremation.
IMAGE: Preet Kaur lights her father's pyre.
IMAGE: Major Menezes attended the funerals of General Bipin Rawat and his wife and Brigadier L S Lidder on Friday.
Her husband's body was only identified on Saturday after genetic testing.
On Sunday morning, Tarini and Kritika Rawat, General Rawat's daughters, visited Major Menezes at her home to extend their condolences.
Geetika Lidder, Brigadier Lidder's wife, attended Lieutenant Colonel Singh's funeral.
IMAGE: General Rawat, Brigadier Lidder and Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh's last rites were all performed by their daughters in a remarkable display of courage and fortitude.
IMAGE: Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh was affectionately called 'Harry'. He would have turned 42 on April 17. His wife, reports Hindustan Times, served the Indian Army from 2004 to 2014.
Like General Rawat, Colonel Singh was inducted into the Indian Army's 11 Gorkha Rifles.
General Rawat joined the Indian Army in 1978, the year his future staff officer was born.
IMAGE: Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, and Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane salute Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh at his cremation.
IMAGE: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh consoles Major Menezes, Preet Kaur and other family members.
'Paid tributes to Lt Colonel Harjinder Singh, who died in the tragic helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu. His untimely demise is extremely saddening. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. May God give them strength to bear this massive loss,' the Raksha Mantri, who has been a source of strength for the departed officers's families, tweeted.
Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Mahipal Soni/Rediff.com
