Kerala veteran builds war memorial for fallen soldiers with his Mahavir Chakra award money

Tired of such ignorance, an Army veteran decided to build a war memorial himself with his own award money. Capt. Thomas Philipose, a Mahavir Chakra awardee and the only Keralite alive to be bestowed with the country’s second highest wartime gallantry medal, built a war memorial for the fallen heroes. Philipose “has built a memorial to honour the war veterans in his 3 cents of land at Aranmula at an expense of over Rs 7 lakh,” the New Indian Express reported.

“The memorial, built in honour of the veterans of the Madras Regiment, freedom fighters, martyrs of various wars fought by India and veterans of Armed Forces,” the report added.

According to a report by the News Minute, the war veteran also lamented how the state government never bothered to turn up when the body of Lance Naik Sudheesh, a native of Kollam died while serving at Siachen. Sudheesh was among the 10 soldiers who died due to the massive avalanche at the glacier, along with Lance Naik Hamunanthappa.

“The bodies of all other martyrs, including that of Lance Naik Hamunanthappa, were received by the respective state Chief Ministers, cabinet ministers and MPs. They were laid to rest with due honour. But not Sudheesh… only his friends and family were with him during his last journey. We gave our sweat and blood for the country… and this is what we get from the state government,” he said with remorse.

He rued how in the Kerala film personalities, politicians and even sportspeople were honoured by the government. How there are roads and statues built to honour them. But, war heroes, veterans and martyrs are often ignored.

The memorial was inaugurated on recently on January 14 by Veena George MLA and a special procession was held to pay homage to the departed war heroes.