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Story of the last POW (Prisoner Of War) -1971 - Joe's Story (then 2nd Lt )..... Life journey of
Late Col AGJ Swittens (37 NDA), of the Indian Army by his course mate & close friend, Gp
Capt Unni Kartha (Veteran)

There is a Prisoner Of War (POW) story of my course mate Joe I would like to tell.

He passed away last year in Pune of brain haemorrhage.

pow ered by
My story below is what I recollect of it from what he told me about it in 1973-74. Afterwards
he never talked about it despite my repeated urging him to write an auto biography because
his lifes story from beginning to his end was one of tenacity and resilience against incredible
odds which would have made you cry on every page. I have never known life to f*** any
Popular Posts one with such zest on daily basis as it did to Joe.

The Story Of Last

Prisoner Of War I first met AGJ Swittens (Joe) when I was returning home during term break after my first
Story of the last POW term in NDA in Jun/Jul 1967. While haunching and front rolling in the corridor of the first class
(Prisoner Of War) -1971 special compartment, simply to entertain a few bored seniors, I discovered that Joe and I
- Joe's Story (then 2nd came from the same place in Kerala. He from the coastal town of Alleppey and I from a village
Lt )..... Life journey of called Ambalapuzha, about 13 km further south. During the front rolling and haunching in
Late Col AGJ Swittens confined space, around three feet of the compartments corridor, we bumped into each other
(37 NDA), of the ... many times and as a result we fused into a lifelong friendship that surpassed the ordinary
THE LADY WITH THE feeling of brotherhood.
DOG
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DOG
Anton Chekhov I It was
said that a new person Because neither of us had any meaningful friends at home, during the holidays in that term
had appeared on the break, as well as all the other term breaks that followed, Joe and I travelled the 13 km
sea-front: a lady with a coastal strip to and fro to meet practically on daily basis. We did many interesting things
little dog. Dmitri together including joining a typing school because a large number of pretty Mallu girls were
Dmitritch Gurov, who found going to the typing school. As a result of this very innovative idea we not only learnt to
had by... type but also the use of Brail for man-woman communications after the sun set on Alleppey
YOLARDIS beach. Sometimes we managed to get hold of a Pauwa Rum (smaller bottle with just 6 pegs)
and learnt to drink it neat because the sea water did not taste good with Rum. It was difficult
Hojat Salehi There was
to climb a Coconut tree for coconut water and Coke was too expensive on our meagre pocket
the usual crowd of
money. Hence, it was cheaper and more stimulating to sip neat rum, passing the bottle from
pushy working girls
one to the other, swearing everlasting friendship between each sip. Licking lime pickle in
already hanging just
between helped tone down the euphoria. The packet of lime pickle came free with the Pauwa.
outside the cafe in the
blazing afternoon sun,
trying t...
Joe and I were just 16-19 yrs old when we were in NDA. Joe was the eldest son of the
THE KISS
keeper of the lighthouse at Alleppy beach and had more than a dozen siblings of all shapes
THE KISS by Anton
and sizes, mostly girls who giggled loudly from behind closed doors when I visited their house.
Chekhov AT eight o'clock
His younger brother Johnny (now an AF officer) was just a tiny toddler then. It was only
on the evening of the
natural that both our parents soon began to treat us like twins because of the NDA induced
twentieth of May all the
behavioural pattern that made us indistinguishable one from the other. While my father
six batteries of the N----
thought of me as someone incapable of earning a livelihood, Joes father was counting the
Reserve Artillery Bri...
days when Joe would get a commission and add something to the family pot.
Amy Foster
By joseph Conrad
Kennedy is a country
In our 4th term, Rangila the terrible, in the equitation lines kicked Joe in the face and he lost
doctor, and lives in
four of his front teeth and had to get dentures when he was 17 yrs old, a compulsive reason
Colebrook, on the
he had to use Brail to communicate with our GFs from the typing class. I think it was a
shores of Eastbay. The
blessing in disguise, probably the only time God was kind to Joe and I. His troubles were just
high ground rising
beginning. We passed out of NDA in Dec 1969, he from J Sqn and I from F Sqn. The war
abruptly behind th...
clouds were beginning to rise in East Pak (now Bangladesh) border, but we had no idea of
A
such things then and were single-mindedly interested only in the tactical manoeuvres of
Drama
typing and Brail at Alleppey without misfiring our guns in the cockpits, a condom was unheard
Of Our
of those days. The tactical manoeuvre we had to master ourselves at our young age was
Time
Coitus Interruptus, a failsafe military tactic, not taught in NDA, but which we believed was
It perfected by the Roman army of Julius Caesar on their visit to Alexandria (Cleopatra).
happened when youth
and optimism were my
boon companions. While I went to the flying school in Bidar, Joe went to the Military Academy in Dehra Dun. He
The breezes of spring was commissioned into the Gorkha Rifles on 20 Dec 1970. After a short break he joined his
came wafting down Battalion (I think 1/4 GR). His unit at that time (I think) was deployed right on the Indo Pak
Matienzo street in Las border in Chamb sector somewhere near Mole and Phagla ahead of the Munawar Tawi river
Cait... with Sikhs (5 Sikh ?) on their northern flank and Assam Rifles (5 AR ?) on their southern flank
MARRIAGE IS A facing Koel and Bakan Paur, a few km ahead of them, probably held by the 111 Brigade of
PRIVATE AFFAIR the Paki army.
BY CHINUA ACHEBE
Have you written to
your dad yet? asked Joe went through the usual initiation ceremonies in his battalion and by end of Nov 1971, he
Nene one afternoon as was already a hardened soldier and had endeared himself to his company commander. His
she sat with Nnaemeka company was deployed some 2 km away from the Unit HQ - rear administrative location with
in her room at 16 his CO and the 2 i/c. For tactical advantages Joes Company Commander had established an
Kasanga Street, ... observation post (OP) about 400 mtrs ahead of the company deployment area ahead or
THE EYES HAVE IT almost on the Cease Fire Line (CFL) of 65 war which was at that time the border. The OP was
BY RUSKIN BOND I had around 50 feet higher than the surroundings and hence had a commanding view. The
the train compartment company itself was deployed in well prepared bunkers and trenches. The OP was simply a fox
to myself up to Rohana, hole behind a low bush about four feet by three and around three feet deep, very
then a girl got in. The painstakingly and surreptitiously dug over a period of time, at night, using helmets and
couple who saw her off Khukris so that its existence would not be noticed by the enemy. Every night the Company
were probably her Commander would send someone or the other crawling forward towards the OP and they
paren... would replace the OP crew who had been there for the previous 24 hrs. The OP crew
Ligeia generally consisted of a junior officer (or an NCO) with two Jawans simply for company and
Edgar Allan Poe I for time pass, usually playing cards while staying hidden and surreptitiously observing enemy
cannot, for my soul, movements and deployments across the LOC. The enemy was deployed in depth and hence
remember how, when, there was not much that one could see from the OP foxhole. So the OP duty was considered
or even precisely where, a boring and unproductive job, though it gave 2nd Lt AGJ Swittens some respite and
I first became relaxation from the daily rigours of infantry life.
acquainted with the lady
Ligeia....
Paris, at night On the evening of 3rd Dec 1971, a Friday, it was Joes turn to do the OP duty. So after
sunset, after an early dinner, he collected his two Shakarpara packets (next days breakfast
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sunset, after an early dinner, he collected his two Shakarpara packets (next days breakfast
By Sung J. Woo Today
and lunch), filled his water bottle, and along with a Naik and two soldiers crawled to the OP to
was rice day, fifty-
replace those who had spent the previous night and day there. Everything looked peaceful,
pound sacks of white
there was no noise or activity or any lights from across the border and so Joe called up the
rice in trucks bearing an
Company Commander and reported, All quiet on the western front. He could not have been
elephant logo. The same
more mistaken, it was the lull before the storm. To his horror, Joe also discovered that the
happy elephant
battery discharged and soon afterwards the ANPRC radio set went completely dead. But Joe
appeared ...
was not too concerned, his entire Company was deployed just 400 mtrs behind him and that
gave him a tremendous sense of security, adequate to fall asleep in the fox hole, a habit
inculcated in NDA, to sleep instantly, anytime, anywhere, in any position.
Articles

short stories Unknown to Joe, around 1800 hrs while he was on his way to the fox hole, the Paki AF
literature poetry
crossed the border and launched a massive pre-emptive strike on various Indian airfields in
hollwood lifestyle
humour writers the western sector. But all was quiet around the fox hole and Joe slept and dreamt, the kind
authors love of dreams that a healthy happy 20 yr old would have, I presume the Brail kind.
language

HEISER: Great story a

Yorkdispatch.com At around 2020 hrs Joe was rudely woken by incredible explosions of heavy calibre artillery
short drive from York
The fairytale season shells. There was nothing that fell on him, but when he looked back he could see that his
that the Loyola Company position was being obliterated systematically, inch by inch by a creeping barrage.
University men's He could not see from where the guns were firing, they were located beyond comprehensible
lacrosse team just
distance in the west. However, he could see the entire sky filed with artillery shells streaking
completed is one of
those stories. Look, I'll like meteors, each going overhead with shrieking banshee wail. Some were aimed at his
be the first to admit that Company position, but most of them were going deeper eastwards towards the other
what I know about deployments of Indian infantry and armour. There were more than 150 enemy guns,
lacrosse could probably
probably 105 mm variety firing at them with deadly accuracy. Soon a similar number of Indian
fit on the back of a post-
it note. I never played guns, probably of bigger calibre, began to return the fire. Heavy calibre artillery shells were
it, ... firing to and fro, hundreds of them every minute over Joes head, but none fell on him. Joe
and the three soldiers with him lay flat in the foxhole, one on top of the other for lack of
Junot Diaz Studies
Wall Street Journal space, cringing and shivering, covering their ears from the unbearable and most frightening
Heartbreak for 'This Is
(blog)
How You Lose Her' sounds.
By Barbara Chai Junot
Diaz's new book, This Is
How You Lose Her, is
After about 30 minutes, they felt the ground begin to tremble like a mild earthquake. They
coming out in
September, but he says heard clanking and grinding noises. When Joe peed out of the fox hole he saw a Paki
it feels like selling a Sherman tank about fifty meters ahead, heading straight for him. Joe ducked back into the
movie out of fox hole and the tank rolled right over them almost crushing the fox hole and burying them
competition because it's
into the ground. Soon there were other tanks going over them or around them and after a
a short-story collection
and not, as most people while he lost track which way they were coming or going, there were shouts and battle cry,
seem to ask of him, ... soon he could hear soldiers running about, but he had no idea whether they were friends or
foe. This went on all night.
Portland Author
MarketWatch
Attacking Teen(pressFinancial
release)
Illiteracy Using Hard-
He expects
Hitting to engage
Graphic ... In the twilight hours that arrived after an eternity (4th Dec 71), Joe poked his head out. He
young readers in short found himself surrounded by Paki soldiers and two Sherman tanks. When he looked
stories about financial
backwards, he could not find any trace of his company. Unknown to Joe, when the shelling
success using over 400
original illustrations in started, the Company along with the entire Indian Brigade had been ordered to withdraw,
the very popular graphic leaving poor Joe and his companions in the foxhole.
novel format. "Financial
Literacy and Credit
Cards"As reported by
The International In the Foxhole the Naik took out his Khukri.
Journal of Business and
... Shhaab, he advised Joe, Kafar Hunu Bhanda Marnu Ramro (Better to die than live like a
Reel Crime/Real Story: coward).
Hollywood
TV Review Reporter
An attempt at a new The three soldiers took out their Khukri and Joe took our his revolver.
take on old crimes falls
short of outdoing its
Ayo Gorkhali, they screamed at the top of their voice, jumped out of the fox hole and
fictionalized
counterparts. charged out. They caught the Pakis completely by surprise, they were brewing or sipping tea
Investigation with their weapons at ease. One of the tank crew jumped up, climbed his tank and let fly a
Discovery's latest entry burst of MMG fire at them. Joe tripped and fell down. The burst of bullets miraculously went
in the true-crime genre
by Joe, but cut up the other three Jawans into pieces. By then the Paki soldiers had grabbed
pits real-life cases
against their filmic their 303 rifles and formed a ring around Joe, twenty to one. Joe kept pointing his revolver
versions and suffers from one to another, he turned round, fired one round and because his hands were shaking,
by comparison. the round went over the enemys head. The circle of enemy soldiers got closer and closer.
powered by Finally Joe gave up. He unhooked the revolver from his lanyard and put it on the ground. He
raised his hands in surrender. A Paki JCO gestured to him to kneel. They ripped out the
lanyard and bound his hands behind his back. For next half an hour they played Russian
Categories
Roulette with his own revolver. They would insert one round, twirl the drum and empty the
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5/30/12 story teller
Roulette with his own revolver. They would insert one round, twirl the drum and empty the
gun on Joes head. Each time the gun clicked but did not fire, the Paki soldiers would laugh
anton chekhov (3)
aloud, pass lurid comments and poke him with a bayonet several times. This went on and on
classic (7)
and Joe died a thousand deaths.
cuba (1)
hawana (1)
hojat salehi (1)
After about half an hour, a Paki officer, probably a Colonel came by in a jeep. First he was
romantic (6)
unmoved by the fun that the Paki soldiers were having. Then better sense seemed to have
short stories (17)
prevailed. Stop it, he ordered. Put him behind my jeep. Joe was then taken to what he
the lady with the lapdog
perceived as 111 Brigade HQ, large number of tents under camouflage netting, for
(2)
interrogation. He was also given field dressing by a Paki MO who stitched up 64 bayonet
yalta (1)
wounds without the use of any morphine. Joe realised the futility of resistance, he was far
yolardis (1)
too gone, he was just 20 yrs old, and he probably was the first helpless Indian POW of 1971
war.

BOOKS
About an hour later, there was a flurry of activity and the Pakis began dismantling the tent.
Their HQ was being moved elsewhere. He was handed over to two villagers who put him into
a bullock cart and took him westwards, he had no idea where they were taking him. His hands
were put around his legs and tied tightly with his lanyard so that he was in a very
Life
My
of
Mistakes
3
The
uncomfortable yoga posture, completely immobile. En-route, along the villages where they
stopped, children pelted him with mud and stones, while their parents watched with disdain.
He was not given any water or food. After a long ride, he was taken to a police station and
locked up, probably at Kakian Wala. The Military Police visited twice. They stripped him naked,
hung him on a hook and beat him with a thin Malacca cane. All the bayonet wounds which had
been stitched up, tore open once again and he started to bleed profusely. Joe gave them his
life history, that he was just twenty years old, that his father was a light house keeper,
about how Rangila kicked him and how he lost his teeth, how much he yearned his typing
class in Alleppey and probably about a stupid friend called Unni in the AF, but he stuck to his
Ambition.
Corruption.
Love.
2020:
Revolution
story that he had joined his unit just two days earlier and that he did not even know the
name of his company commander leave alone deployment locations or strength of the Indian
army in Chamb. They beat him some more, just for the heck of it, but they fed him tea and
rusk twice a day and two chapatis with dal at night. A local civilian compounder was called and
he applied raw Iodine on his wounds, just as bad and painful as the beating. After a day he
was put into a local bus handcuffed to a policeman and taken by road to Rawalpindi jail. He
was incarcerated there along with common criminals. He was issued prison clothing. However
Joe did not throw away his OG jersey, a memento of his Indian army uniform.

Around the 7th or 8th Dec 1971, because Joes name was not announced on Paki radio as a
POW, or the names of the three soldiers in the OP with him, his unit presumed that he was
missing believed killed. Soon afterwards, the Army HQ sent a terse telegram to his father.
Your son/ward missing / believed killed in action.
Blog Archive

2012 (12)
For several nights, though the lighthouse continued to go round and round beaming high
05/20 - 05/27 (1) power lights to the ships at sea, there was gloom and darkness in the household below the
The Story Of Last lighthouse. The war had extinguished their aspirations and livelihood.
Prisoner Of War
05/13 - 05/20 (1)
03/18 - 03/25 (1) Seven months later, on 2 Jul 72 the Shimla accord was signed by Madam I Gandhi and Mr
03/04 - 03/11 (1) Bhuto. The two armies, both Indian and Pakis, went back to business as usual with their guns
pointed at each other. A new Line of Control (LOC) was defined, doing away with the earlier
02/12 - 02/19 (5)
CFL of 65. All captured territories by both sides were returned, except that in Chamb where
01/08 - 01/15 (3)
Bhuto managed to convince I Gandhi that it was to be gifted to them. Sacrifices, blood sweat
2011 (10)
and tears, in Chamb and at Hajipir Pass were soon forgotten and in the diplomatic circle at
Chanakyapuri both the Indian and Paki envoys began to once again have Mushairas and
Feedjit Mujras, excuses to hug and kiss each other as well as each others wives. Everyone went
home happy and there was large acclaim internationally about how well India had handled the
handing back of 98,000 Paki POWs. No one asked how many Indian POWs were still in Paki
jails. Who cared, everyone was celebrating, writing their own citations and congratulating
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each other in Delhi.

2,630
Joe managed to make friends with his Ward Supervisor in Rawalpindi jail, a convict with a life
sentence for murder. He was very tall and well built sympathetic Pathan who was
desperately seeking Susan. In Joe he found his Susan, a lifes companion. As Joe told me
later with a sad smile, What did it matter, what difference did it make, I was just 21. What
choice was there, it was either being public property or exclusive private property. God
probably decided that it was payback time for what we did to the typing girls on Alleppey
beach.
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beach.
Followers
Despite his going around wearing his OG Jersy with two pips on either shoulders with 4 GR
written on the epaulets, no one asked who he was, what crime he had committed and
whether he had ever been tried for any crime in any court of law. He had no access to any
news papers, magazines or a radio. In the Pathans cell, which Joe shared, he had a Paki
calendar in Urdu on which he kept ticking the days and months as they flew by. Several times
he wrote to the jail authorities, advising them that he was a POW, an Indian being kept in a
civil jail with convicts without any trial and that he should be moved with other Indian POWs if
Pages there were any in Pak. But because the application had to be routed through the Pathan
ward supervisor, who knew no English and who did not want to lose his Susan, none of his
Home appeals were ever given to any one in authority. Two years went by. Everyone including me
forgot about Joe Swittens. Joe had no idea that the war was over, that there was a Shimla
accord and that 98,000 Paki POWs had been returned to Pak and in reciprocity all known or
publicly acknowledged Indian POWs had been sent back to India.
Ritvik Inc.. Powered by
Blogger.

Then one day, in Feb 1973, the Pathan told Joe that there was a team from Amnesty
About Me International who was to visit Rawalpindi jail, to check for human rights violations. He wanted
Joe to act as the interpreter. Joe really had no choice, he had to do whatever the warder
STORYTELLER told him to do. So he went and had a haircut, shaved, got his prison clothes pressed, rubbed
View my complete profile toothpaste on his 2nd Lts cloth pips on his OG jersey so that it looked bright, rubbed shoe
polish on 4GR to get it to lose the faded look, polished his torn and tattered shoes and was
BlogUpp! ready for the Amnesty team when they arrived.

Ladies and gentlemen, follow me, I shall take you on a conducted tour of the prison, he
announced like Dev Anand in the movie Guide, smartly saluting the ladies and shaking hands
with the gentleman. The Pathan had briefed him that he was to make all efforts to show off
and to make belief that there was no human rights violation in Rawalpindi jail.

Of course not, everyone is treated well here Joe kept saying with a sad smile whenever
someone questioned him.

There was an elderly Swiss woman from the Red Cross in the team who was more curious and
inquisitive. She took Joe aside.

Mon Ami, she asked, Who are you and why are you wearing an army jersey with a pip on
each shoulder, were you in the Paki army ?.

No Mam, replied Joe vehemently. I am a POW. I am 2nd Lt AGJ Swittens of the Indian
Army.

Arme de terre lIndianne ? Incredible, the lady exclaimed. Dont you know that the war
finished two years ago and that all POWs went back home last year ?.

The Pathan did not like Joe having a private conversation in a language which he did not
understand, he sensed that something was going wrong. He quickly herded the lady away.
But before they left the jail, the lady asked the Pathan, May I take your photo and one of
this young man for my personal album ?.

The Pathan had no choice because there were Paki jailors present at that time who
desperately wanted to please the foreigners.

The lady took several photographs of the Pathan and one of Joe too.

Please send one photo to my father, he is at Alleppey light house in India, Joe whispered to
the Swiss lady from Red Cross.

So it was that one fine morning in Jun or Jul 1973, a Photo card came by ordinary post,
addressed simply to Mr Swittens, Light House Alleppey, India, on which there was an
address and tel number of the person who sent it from Switzerland. And the photo at the
back was a black and white close up of a smiling Joe Swittens with no teeth, in a torn OG
jersy, but with shining pips and 4GR on his shoulder. Below the photo was inscribed
Rawalpindi Prison. There was much consternation as well as incredulity at the light house. Mr
Swittens, Joes father immediately sent a telegram to Army HQ and MoD describing the
event. It took MoD almost four weeks to send a reply by normal post. You son/ward
missing/believed killed in action the Under Secretary simply said. They had not even bothered
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missing/believed killed in action the Under Secretary simply said. They had not even bothered
to type it it was a cyclostyled unsigned letter and left it to the recipient to cross out what
was not applicable.

Mr Swittens went to see the local MLA in Alleppey who then had an agenda of his own. He
raised the issue in Kerala assembly and soon there were questions asked by MPs in Delhi. It
became a starred question in the question hour. The defence minister Jagjivan Ram sought
time to reply. The R&AW were told to go and investigate in Rawalpindi Jail. They
embarrassed the Pak Govt, the system in Pak did not want to accept that they had made a
mistake by sending POWs to ordinary jails. They did not wish to proclaim that that POW
camps were set up only after 15 Dec 71 and that there could be others who had suffered the
same fate as Joe.

There is no 2nd Lt AGJ Swittens in Rawalpindi Jail was their reply.

There is no 2nd Lt AGJ Swittens in Rawalpindi Jail, Jagjivan Ram announced in parliament
with a sense of finality.

Mr Swittens, Joes father, did not give up.

He mobilised a few sympathetic Mallus and they in turn mobilised some more Mallus.

There was a demonstration outside the Pak embassy in Chanakyapuri. The press picked up
the news. Someone, (I think the Hindu paper) managed to get a sworn statement from the
Swiss lady that she had indeed met a person in Rawalpindi jail who claimed that he was Joe
and corroborated it with several photographs that she had taken. MEA asked the US
Ambassador to intervene. Finally Pakis bowed to international pressure. They admitted that
they did indeed have a person in Rawalpindi jail named Wasim Khan Akram or such a name
arrested for murder in general area of Kakian Wala and if the Indians think he is one of their
army officers, Indians were welcome to have him.

2nd Lt AGJ Swittens walked through the Wagha border into the waiting arms of Indian military
police (MP) sometime Sep Oct 1973. He was the last POW to be exchanged after 71 war.
Promptly, as soon as he set foot in India, he was arrested and incarcerated in Red Fort in
Delhi. He was accused of being a spy, that he voluntarily stayed back in Pak and that he was
brain washed.

Joe told me afterwards, I did not mind what they did to me in Pak, after all they were the
enemy. But what the MPs did to me afterwards in Red Fort was completely unjust. He said all
that with a smile. A man who had been to hell and back had much resilience and tenacity.

There were more protests by Mallus in front of the Red Fort and after a month of ill-
treatment by our own MPs, Joe was asked to go and join his unit in Arunachal, at a post
called Gelling which took about 22 days to back pack (walk) from the Unit rear.

I think that is where I met him in 1973 or 74, and where he told me his POW story. Gelling
was another POW camp of sorts, at least for a 23 yr old.

The last time I met Joe was in his flat in Hinjewadi in Pune, around two years ago (2010). He
only smiled, and said very happy things about our life and times while we passed the same
Pauwa back and forth. After 1973 Joe Swittens lived to fight again and again, with tenacity
and resilience, and with the same chant Ayo Gorkhali , the last time in Kargil war in Jul 99
after which he retired and settled in Pune. Col Swittens spoke perfect Gorkhali besides
several other languages. The last time I spoke to Joe was around three days before he died.

Joe died of a brain haemorrhage last year in the middle of the night with just his Alsatian dog
for company. He died a lonely man. I can say this with certainty that his last words may have
been the same, Kafar Hunu Bhanda Marnu Ramro.

I went to the lighthouse in Alleppey,

With half bottle of rum looking for the youth that I miss.

They looked at me with suspicion, Are you a terrorist ?, they asked.

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They looked at me with suspicion, Are you a terrorist ?, they asked.

I went out into the setting sun and to the beach where we learnt to Brail,

The Typing Girls are all grand moms in Dubai,

The sea water tasted just the same.

So I passed the bottle from left hand to right hand

And took sips from each hand, one for Joe and one for me.

Joe my friend, I am glad you are gone, A prisoner of life no more.

Set a table for me, where ever you are,

And keep the chair tilted for me, I am bound to come after this life.

I walked back in the dark, the sun had set.

The band began to play

Sare Jahan Se Acha, Hindustan Hamara,

The band began to play..............

With an apology to Rudyard Kipling as well as Joe. I stole the story from both of you.

Please forgive me.

Cyclic

ETERNAL VIGIL

In the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla , at the entrance of the dining hall
there is a small round table, all by itself, with the table set for one. The chair is tilted forward.
This is a special table, set in the honour of those missing in war, those believed to be still
Prisoners of War (POW) somewhere amongst the enemies. The wars are forgotten quickly
and missing persons forgotten even faster by all except the soldiers and comrades who
fought alongside them. They cannot and will not forget, the soldiers hang on to their undying
hope and confidence that the missing persons will return one day. The table shall await them
too if such a fate was to befall them.

The Placard on the table reflects the sentiments of a soldier for his fallen comrade, it has the
following written on it.

The table set is small, for one, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner against his oppressors.
The single rose displayed is to remind us of the families and loved ones of our comrades-in-
arms who keep their faith awaiting their return. The Red Ribbon on the vase is reminiscent of
the red ribbon worn upon the lapel and breasts of thousands who bear witness to their
unyielding determination to demand a proper accounting of those missing in action. The
candle is unlit, symbolizing the upward reach of their unconquerable spirit. The slice of Lemon
is on the bread plate, to remind us of the bitter fate. There is salt upon the bread plate -
symbolic of the families tears as they wait. The Glass is inverted, they cannot toast with us
this night.

The chair it is empty. They are not here.

Remember ! All of you who served with them and called them comrades, who depended upon
their might and aid, and relied upon them, for surely, they have notforsaken you. Remember
them until the day they come back home......

The table was installed on instructions of Air Mshl Randhawa (38th) when he was the
Commandant NDA around 2007-08.

www.classicstories.in 7/8
5/30/12 story teller
Personally I think it is a most touching, emotional and motivating tradition that he started.

Reminds me of Joe Swittens.

Source: Cyclicstories

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